California Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative
The California Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI) is a state program that makes mental health and emotional wellness support easier to access for students. Our district is participating in this initiative to provide free, on-campus mental health services to students, with the cost securely billed to health insurance plans rather than families.
What is CYBHI?
CYBHI is part of California’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health. The goal is to ensure students receive the right support—like counseling, stress management, or social-emotional wellness coaching—right where they spend most of their time: at school.
How It Supports Families
Through this program, our district can receive reimbursements for certain supports and services from health insurance providers, including private insurance and Medi-Cal.
- Completely Free to Families: State law mandates that these school-based services are entirely free to students. You will never receive a bill, a co-pay, a deductible, or an out-of-pocket cost.
- Zero Impact on Insurance: Accessing these school services will not reduce or impact your family’s ability to obtain medical care outside of school, nor will it increase your premiums or deductibles.
- Convenient Care: Your child can receive the support they need during the school day without you having to take time off work to drive to an off-campus clinic.
What Services Are Included?
Depending on your student’s needs, CYBHI helps fund a variety of school-based services, such as:
- Class lessons on Social/Emotional skills
- Support for stress, anxiety, or grief
- Behavioral and emotional coaching
- Social-emotional skill-building groups
- Mental health screenings
Our Partnership
To make this program sustainable, SUSD must gather and submit students’ health insurance information to the state for reimbursement. We obtain this information through a HIPAA secure electronic portal, Paradigm/SHN. This request will be generated to a caregiver’s primary email provided in Infinite Campus. Providing your insurance information and consent for reimbursement helps our district secure funding to keep these crucial wellness and mental health programs available for all students. All health and insurance data is kept strictly confidential and is protected by federal and state privacy laws.
You can learn more about the statewide initiative on the California Department of Health Care Services portal.
