Children and Youth Behavorial Health Initiative (CYBHI)

The Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI) is a state-funded program created to improve access to mental and behavioral health services for children and youth. It provides funding and support to schools through key programs, including the CYBHI Fee Schedule. This Fee Schedule allows schools to receive reimbursement for behavioral health services delivered on campus. For simplicity, we’ll refer to this program as CYBHI throughout the rest of this page.

At Vaughn, we’ve made it a priority to grow our mental health services so we can better support students and families—especially after the challenges brought on by COVID. We were able to expand our team with the help of short-term funding, but that funding has now ended. To keep offering these important services long-term, Vaughn elected to participate in the CYBHI which will allow Vaughn, with parent/guardian permission, to receive funding by billing insurance for approved services. Our hope is to sustain and eventually expand our services and programming.

This program will not change students’ eligibility to receive behavioral health services. All students will continue to receive the behavioral health services they have always had access to, regardless of insurance type or participation in the CYBHI. Those services may include brief conversations/check-ins, classroom workshops, crisis counseling, referrals and linkage to services, individual and group counseling.

 In order to bill your insurance, we will ask for your (1) student’s health insurance information and (2) permission to bill your health insurance. Your student's health insurance information will remain confidential in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It will only be shared as necessary to facilitate billing and reimbursement for services rendered.

Participating in the CYBHI WILL NOT affect your student’s current insurance coverage, eligibility, or benefits. Your student will continue to have access to all covered services under their health plan.

You may revoke your consent to participate in the CYBHI at any time by providing written notice to your student’s director or VNCLC’s director of mental health. Revoking consent will not affect any services provided prior to the revocation date.

Your agreement to participate in the CYBHI WILL NOT result in any costs to you or your student. Health plans, including Medi-Cal, are required to reimburse schools for mental health services at no cost to parents or guardians. There will be NO co-pays, deductibles, or other expenses passed on to your family.