Ep 192 | What mental health support are students getting?

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It's important to know that we're there when a student is ready. We're not pushing it, we're not forcing it. And I think that just goes to show how these intentional interactions and the intentional connection that our staff makes with students really does have a positive outcome.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every child in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support your child's success. But according to the CDC, nearly one in five young people, ages 12 to 17, have experienced a mental health disorder in 2024. It's something we all hoped they'd grow out of, but the reality is that wellness takes intention, time, and a community effort. My next guests are part of a school-side initiative for healthy, happy kids. One is the coordinator of mental health services, and the other is the student services director. Today they're going to share behind the scenes of what the school district is doing to support your child's mental health. Data-informed and student-centered, Melissa Williams and Dr. Lisa Joyner. Thanks, ladies, for being here. Thank you for having us. So I thought we would kick off with kind of an origin story because mental health feels like a critically important aspect for students. So how did how did this start?

SPEAKER_00 1:49

The mental health department was created from unfortunate events, the Marjorie Stonem Douglas shooting. The legislatures created and gave all school districts allocation. It's called the mental health allocation. And those funds are designated so that we are able to provide mental health counseling services on each of the school campuses in a tiered approach. A tier one is all students receive those counseling services, our Red Women Week campaigns. We have our mental health awareness curriculum. That is another mandate from the state that is required. K through five, it is the character ed, the resiliency for 6 through 12, child human trafficking, substance abuse, so that all of our students are aware of that. We're also required for our staff to have our youth mental health first aid training so that they are aware of the signs and the symptoms, also to help break down the stigma of mental health. Our tier two approach is where our certified staff, our school counselors, other student services personnel, they are providing a check-in, check-out with the students, could be doing some grief counseling, just some services that we know the students need, just some mild support for students. It could be parents who are experiencing some divorce or just some things going on. And then tier three is that therapeutic treatment, a little bit more intensive therapy, where we have licensed mental health and mental health professionals. So we do that in a tiered approach. So that is our system. We had contracted community partners originally, but we have hired the department began with six staff members, and now we have had 32.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Whoa. Okay. So there's so much to unpack there. So before this, we all felt mental health was important, but we didn't have the resources until this legislation passed. Is that what I'm hearing?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yeah. So after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas happened, the legislature was in session. And in about three weeks after that tragedy, that was sudden and felt so heavy to many of us in the school setting. Senate Bill 7026 was passed, and that really paved the way for school-based mental health counseling. With that Senate bill came an allocation for Florida school districts, which allowed us to receive funds to have direct services in terms of mental health counseling at the school level. And so our district originally had a hybrid approach where we had six direct hires in our department, but we also contracted with community providers to provide that one-on-one mental health counseling.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

What year did this start again?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

2018.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

2018.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

So it's really grown in a short amount of time.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Exponentially. So we started with six direct hires, and this year in our mental health department, we have 32 mental health counselors, and then myself and our admin specialist. So a department of 34 from six just about eight years ago.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Yeah, that's wild. Okay, so Lisa, you also mentioned that you have training for the faculty. So talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

What does it look like? Sure. So um I'll take that. Um so youth mental health first aid is required in statute, and each year we have to certify 80% of our school-based staff have taken the six-hour training. That training is crucial. It talks about recognizing the signs and symptoms of a mental health challenge. How do we intervene? Because we know early intervention is key. The quicker that we can step into that gap, the the quicker we can just go there with a student.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

And that's why you call it first aid. Yes. But I've never heard that before, and I thought that was interesting.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yes, exactly. So it's going there and either being there until professional help can be put in place or until the crisis resolves. And so when you think about our school district and how many staff we have, 80% is the majority of our staff. Right now, 84% are trained in youth mental health first aid, and we still have about seven more sessions for the end of the year. So think about it. It's teachers, teacher assistants, your library clerks, our food service colleagues, our school bus operators, anybody who has contact with students is being trained to recognize those signs and symptoms, what to do in situations, and who to connect that student with.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

So did you say earlier that the law only mandates 80%? They require 80%. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Each year, each school district in Florida must have 80% of school-based staff trained. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

And we're at what percent now? 84%. 84%. Okay, that's pretty awesome. What kind of training is included in that? Because as someone that's never had anything like that before, I'm kind of curious like how much this is equipping teachers and you know other faculty members to recognize crisis before it gets really bad. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

