Teachers, school administrators, and staff dedicate their days to nurturing and educating our children, only to return home — exhausted, emotionally drained, and with little time to decompress — to deal with their own challenges. Far too often, they face an uphill battle when seeking affordable behavioral healthcare. Their schedules rarely allow them to step away to see a mental health professional.

Consider another layer: The family members of these educators may be facing mental health challenges of their own. Finding a provider who accepts their insurance, navigating long waitlists, and dealing with per-visit copays can feel like an impossible maze. Let’s be honest: accessing mental health care in this country can be pure hell. For public school employees and their families, it is even worse. Time is their constant enemy.

To address this crisis, Legacy Health Endowment has partnered with Lavender (joinlavender.com), a telepsychiatry company led by psychiatric nurse practitioners. This partnership provides public school employees and their adult children (18 and older) with free access to trained Lavender providers — no copays, no deductibles, no barriers.

LHE believes that the well-being of our students begins with the well-being of those who teach, support, and care for them. Teachers, administrators, and school staff are critical to vibrant communities. The stress they face today, ranging from overwhelming workloads to political backlash, is immense—and unsustainable.

This expanded partnership builds on a successful pilot program launched in April that offered free behavioral health care to employees in the Denair, Hughson, and Keyes school districts in Stanislaus County. Teachers, support staff, and their adult family members living in 19 designated ZIP codes across Stanislaus and Merced counties can now register for services through their district’s administration portal.

The program is designed to confront the alarming rise in teacher burnout, declining retention rates, and the worsening student mental health crisis. A 2022 survey revealed that 20 percent of California teachers expect to leave the profession within three years, citing stress, burnout, and political hostility as key factors.

With the LHE/Lavender partnership, cost is no longer an issue. Legacy Health Endowment covers 100 percent of the care. We are committed to ensuring that public school employees and their families receive the mental health support they need — without worrying about affordability.

In a time of growing demand for behavioral health professionals, this partnership brings compassionate, high-quality care directly to your computer. Of course, we cannot force you to use it, but we can remove the obstacles that stand in your way.

The need is urgent. The solution is here. The next step is yours.

— Jeffrey Lewis is President and CEO, Legacy Health Endowment (jeffrey@lgacyhealthendowment.org). The words expressed are his own.