Stafford Schools Partners with Hazel Health to Provide No-Cost Virtual Mental Health Services for Students
Partnership supported by grant from Virginia Department of Behavioral Health.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
Stafford County Public Schools announced earlier this month that it has partnered with Hazel Health, a K-12 telehealth provider, to offer free mental health care to students.
The telehealth appointments are available year-round at no cost, regardless of insurance status. No referrals are required, and students will receive one-one counseling—including evaluations and treatment recommendations—from a professional therapist without having to wait for availability.
The partnership is supported by a grant awarded to the school division by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
“This partnership removes barriers to care and ensures that students can receive timely support for mental health needs,” Daniel Smith, superintendent, in a press release from the school division. “Healthy students are better prepared to learn, and this initiative reflects our ongoing commitment to student mental well-being.”
Hazel Health’s therapists can help students cope with anxiety, depression, stress, grief and loss, social skills, bullying, and peer relationships, through at-home virtual appointments.
Parents must opt-in for their children to receive services. “No student will receive services without prior written parent or guardian consent,” the press release states.
Fredericksburg City Public Schools also partners with Hazel Health, according to the provider’s website.
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Hazel Health is being professionally responsible in making their mental health support services an OPT-IN for children under 18 yrs old.
It also shows they're savvy enough to make this a OPT-IN service. It adds to their 'legitimacy' and speaks well to their 'ethics'.
As per this article, Fredericksburg City Public Schools, like Stafford Co PS, is also partnering with Hazel Health to support children in their mental health in an OPT-IN program.
HAZEL HEALTH sounds like a needed 'wrap-around' support for students' mental health, using an OPT-IN model.
On the other hand, It is disturbing to see how out of touch Fredericksburg City Public Schools is with allowing their underage children to access an app 'ALONGSIDE' (which has nothing to do with Hazel Health) for 'supposed' mental health support, using a parent OPT-OUT program.
How is Fred City PS even ensuring that THE PARENT has actually read what the terms of the app are, in being made available to their underage children? There is such a thing as INFORMED CONSENT, which FCPS is NOT providing with this app, being an OPT-OUT.
Fredericksburg City Public Schools may say it utilizes a parent OPT-OUT policy for the 'Alongside' mental health support app, which is implemented for students in grade 4 and above. Families can choose to OPT-OUT of this AI-supported platform at any time, or choose to opt back in.
But how many FCPS parents even know that this app is being used with their child?
OPT-OUT Model: Students in Grade 4 and above are enrolled BY DEFAULT, and parents must request to opt out if they do not want their child to participate. That means nothing as far as INFORMED CONSENT goes.
Voluntary Participation: The app is intended as a supplemental, secure tool to help students manage stress, not as a replacement for counseling, and is optional.
Even if FCPS says 'Parents should contact their child's school to OPT OUT of the Alongside app', where's the electronic signature and date to say that custodial parent/guardian was just given one OPTION at the time of enrollment and that is 'OPT OUT". (not the TWO of 'Informed Consent').
Where's evidence of 'Prior Written Notice' to custodial parents/guardians?
Is there any documentation in the student's file that the parent has even received a thorough description of what the app will do with the info that they are collecting on these children, e.g, marketing info?, any kickbacks from the company to the school system for using OPT-OUT instead of OPT-IN?
Where's the form in the student's confidential record stating that this OPT-OUT info was provided in a language that the parent/guardian uses, or in case of limited literacy, it is provided verbally and/or with an adult employed with the school system (not a family member) translating?
I'm still trying to find any other school system that uses an OPT-OUT model for a mental health app. So far, Fredericksburg City PS is the only one. Sure, there are some that use apps, but they aren't OPT-OUTs, and their start age is middle school (not elementary) 6th grade.
'Alongside' is a mental health and wellbeing app specifically designed for middle and high school students (grades 4-12) to access 24/7 support. It uses an AI-powered, clinician-developed chatbot named "Kiwi the Llama" to help students manage stress, anxiety, and "big emotions" through personalized coping skills.
So what if 'Alongside's 'Kiwi the Llama' has a malfunction? Does Kiwi show on the witness stand when something goes wrong to testify to what happened?
The NIH research study on 'Alongside' (JMIR, 10-8-2025) states the need for a 'longitudinal design,' and that 'further validation is necessary'.
Fred City Public Schools has to stop using our students as 'guinea pigs'. And again: Are these students participating in a pilot study without written parent consent and are there kickbacks to those in charge of signing the 'Alongside' contract as an OPT-OUT? Instead of a legit 'OPT-IN'?