So we talk about what anxiety looks like, what depression looks like, what phobias look like, what just different disorders look like within the classroom setting, someone who's at the elementary, middle, and high school, and that how that may differ. It also talks about how you can start that conversation in a non-defensive, non-judgmental way with students. You know, a student who has excellent attendance and who is academically successful all of a sudden starts missing class, putting their head down, sleeping in class. We do some role-playing within the session. How do you approach that student in order to plant that seed that you are a supportive person? And so it might be something like, I've noticed you're not your usual self lately. What's going on? And having those open-ended questions and conversations to so the student starts to feel comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

I'm starting to see the connection between why this was inspired by a shooting and this first aid training because you always hear after the fact, like, nobody noticed, you know, this kid was writing hateful things in his notebook of his entire plan. He had, you know, a terrible manifesto written and nobody, you know, asked him how he was doing. So this is so major.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Right. And not only is it if you see something, say something, but it's equipping staff with the tools to go there and feel comfortable. And having 80% or more than 80% means you're not alone in this. So if you're not sure what to do, you can reach out to your grade level leader, your administrator, your colleague, and say, hey, I don't know how to approach this student. Can you be there with me? How would you approach that? So there's importance with so many school staff being trained in youth mental health first aid.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

I mean, that's kind of a culture shift too, right? I mean, 20, you know, 18 sounds like forever ago, but it wasn't that long ago. But prior to that, if a teacher said, hey, I think Johnny has some anxiety and angst that is outside the scope of a normal 15-year-old, I think we should talk to him about it. If the culture isn't there to support the teacher to pursue resources for that young person, then I mean it's a brick wall. You're dead in the water.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

It would have been a mind your own business kind of situation. Or a teacher would have felt ill-equipped to ask that question because, well, now what do I do with that information? They would have felt very hesitant to ask because they didn't know, okay, now I know that the student needs help, but what do I do with it? It's also helpful that we're teaching students with the required instruction for the mental health awareness curriculum that they know what to do for their friends because more often than not, students are talking to their friends. That's who they talk to when they are feeling off or they're down and they are anxious about things or they start to have those symptoms and signs of depression, they talk to their friends. And so their friends, we're not teaching them to become therapists or training them to be clinicians or therapists, but teaching them to go to that trusted adult or how they can get help for their friends as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

And that is a training just for the kids? It is part of our resiliency education requirement. So each year, students who are in sixth through 12th grade are required to have five hours of resiliency and prevention education. And it's a package. So not only does it include resiliency, like grit gratitude being an upstander, personal responsibility, critical thinking, but it also has a prevention aspect built into that. So prevention of child trafficking, prevention of substance use, teen dating violence, and then mental health. And part of that mental health module includes recognizing signs and symptoms, how to support a peer or a family member or yourself, how to ask for help, and then suicide prevention. So each year from sixth through 12th grade, our students take five hours of that instruction. What's the student response? I think it's been good. I think the resiliency education has helped break down stigma surrounding mental health. We've normalized conversations about stress in school. We've normalized conversations about, you know, feeling overwhelmed. And so even though they get it each year, and I'm sure after the second or third year, you know, they they're like, oh, we have to take this again. It's a good reminder that, you know, life is difficult, that we all have challenges. And so I really think it's just normalized having those conversations with peers, with teachers, and with administrators and support folks in the schools.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Does the lesson plan change according to age? Because sixth grade is such a perfect year to start, by the way, because middle school can be really hard. It's such a liminal space for young people, right? Because they're like growing into teenagers, but they're still got all their baby stuff. It's so weird. But and that's certainly a different developmental milestone than say being 17 and you're like, shoot, I'm about to be launched into the world, you know, I need some support with that. So it's a different kind of overwhelm than when you're in sixth grade and you're going and you're literally thinking about the air quotes big kids, right? Instead, 17-year-olds are thinking about the air quotes big world.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yeah. So even though the modules and the required instruction is the same. So teen dating violence, seventh through twelfth grade, or human trafficking, sixth through twelfth grade, the material is age and developmentally appropriate. So it does change the older that they get. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

It's the same meal, just different flavors are added as they get. Okay. Absolutely. And Lisa, you talked about the tiered approach, which I thought was really interesting because when I think about, okay, we got mental health, we need mental health support. Let's just throw everything at it, right? I love how smart this is. I'm so glad I'm not in charge of this, being that y'all are. So what surprised me the most is that in tier three, you have licensed mental health counselors because normal, typical, everyday school counselors are wonderful salt-of-the-earth people, but they're not licensed mental health counselors usually, correct?

