A student mental wellness program that connects teens to counselors via phone or video chat for mental and behavioral health appointments is now available to all AISD secondary students.

DialCare aims to destigmatize youth mental health and encourage students to seek the help they need by offering phone or video chat appointments with a counselor via an app. Two AISD schools, Tascosa High School and Austin Middle School, were part of a pilot program and offered DialCare services to their students last spring. Because of the program’s success during the pilot phase, DialCare is now available to students at all AISD secondary schools. The DialCare service is funded by the District and offered at no cost to AISD students.

“DialCare is not meant to be a replacement or crisis program. It is meant to give students another way to reach out for help from wherever they are,” said Lindsey Hernandez, lead counselor at Tascosa High School, which was part of DialCare’s pilot run. “Amarillo ISD originally joined this pilot program because we care deeply about the whole health of each of our students. We’re continuing to invest in students and staff by offering a number of new mental health resources.”

DialCare phone or video chat appointments last up to 30 minutes and sessions are available in both English and Spanish. Once the initial contact is made by a student, consent from a parent or guardian of students under the age of 18 is required before other counseling sessions can continue. Three-way conversations are available for parents or guardians who prefer to be involved in the conversation.

To schedule an appointment using DialCare, AISD middle and high school students and their families can download the DialCareMW app.

-Amarillo Independent School District