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Reinbeck resident receives 2022 Iowa School Mental Health award

The Scanlan Center for School Mental Health, Iowa’s hub for school-based mental health research, professional development, and clinical services, announced three winners of the 2022 Iowa School Mental Health Awards at the Iowa (Behavioral, Equitable, Social-Emotional, Trauma-Informed Health in Schools) Summit.

The awards program recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to cultivating a positive mental health culture within an Iowa PreK-12 school, district, college/university, or community organization.

“Today we celebrate three individuals who embody courage, community, and commitment to a better future for Iowa’s students and educators,” said Allison Bruhn, executive director for the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health. “Our honorees represent what’s possible if we all prioritize mental health and well-being in our schools. Their innovation and relentless pursuit of meaningful change are what school mental health champions are made of.”

Awardees include Laura Greiner – psychologist at the State Training School in Eldora and Reinbeck resident – who received the 2022 School Wellness Warrior Award.

Greiner helps design and implement the Intensive Therapeutic Program for students who experience significant distress or functional impairment and provides individual, family, and group therapy.

Greiner facilitates Mental Health 101, Suicide Prevention and Intervention, and Intensive Therapeutic Program trainings for all staff on campus, runs Grief Therapy groups, 10-week programs intended for adolescents who have experienced the death of someone special to them, and has led Trauma Group therapy, which utilizes Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Trauma-Informed Yoga.

Greiner earned a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Upper Iowa University and a bachelor’s in Mortuary Science from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science.

The School Wellness Warrior award honors an individual for their outstanding efforts around overall school wellness. The recipient of this award has been instrumental in furthering a school, district, or institution’s employee wellness initiatives; helping teachers, faculty, or staff reach a heightened level of well-being (e.g., physical, mental, spiritual, behavioral).

This year’s awards ceremony was the inaugural Iowa School Mental Health Awards celebration.