Meet RAMS - The Wellness Centers

RAMS is proud to be the core behavioral health provider for the San Francisco Wellness Initiative whose mission is to improve the health, well-being, and educational outcomes of San Francisco’s public high school students by providing comprehensive, school based student health programming. Founded in 2000, the Initiative is made possible by a unique partnership between the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), the San Francisco Department of Public Health/Community Behavioral Health Services (DPH/CBHS), and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Leveraging the resources of each agency, the Initiative allows the school district, city departments, and community-based organizations such as RAMS to align and coordinate their efforts to address student health needs. Focused on prevention and early intervention in areas critical to student wellness, the San Francisco Wellness Initiative is one of the first networks of high-school-based health centers that has been brought to scale in a school district.

RAMS employs 21 Behavioral Health Counselors, 3 Clinical Case Managers, and a Trauma/Grief & Loss Counselor to work in 15 of the public high schools’ Wellness Centers throughout San Francisco. As a multidisciplinary team (i.e. psychology, marriage & family, counseling, social work), our counselors are able to provide mental health and substance abuse support services to approximately 1700 students each year including; individual & group counseling, assessment & triage, crisis intervention, consultation to teachers & parents, and case management services. Each counselor works as part of a team member of the Wellness Center, who is responsible for serving, primarily, non-academic needs of the students. In addition to RAMS, the core staff typically includes the Wellness Coordinator, a school health nurse, and a Community Health Outreach Worker (CHOW). In addition to providing confidential, behavioral health counseling and medical services to the students, the Wellness Centers’ team also works to link students and their families to resources outside of school, and to bring community based organizations that serve youth onto campus. Wellness Centers’ core beliefs take a holistic view of a student, maintaining that a student whose health & wellness is considered has the best chance for academic and personal success.

One example of the many activities and services provided to students is the Wellness Newsletter.  This is created by the Wellness Team at School of the Arts/Academy Arts & Science, and contributed to by Behavioral Health Counselor Shana Averbach.  Previous newsletters were also profiled on this blog.  Click HERE for the latest newsletter.


Photo credit: desk by Robert S. Donovan