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More students using in-school therapy options

Richmond County Daily Journal - 1/10/2022

Jan. 7—ROCKINGHAM — A recent change to Richmond County Schools' mental health services has been helping students cope with their personal struggles as they've returned to the classroom this academic year.

There have always been a myriad of mental health providers from around Richmond County that RCS has been able to recommend to families, but since the 2019-2020 school year, two agencies have been able to assist students during the school day and at their local school.

Sandhills Alternative Academy (SAA) and Sandhills Best Care (SBC) are able to offer specialized services to students to address issues such as anxiety, bipolar disorder or depression, which are beyond the scope of teachers and counselors to address. Authorization from a legal guardian is required before scheduling a therapy session.

It's not clear exactly how many students are receiving service from SAA and SBC, but the number is increasing this year, according to Dr. Wendy Jordan, director of student services.

"If a student is struggling with mental health needs, are they really able to do their best academically?" Jordan said. "It made sense to try to offer that during the school day so that the least amount of instructional time possible was missed and you could also ensure that students are getting the help that they needed."

Whether it's a student experiencing depression, dealing with the loss of a loved one or suffering from chronic behavioral issues, each session with a therapist is molded to the particular student. Therapy is not a one- or two-visit session, it varies based on the student's needs.

Confidentiality is maintained between the student and the mental health professional, although strategies developed using information from the sessions can be implemented in the classroom. Jordan said that, for example, a teacher might be given information that a certain student would benefit from more leadership or classroom assistance roles.

With a therapy session taking place during the school day, obstacles like a parent having to take time away from work, a student having to travel for an appointment during school hours, and other transportation issues are eliminated.

Jordan said that if a student has an appointment scheduled for a time such as 10 a.m., a parent will sometimes decide to allow their child to skip that entire day of school.

The duration of the sessions varies so that students are not missing the same class each time. Some students may have one 30 minute session each month, while some may have up to eight sessions a month.

The partnership between RCS and these agencies began in 2019, but its implementation had been talked about for years beforehand. In June 2021, the Richmond County Board of Education unanimously approved a school-based mental health initiative with the goal of improving student mental health and assessing the support systems for social-emotional health.

Jordan said that other school districts have the resources to hire mental health professionals for their students. One of the suggestions from the mental health initiative was for school districts to partner with local mental health agencies in the absence of school staff.

During the virtual learning of the 2020-2021 school year, students were still able to receive outside counseling, but not during instructional hours. Jordan said the school system made allowing students to receive this counseling in person a priority this year.

"Just being in the same room as somebody, it affects you in a whole different way than looking at a computer screen or a phone," Jordan said.

Effects from the pandemic, such as virtual learning, may have brought mental health concerns to the forefront of the discussion of a student's wellbeing.

"I don't know if 5, 10 years ago, that there was this focus on mental health," Jordan said, which she attributed to the rise in students needing this additional care.

"They don't have an opportunity to be with their peers as frequently as they were pre-COVID," Jordan told the Board of Education last January. "Especially for middle and high school students, socialization is so very important. When that has been culled to a minimum or stopped altogether, then I think it can create feelings of frustration, loneliness and isolation."

Jordan reiterated that education in the classroom always comes first, but that there's a reason that RCS also has, as a part of their staff, social workers, counselors, a homeless coordinator and people involved with the P-EBT program.

"There's so much that has to happen before the business of teaching," Jordan concluded. "That's the priority, always, but we got to make sure that we're helping families make connections where they need to be made so that children are being taken care of."

Social-Emotional Learning is a component

At a community violence meeting in December, Richmond Senior High School teacher Arthur Gilliam stressed the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). According to a presentation on the RCS website, social-emotional learning is "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve, positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."

"Bringing in that social-emotional learning for me as an educator starts with building relationships," Gilliam said. They won't share with me if they don't trust me. They can't trust me if they don't know me. If they don't know me, I'm no good to them."

Gilliam added that SEL only goes as far as the relationship that the teacher already has with a student. Jordan shared the same sentiment, calling relationships a "pillar of social-emotional learning."

A video that is used to train RCS staff on SEL is a TED Talks entitled "Every kid needs a champion." In the video, Rita Pierson, a teacher of 4o years, says that educators need to connect with students on a human, personal level.

"Our job is to have a meaningful relationship with children," Jordan said. "Whether it's a janitor or bus driver, that kid needs to have one person they can count on."

Jordan added that SEL allows for an emphasis on skills that may not be provided at home, potentially due to issues such as generational poverty or a single-parent household.

"Then, you can see them better able to handle conflict and their feelings," Jordan said. "When you have students who are better able to self-regulate, academically and socially — that gets to the heart of teaching the whole child."

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, a model which states that physiological and safety needs must be met before reaching one's full potential, is a template for promoting SEL, said Jordan.

"If students don't have their Maslow Hierarchy of Needs met, they're not going to be successful learners," Jordan said.

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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or [email protected]

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