CSUSB Palm Desert Campus receives $20K grant to deliver mental health treatment to children affected by the pandemic

The Palm Desert campus of Cal State San Bernardino was awarded $20,000 by a local nonprofit to deliver mental health treatment to children in the Coachella Valley affected by the coronavirus pandemic, it was announced today.

The Palm Springs-based Anderson Children's Foundation gifted the funds to expand CSUSB's Neurofeedback Center, which will now be able to provide brain training therapy to an additional 100 students each year.

Connie McReynolds, a psychologist and the center's director, said children often experience a plethora of benefits after receiving therapy at the center.

"Anxiety and depression levels decrease, academic performance improves, behavioral interventions decrease, and the overall positive outcomes enhance the lives of the children, their parents, their teachers, and the community as a whole," she said.

The center will be "partnering with school districts in the Coachella Valley to provide innovative mental health services to children whose mental well-being has been adversely affected by the global pandemic,'' according to the university.

Students who have received 10 to 20 hours of brain training at the center have gone on to better self-regulate their moods, listen better, increase attention and expand their memory capacity, center officials said.

Additional information about can be found at https://www.csusb.edu/neurofeedback/neurofeedback-pdc.