Middle School Mental Health Initiative

From 2021 to 2025, with the support of an anonymous donor, Spark SF Public Schools and the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) directed more than $15 million to build mental health and wellness services in SFUSD middle schools.

Today every SFUSD school serving middle-grade students — 13 middle schools and 3 K–8 schools — operates a Wellness Center. In 2024–25 alone, Wellness Center teams delivered more than 56,000 individual mental health services to 4,296 students, more than double the prior year.


More than half of all mental health challenges emerge before age 14. Reaching young people and their families where they already are — at school — is one of the most effective and scalable ways to address those challenges early.

"When you come in, there's supports that you can pick from... it sets the tone. This is a space for you."

Thary Duong, Social Worker

Herbert Hoover Middle School

"We are holding each other's humanity at the center, valuing the people, the relationships."

Julia Coffa, Assistant Principal

Herbert Hoover Middle School

The initiative was designed to support the implementation of SFUSD’s Comprehensive Community Schools Framework utilizing the Beacon Model. Each Beacon Center is operated on-campus by a nonprofit agency that works closely with their school’s leadership to provide targeted and time-sensitive services that address the unique needs of the school community.


Beginning with two schools in fall 2021 and expanding each year, the Initiative reached all 13 SFUSD middle schools and 3 K–8 schools by 2024–25. Fifteen of the 16 sites now operate a full Wellness Program — a staffed Wellness Center plus health education.

SFUSD has long been a leader in implementing systems to support the emotional and physical well-being of students, including implementing restorative and trauma-informed practices. The middle school mental health initiative is one of the first school-based programs for adolescent health and wellness of its kind, and expanded on San Francisco’s Wellness Initiative, a program that is currently integrated at 19 high school campuses.

Wellness Centers provide safe, confidential settings where youth can access health experts and gain the skills they need to cope with complex issues such as stress, trauma, suicidal ideations, bullying, depression, self-esteem, drug and alcohol use, sexual health, and relationships. Students learn positive, lifelong habits that contribute to their well-being and success, and ultimately, to the health of the communities in which they live.

What lasts is the relationships

The resources and relationships this initiative built were designed to last.


Beginning in 2026–27, SFUSD funds a Social Worker and a Community Health Outreach Worker at every middle and high school through district and public funding sources — positions that philanthropy piloted and proved. All 16 cohort sites will maintain their Wellness Centers beyond the term of the gift.

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