This morning, I shared with our team that Hazel Health is restructuring to support the next phase of our growth, and ensure we can deliver sustainable, high-quality care to the children and families we serve. As part of this process, we made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by 135 talented people.
I first want to be clear to our partners about what this means — and what it does not.
Care continues without interruption, and students and families remain our top priority. Our standards for quality, privacy, and continuity are unchanged.
What is changing is how we operate behind the scenes: simpler systems, better technology, tighter execution, and a stronger foundation for consistent delivery.
These decisions were not made lightly. They reflect both where we are today and what it will take for Hazel to continue to be a strong, reliable partner for schools, families, and health plans for years to come.
Our impact
Hazel quickly grew to be the largest K-12 mental and physical health provider in the nation in service of an urgent mission: expanding access to high-quality healthcare for children, delivered where they already are:at school. That growth allowed us to reach more students and families, especially those from marginalized communities.
Across our programs, 80% of students who complete care demonstrate clinically significant reductions in depression and/or anxiety, and schools we partner with see an average reduction of 11 days of absenteeism per student per year. In districts where chronic absenteeism is a concern, we’ve seen especially meaningful results, including schools where nearly half of chronically absent students did not miss another day after starting services.
Our journey
Over the past year, Hazel Health has taken important steps to strengthen our ability to serve students, families, and the schools that support them. These changes reflect our commitment to delivering high‑quality, reliable care at scale, and to doing so in a way that is sustainable for the long term.
One of the most important of those steps was welcoming Little Otter to Hazel Health last fall. Little Otter is a leading pediatric behavioral health platform built specifically for children ages 0–14, with a care model that treats the whole family, not just the child. The research is clear that family dynamics drive outcomes, and Little Otter’s model delivers results: more than 70% of children reach clinical remission after 12 sessions, and a majority of parents show clinically significant reductions in depression or anxiety within three months.
By bringing Little Otter together with Hazel, we expanded our ability to support students inside and outside the classroom, including adding psychiatry, family‑based therapy, and care for caregivers and educators to our school‑based model. Beginning this back‑to‑school season, these expanded services will be available to our school partners, while also allowing us to reach families directly beyond the school day. This integration strengthens the continuum of care around students and reflects our belief that schools are a critical extension of the healthcare safety net.
We are also strengthening our connection to the broader healthcare system, building deeper partnerships with leading health plans and community providers to ensure there is no wrong door for children and families seeking care through Hazel.
With that scale – and the integration of two major service offerings – comes a responsibility to focus and align. It became clear to our leadership team that we needed to invest in strengthening our operating model to deliver the level of consistency and reliability we expect of ourselves.
Our restructure
This restructuring prepares Hazel for its next phase: delivering sustainable, high-quality mental and physical health services to millions more children across the country.
We are focusing on the essentials: making it easier for schools to connect students to care, ensuring timely and consistent clinical support, strengthening the systems behind our work, and operating with the discipline required to be sustainable in today’s healthcare and education environment. We’re reducing the layers of our organization for more nimble decision making and stronger accountability - bringing leaders closer to the work, and standardizing how we deliver care across therapy, psychiatry, parent coaching, and physical health.
Doing so required hard choices, including saying goodbye to talented colleagues who helped build Hazel and Little Otter.
To the teammates who are leaving us as a result of this change: thank you. You helped build this organization and supported countless students and families along the way. These decisions are not a reflection of your contributions or commitment, and I am deeply grateful for what you brought to Hazel.
These actions make Hazel stronger and better positioned for the future. They allow us to move with greater focus, respond more quickly to partner needs, and continue building a model of school‑based care that is effective, trusted, and durable.
What’s next
Our mission hasn’t changed. It’s what’s driving these hard choices. Hazel is unique in combining school-based access with family-centered, clinical care models that extend beyond the school day and encompass a full spectrum of integrated family mental health and physical health care. We will continue to expand access to care that is built for children and families in a way that is sustainable, focused, relatable, and that kids love.
If you’re a district leader, health plan partner, or community member with questions or feedback, I want to hear from you. I’m always open to conversation directly, and I value your perspective as we move forward.
Thank you for your trust in Hazel, and for the important work you do every day to support students.
– Iyah
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