The Iowa School Mental Health Hero award honors a practitioner, researcher, educator, or community partner for their defining contribution to school mental health in Iowa.
After more than 20 years as a family nurse practitioner and psychiatric nurse practitioner, Sue Gehling, ARNP, MSN founded Classroom Clinic in 2019.
Classroom Clinic provides rural school districts with timely and convenient access to children’s mental health services through the use of telehealth and related technologies.
Over the last three years, Classroom Clinic has worked with seven schools to provide mental health care services to 250 students.
Her vision is to improve children’s access to mental health care in rural Iowa by utilizing technology and integrating services into nontraditional places.
She has been a champion of establishing cross-sector partnerships with educators, and a leader within the school-based telehealth movement here in Iowa.
The Iowa School Mental Health 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.