Republished from Parents and Kids Magazine
Canopy Children’s Solutions is Mississippi’s largest, most comprehensive nonprofit provider of children’s behavioral health, educational and social service solutions. Founded in 1912 as the Mississippi Children’s Home Society, the organization began with the mission to connect children with loving forever homes. Through its more than 100-year history, the organization has grown and evolved to meet the changing needs of children and families in Mississippi. Annually, Canopy serves more than 6,000 children and their families statewide with a staff of approximately 500 mission-focused employees. Canopy believes when given the right tools every child can be a success story.
Today, 1 in 5 children experience a behavioral health challenge that impacts their daily life. As concerns over mental health continue to rise, Canopy has developed a comprehensive continuum of care helping children and families facing mental and behavioral health challenges.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS
Canopy Behavioral Health Clinics treats common mental health challenges in children and adolescents including ADHD, depression, anxiety, trauma and mood disorders. Equipping children and families with the right tools to handle these challenges is essential for maintaining strong families and cultivating safe, healthy coping behaviors in children and teens. Therapists utilize state-of-the-art, evidence-based therapies which help the child build rapport, identify triggers, self-regulate, practice healthy coping skills and restructure detrimental thinking. While in most cases non-medicating solutions are preferred and often utilized, board certified psychiatric nurse practitioners are available for medication management. The clinics, located in Hattiesburg, Gulfport and Jackson, serve children ages five to 21.
AUTISM SOLUTIONS
For families with children on the autism spectrum, Canopy Early Intervention Autism Clinic provides applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for children 18 months to 8 years old. Each child receives an intensive and individual behavioral identification assessment to determine their unique strengths and challenges, as well as detect any barriers to learning. ABA has been cited as a “best practice” in the treatment of many of the core features of autism by the US Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Autism Center. Typically, a child receives 20 or more hours per week of therapy, utilizing evidence-based procedures selected based on the child’s individual needs. As such, a variety of practices, including discreet-trials teaching, naturalistic environmental teaching, incidental teaching, and others are frequently employed by our highly-trained staff of therapists. Canopy’s Early Intervention Autism Clinic is located in Jackson.
EDUCATIONAL SOLUTIONS
Canopy’s CARES Schools are accredited, non-public schools designed to meet the educational and behavioral needs of students whose behavior prohibits participation in the public school setting. The goal of CARES School is for each student to live and learn effectively. CARES Schools provide quality, individualized instruction that meets the needs of each student. While attending CARES School, the child learns social, life, and leisure skills to maximizing their academic achievement. With small class sizes of eight to ten students, students get personal attention so they can attain their best. A licensed teacher and a behavioral specialist work in collaborative in each classroom. With a multi-disciplinary strengths-based approach, each student participates on a child and family team to coordinate academic and behavioral health supports. Each CARES School also has classrooms dedicated to children on the autism spectrum. Schools are located in Hattiesburg and Jackson and are accredited by the Mississippi Department of Education. The work completed at the CARES School is fully transferable to Mississippi public schools.
CARE COORDINATORS
When your child needs mental health care, finding help can be overwhelming. If you think your child may be struggling with mental health or educational challenges, Canopy’s Care Coordinators can help. Care coordinators guide you through the treatment process and are responsible for helping you find the services your child needs, while managing your child’s progress in treatment and helping coordinate service needs with the clinical team through engagement activities. For more information, call 800.388.6247 or visit mycanopy.org.