March is Social Worker Month! To celebrate, we’re recognizing one of the earliest gifts made to our award-winning Behavioral Health Team, and the transformational impact it had on our Club members.
In 2019, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County Behavioral Health Team was just an idea—a vision for providing members with the resources and emotional support they desperately needed. The first donation to support behavioral health was from the TRIO Foundation, and this $10,000 investment launched an award-winning team just as the pandemic turned life upside down.
“As parents, we believe every child deserves to feel loved and supported. When we met with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County in 2019, it was clear that too many kids were struggling with their mental health, and the need for support was urgent. One of the Club’s top priorities was hiring a full-time mental health professional and the statistics they shared were staggering—youth mental health incidents had risen over 200% in just five years, even before COVID. The need was clear, so we signed on to support their first mental health professional, helping to launch a program that continues to provide kids and staff with the stability and care they deserve,” said Melissa Basta from the TRIO Foundation.
In 2024, Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County was honored with the National Roxanne Spillett Award for Trauma-Informed Practice & Youth Well-Being by Boys & Girls Clubs of America. This recognition was a testament to how far we had come in just four short years. Our Behavioral Health Team now serves more than 1,000 local youth annually, providing one-on-one therapy, group therapy, social-emotional programming, parent resources and local referrals at no extra cost to Club families. 