Many parents worry about their child’s mental well-being, and the concern carries over to what they may be experiencing while in the school setting, away from home. Children as young as five to seven years old can struggle with anxiety, depression and behavior disorders. In Michigan alone, one in five kids live with a diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition, marking an urgent need for more resources and support for caregivers.
Priority Health is offering unique ways that parents, educators and school staff to support the mental and emotional well-being of children in their care.
Priority Pups® Join Students in the Classroom
Priority Health has an ongoing partnership with Michigan nonprofit Canines for Change, Priority Pups®—a signature program of Priority Health for Good—sponsoring trained facility dogs that are placed in select school districts to ease anxiety among kids and support them as they learn.
Scout, Michigan’s first Priority Pup, was placed in Muskegon in August 2023 and the children (and staff!) love him. Many of the students said that having Scout visit their classroom helps them stay calm and learn better. Scout has been trained to identify when someone is in distress and to create a calming effect to help students cope with academic, social and emotional challenges. Scout visits multiple schools across the district, impacting hundreds of students per week. And this was just the start.
Since then, several schools are benefitting from the Priority Pups program. More recently, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools welcomed Charlie, a goldendoodle, who supports students in a variety of ways, such as greeting them in the morning and providing comfort as needed throughout the day. Other area schools, including Covenant High School Central (Detroit) and Wayne-Westland Community School District, also have a newly certified facility dog who began visiting students last month.
“Madden has been so beneficial for our students so far this year,” said Kelley Michels, principal of Hamilton Elementary School in Westland. “Madden improves emotional well-being by reducing stress and anxiety and enhancing social skills and empathy. The opportunity to work with Madden has increased motivation and engagement in learning activities, while providing a comfortable and calm environment. We have also noted a major benefit to our students with special needs.”
Priority Health continues to grow the program and is placing more pups in schools throughout Michigan in 2026.
Discover Frida’s Fireworks: A Free Bilingual Story for Kids
The way Scout helps calm students in Muskegon schools helped inspire the book “Frida’s Fireworks.” The book is a collaboration between Priority Health and Canines for Change to inspire and support caregivers and children to better understand and manage big emotions. It focuses on five-year-old Frida, whose feelings can sometimes flame into big fireworks, so she gets help from Scout to ease her nervousness as she begins kindergarten. The story instills emotional resilience and teaches tools to help children self-regulate in the classroom with or without the support of a pup. The book is co-authored by Charletta Dennis, MD, Medical Director of Behavioral Health at Priority Health, and Dr. Nikki Brown, Executive Director of Canines for Change.
What can parents and educators do?
Parents, caregivers and educators can use the following to help support mental and emotional stability and build resilience in young children.
- Offer reading materials that are both educational and fun for kids, like “Frida’s Fireworks.” “Frida’s Fireworks” is available to purchase on the Priority Health website (all proceeds benefit Canines for Change). A free digital version of the book is available here.
- Take a look at Priority Health’s ThinkHealth blog for resources like this one, How to Embrace Calm with the 1-2-3 Breathing Technique, Ten Ways Pets Improve Our Health and Wellness and Mental Health Awareness Month: 5 Signs of mental illness and how to get help.
- Are you a Priority Health member? There are many resources available to you on a specially designed mental health page.
- The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a free resource available if you or someone you know need emotional support. Call or text 988 for help anytime. You can also visit https://988lifeline.org/ to search for crisis centers or use the chat function to connect with a 988 Lifeline counselor.
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