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Mississippi launching $16M student mental health program in 29 school districts

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Canopy Children's Solutions CEO Dr. John Damon, Mississippi Department of Education Chief of Government Relations Holly Spivey, GOV. Tate Reeves and Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Bill Cork address members of the media during a press conference in Jackson, MS on Wed, Aug. 13, 2025.
Will Stribling, MPB News.

Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday announced a $16 million partnership between the Mississippi Development Authority and Canopy Children’s Solutions to expand a digital mental health program for middle and high school students in some of the state’s most underserved communities.

Will Stribling

Mississippi launching $16M student mental health program in 29 school districts

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The initiative, called “Canopy Anywhere,” is being funded with federal Community Development Block Grant dollars. It will be rolled out to 29 public school districts in low-and-moderate-income areas during the 2025-26 school year, with the potential to expand statewide.

“There’s never been a more important time to deploy this funding,” Reeves said at a press conference. “Nationwide, the percentage of adolescents reporting at least one major depressive episode in the past year increased by nearly 90%, with three million having serious thoughts of suicide.”

A “science of hope”

Developed by Canopy Children’s Solutions, the Canopy Anywhere program combines an evidence-based “science of hope” curriculum with weekly wellness lessons, self-guided digital tools, and a three-tiered system that can identify students’ needs and connect them to in-person or telehealth services.

“Hope changes everything, and there are over 2,000 published articles that demonstrate that hope is the best predictor of a life well lived,” said Dr. John Damon, Canopy’s CEO. “This is the belief that your future can be brighter than your past and you have the power to make it so.”

The approach was piloted in some Madison County schools in 2024. Of the 628 students who participated, 143 were identified with immediate mental health needs and referred to a clinician. Damon said the program begins by screening students and placing them in green, yellow or red categories.

“For those who screen to need more immediate mental health service, we will have an embedded therapist in the school that we can refer this child to so that they make sure that they get the appropriate mental health screening and tools so that they can get directed to the care that they need,” Damon said.

Early intervention and school buy-in

Damon said one lesson from the Madison pilot is the importance of reaching students as early as possible. Engagement rates among sixth- and eighth-graders were above 75%, while participation was lower among high school students.

“If we can reach these children early and arm them with the science of hope, their life, their outcomes, their view of how they see the world continues to improve,” Damon said.

School administrators in Madison County extended the program from a pilot to full implementation, shifting from an opt-in to an opt-out model after seeing its impact. Damon emphasized that Canopy worked to avoid adding to teachers’ workloads, instead helping schools target limited mental health resources more effectively.

Broader goals

MDA Executive Director Bill Cork said the program was chosen in part because it can be closely tracked for results, from student engagement to long-term outcomes. Reeves said the goal is to build a sustainable model that can serve more districts in the future if the data supports it.

“This transformative project aligns with the state’s mission to address lingering effects of the pandemic and it offers an innovative cost-effective pathway to recovery while building a sustainable model for broader application in Mississippi,” Reeves said.

Damon called the rollout “a good day for kids in Mississippi” and said it’s an example of the state leading the nation in innovation.

“Most importantly, remember that we will be saving young people’s lives,” Damon said.