Nonprofit to provide mental health services to Uvalde students: 'It was an opportunity to do something for the community'

With the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) just two weeks away from commencing its first academic year since the Robb Elementary School tragedy, a Houston nonprofit organization is looking to help students who are still reeling from the incident.

Houston FOX affiliate KRIV reported that Love Heals Youth plans to bring mental health services to the grief-stricken city of nearly 16,000 people just 80 miles west of San Antonio. 

Twenty-one people, including 19 students, lost their lives in the May 24 mass shooting.

According to KRIV, a Texas Ranger reached out to the organization for assistance.

"Even though we typically do therapeutic services for foster youth, it was an opportunity to do something for the community, so of course we jumped all over it," Love Heals Youth founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Rebecca Smith-Nash told the station.

Smith-Nash further stated that over 30 counselors are available via telehealth.

"To have that kind of violation and come into your school, and children are so trusting of us, they need to know they’re going to be safe, they’re going to be OK," she said, per KRIV.

About a month after the shooting, the station reported, Love Heals Youth hosted a benefit that brought in $30,000.

As of press time, representatives from the organization traveled to Uvalde to lay the groundwork for the initiative, according to KRIV.

Smith-Nash told the station that each school will be furnished with a therapeutic room accessible by anyone to “talk about their emotions associated with it.”

KRIV reported that Love Heals Youth wants to help the Uvalde community in the long-term as other resources pull up stakes.

"They’re worried that people are going to kind of forget, so we want to be there for the long haul," she told the station.