SPEAKER_00 13:23

They're not. They're certified school counselors. So they are recognized by the state as being mental health professionals at the schools, even though we have licensed mental health counselors, we're still not diagnosing at the school level. And we do have mental health counselors. So not all of our staff at the tier three level are licensed, but we do have license. And we have registered interns as well who are working with our students.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

How is the student matched with the correct tier that they need?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

It would be based on their need, their mental health. All of our students are going to be assessed at the tier two level by the certified school counselor. So if the certified school counselor can work with them, if the school counselor feels like that they need to be referred to the tier three level, maybe it is a diagnosable mental health, or it's just something that they just feel that they need to refer on, then they will refer. So everything is funneled through at the tier two level.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

And I remember in our pre-chat, you said something about the change in legislation supported transportation.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Well, with 7026 and the mental health allocation, it it paved the way for school-based mental health counseling. And that broke down so many barriers that a lot of our families and students have to access of mental health. So while it doesn't provide any financial means for us to provide transportation to community partners, having mental health counselors within our schools, they can receive the one-on-one counseling during the school day. So as long as they're getting to school, whether it's through car rider, whether it's through walking or, you know, public school transportation, that's a barrier that the family no longer has to worry about. You know, if you're going to an outside provider, someone through private insurance, you have to get them there in person. And transportation is a huge barrier for many of our families in Escambia County. So not only did it break down that barrier, but our allocation allows us to pay the staffs and benefits of our mental health counselors. So parents are not being asked to, we don't bill co-pays, they're not, they don't have any out-of-pocket expenses. It's all covered through our allocation.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

That makes sense. And you said community partners, but you're also saying in-school resources. Is it a combination of both?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

So when we talk about community partners, we're big on collaboration. So we know we can't meet the needs of every student within our school district. And some parents opt to work with outside providers. They don't want students to miss academic time because if we're providing counseling in schools, they do have to miss some academic time to do their one-on-one counseling. So some parents opt to go outside of the school district for counseling. So we have huge collaboration meetings. One of our biggest ones is the school collaboration meeting that's ran by the Northwest Florida Health Network, who's a managing entity of Region One. And that brings law enforcement, that brings mobile response team, that brings Lakeview, Children's Home Society, and the school district together to talk about what are the barriers, what are the obstacles, how are things going within our region, our Northwest region. We also have family team staffings where we work with DCF adoption agencies, Lakeview Children's Home Society, mobile response team. So many folks that I've missed are on these calls when a family needs more intensive services than what they're currently being provided, whether it's within the school setting or outside the school setting. And it's a solution-focused team that listens to the background, what's worked, what's not worked. There's a case manager from a community health organization on the meeting, and they walk with the family to see if we can have a desired treatment outcome.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

That's interesting because I was kind of thinking that everything was ultra standardized, ultra, this is the way you get it, and good luck. But it sounds like there's a lot of wiggle room for more customized support.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah, absolutely. Just because we're dealing with people and students and their lived experiences all play into that. So there really isn't one size fits all in terms of mental health counseling. We're looking at the need of the student. The frequency, intensity, duration always goes into play when we're talking about counseling and support services. What about parents?

SPEAKER_02 18:09

What kind of insights or tips might you offer to parents who are wanting to support their child in their mental health?

SPEAKER_01 18:17

I think talking openly at home about emotions. So talking about stress, sadness, joy, I also think parents being honest and knowing the warning signs in themselves. So if they are constantly feeling irritable, if they're losing sleep, if they're feeling overwhelmed or numb, recognize that in themselves and reach out and seek help. I also think for parents, it's key to for them to build a support network for themselves and their students. So having play dates, having family dinners with other friends, you know, having ordering pizza and having a close girlfriend come over with their kids, building that network of support and encouraging that connection. And then of course asking for help early before they start feeling overwhelmed. So taking care of themselves and normalizing those conversations.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

I mean, especially as a woman parent, you know, when God made women, he's like, all right, here's your ovaries and here's some guilt. Have fun, you know? And so the guilt, the mom guilt is so real. And so I imagine that would be very challenging to overcome by way of asking for help early on when you think, when you have that spidey sense that something's just off. Just listening to that spidey sense, having enough quiet time, free space in your day to hear the spidey sense. Whew, that within itself must be a real challenge.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Can I share a story? Please share a story. So we are working with a student in high school, and he has an extensive trauma history. He's ninth grade, high marks on testing. But this school year, uh, his grades took quite a bit of a dip. His father was recently re-released from jail and has unfortunately continued using substances. And so he has been bouncing kind of back and forth between some relative caregivers. And he was referred to our licensed mental health counselor at the high school level. And she's been working with him about, you know, abandonment, triggers, some anger that's in there. But she kind of had this aha moment and said, what he needs is connection. It would be wonderful if he had a male mentor or a role model. And I think that just goes to show that when our counselors, our mental health counselors are in the schools, we're not just talking about mental health counseling and challenges and diagnoses. We are really looking at the whole child, thinking outside the box is how can this child, you know, get to to be where they feel good and comfortable. And um, she had advocated for him to get a mentor, and and we are full steam ahead. It so yeah, so it's a success story where having these mental health counselors and school counselors in in our schools is not only life-changing, it really is life-saving.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

