SA Youth - The CALM Clinic

Maria Benavidez

Maria Benavidez is the President & CEO of SA Youth. One morning, she got up in the night and thought, we should do something to prevent children from dropping out of school. We know that children suffer from anxiety, depression, or they've been bullied. They're living in a home with domestic violence or drug and alcohol abuse. This is when the idea of The CALM Clinic started. CALM stands for Counseling Assistance for Lifestyle Management. The CALM Clinic's goal is to help youth early enough while they're still in school. 

The CALM Clinic works with children and any mental health issues to hopefully prevent them from dropping out of school. We help anyone aged six and over, but our target population is children who are struggling in school with poor attendance or academics. We want to help them understand their issues and develop coping mechanisms. The CALM Clinic is inside our building at 1215 West Poplar. There is a wing set aside that's separate from the rest of the building so that there is confidentiality for people who come to see our therapists. 

We know that mental health is a barrier to people's success, and we want them to become better citizens and better parents, so their children or grandkids can have better opportunities. We serve the top five at-risk zip codes, 78207, 78228, 78223, 78237 and 78211, where 41% of the population does not have a high school diploma. They are coming to us and saying, I want to do better, I want to get better, and I want to heal. We see it as a recurring and a generational issue. Something happened in their lives that has kept them from becoming successful. 

The CALM Clinic accepts private insurance and Medicaid, but if people need help, we're not going to turn them away. We do not have funding for this program right now, but the need was too great to turn a blind eye. Our SOAR program keeps growing because the dropout population keeps growing. We want our clinic to keep them in school, but if we can't, then SOAR is there to capture them. Our hope is that the clinic can capture children in middle school to help them learn how to cope and stay in school. We want to be able to help all generations and help them to heal right now. For more information, visit www.sanantonioyouth.org/calmclinic