It can be for not just the the young person, but for other young people, you know, as we started out this episode. So what a fantastic story. So he is matched. It is in process right now, yes. That's exciting. And good on the the teachers for recognizing that. Was it the grades, do you think, that allowed the teacher to see an opportunity for some support?

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Yeah, I think it was the subtle shifts in the declining grades. How on some standardized tests, he's very high scoring, but his his grades in the first semester took a deep dive. But those subtle changes in not only grades in GPA, but his behaviors as well. Are there any other instances of impact from this? I mean, yes. The impact is truly positive. You know, our mental health counselors work with students, whether it's anger, frustration, depression, anxiety, trauma, grief as well. And so we have a student who, in at our high school level, she was a junior last year, so 11th grade, and she unexpectedly lost her father. And it really impacted her emotional well-being. At the time, she was not open to counseling. She did not think it would help. And, you know, as she was quietly carrying her grief, she started missing school. Her grades started to plummet. Instead of coming to school, she was withdrawing and staying in bed. And unfortunately, her grades dropped so low that her GPA was affected and she was not promoted to being a senior. And so she started off this year as a junior again. Our mental health counselor at this high school is highly visible. So in the morning, she's talking to students, she's saying hellos during transition, she's waving, she remembers students' names, whether they're on her caseload or not. And through this like gentle persistence, she was already on this counselor's radar, but was closed off to counseling. You know, those hellos and good mornings really added up. And so this junior said, I think I want to talk to you. I've been carrying this around. Invited her into her office. Uh, she creates such a safe space in her office. And the girl started feeling like her feelings were validated, that she can start sharing. And she opened up and she is now reclassified as a senior. So her she's not missing school. Her grades dramatically improved. GPA went up. And so she started out as a junior, she's now a senior. She helps run of one of the grief groups within the high school. And she has even encouraged one of her close family members to receive grief counseling within the community. So it's important to know that we're there when a student is ready. We're not pushing it, we're not forcing it. You know, it and I think that just goes to show how these intentional interactions and the intentional connection that our staff makes with students really does have a positive outcome.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Yeah, yeah. But the the infrastructure behind it matters so much because if that student who was behind in school was not allowed to take in school counseling despite the poor grades, none of this would be happening.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Absolutely. And that's what that's what youth mental health, that's what the tier one approach, we're looking for those subtle changes and saying, hey, when you're ready, we are here.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

I love that. That's so cool. Okay, last question is I want to hear about the two of you. How have these initiatives impacted your own perspective on your mental health?

SPEAKER_00 24:57

I think the impact that we are able to provide services to our students, because previously, prior to having the mental health allocation and prior to the inception of the mental health department, we had two contracted mental health providers for the entire district. And now we're able to provide mental health counseling and access to that to our students. So we know that we're making a difference. And so from a personal perspective, that's why I got into this field is to help students and to help their families and to help their mental health and their whole being, their social side of that. So to be able to do that is a great feeling that when a parent calls us and says, We're struggling, my student is struggling behaviorally, emotionally, and that has a negative impact on the classroom, that we're able to offer some type of resource for them.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

It sounds like it would prevent some burnout on your part. Melissa?

SPEAKER_01 26:12

I have been um a very vocal advocate for staff mental wellness since our department was created. Our allocation and the budget that we get is solely focused on student wellness. But, you know, our teachers are hurting our school bus operators, our food service workers. And so it's having those conversations after youth mental health or when I engage with someone that, you know, in the hallway may not be having the best day, having those conversations and saying, are you okay? and truly listening to them and then helping them find an avenue or where they can go for those services. Because we do have some great services that the district offers through employee assistance programs, through our wellness center. And so it's really helped normalize those conversations that I have with other adults in my life, whether friends or family members, my own partner, but also other colleagues throughout the district. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

All boats rise. Exactly. Thank you, ladies, so much for coming and talking about this today. And thank you so much for the work that you're doing behind the scenes because this matters a lot. Thank you. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share.