PORT ST. LUCIE – A team of professionals educated the St. Lucie County School Board on the District’s mental health services and supports for students, staff and even the families of employees during the Board’s Sept. 23 workshop.
Student Services Division Executive Director Heather Roland provided Board Members a brief introduction to the presentation team and their colleagues sitting in the Chambers, specifically naming Student Services Department Director Esther Rivera, Mental Health, Social Work & Psychological Services Coordinator Michelle Gillard and Deputy Superintendent Helen Wild.
“This is our mental health team comprised of school psychologists, counselors, social workers, behavior specialists, life-parent educators and culture and learning environment specialists,” she said as she pointed them out in the Chambers dressed in green shirts. “Today’s presentation will provide us an overview of mental health supports within our schools, details of services available to our students and employees, as well as outlining training opportunities we’re providing for employees.”
Rivera was the first to speak afterward.
“Open dialogue about mental health is essential to reducing stigma, fostering early interventions and ensuring we are promoting a culture of empathy and understanding,” she said. “Twenty percent of our youth had discussed and shared that they have a mental health condition; of those, about 15 percent receive treatment in any given year. The majority receive services in schools. Suicide is the second leading causes for death for youth, and youth are six times more likely to complete evidence-based treatment when offered in schools.”
Riviera then launched the first of three videos featuring two elementary-age students, a teacher and a parent describing their experience with small-group counseling.
Young Chloe was the first.
“About getting counseling in schools, the best thing is that I have someone to talk to who’ll actually listen to me and they’ll stand steady for me,” she said.
Eleanor was next.
“I liked how we all got to come together and discussed ways that can help us when we’re stressed,” she said.
Windmill Point Elementary fourth-grade teacher Ashley Jeune, in turn, described how her students responded to those initial therapeutic sessions.
“The change I’ve noticed in my students who received mental health counseling is a decrease in anxiety,” she explained. “They are more apt to participate in whole group and small group instruction.”
Finally, Jen Black described what she’d seen in her daughter after those sessions.
“The positive changes I have noticed in my child since she started school-based counseling is that she’s a lot more independent,” she said. “She has more of a growth mindset. She is able to do things on her own and figure out social situations and how to handle them.”
Rivera then continued her presentation, emphasizing that mental health challenges could emerge during any stage or age of a student’s development.
“Emotional and psychological struggles are not limited to older students,” she insisted. “Even young students may experience anxiety, depression, trauma or behavior challenges and often before they have the language to adequately express their feelings. Due to all the training our School District has provided our educators, we are now in a better position to observe any warning signs, respond with empathy and connect students with appropriate student support services.”
Dr. Gillard followed Rivera to the podium to provide the Board a crash course in mental health and the District’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, which guide the implementation of such services.
“We’re starting with that universal level, things like Youth Mental Health First-Aide, the instruction for adults,” she said. “We’re also including Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and Kids at Hope. Those are our Tier 1 supports, [which] also include suicide prevention. We have been implementing a curriculum Signs of Suicide [SOS] and been doing that in all ninth-grade classes since 2016. We have been teaching Mental Health First Aide in St. Lucie Public Schools since 2015.”
Dr. Gillard then proceeded to Tier 2, which features more intensive counseling sessions for smaller groups of students. In that setting, counselors focus on students experiencing anxiety or depression and teaching them coping and social skills. Students at this level also get the chance to work with a mentor in the District’s Behavior Intervention classrooms.
The most intensive supports are those in the Tier 3 section, however.
“This is one-on-one instruction or intervention typically,” Dr. Gillard explained. “Topics vary, depending on the student’s needs. We’re also completing suicide-risk assessments at this level, and those are always done by a certified and trained mental health professional. We use the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, one of the Department of Education-approved measures. We are providing additional training for our staff so that they are more comfortable and able to provide these. It’s a very specific skillet, so we want to continue growing the skills of those who provide them. Tier 3 supports also sometimes include connecting our young people with psychiatric assessments through the Baker Act process.”
Deputy Superintendent Wild book-ended the presentation that day.
“This topic is near and dear to my heart,” she said. “I am a certified school counselor, where I started my career in St. Lucie Public Schools. One of my highest priorities is making sure our mental health professionals are well trained, up to date and know exactly what resources are available for our students.”
In reference to a question posed by School Board Member Jennifer Richardson, Dr. Wild recalled how the Coronavirus Pandemic unleashed such a high demand for mental health professionals that the District was forced to find a way to adequately staff St. Lucie County schools.
“We knew we needed to to establish a new workforce in that arena,” she continued. “We partnered with Florida Atlantic University with a federal mental health grant and started the Social, Wellness and Emotional Learning Leaders Program. The program was designed to encourage teachers to become certified school counselors. We established that partnership, which was to allow us to have a minimum of 75 individuals become school counselors. It’s one of my proudest initiatives because 70 percent of our current school counselors graduated from S.W.E.L.L. We do have adequate staff to meet the need right now.”
Dr. Wild concluded with details about staff benefits that employees may not realize extend to their family members as well.
“The Employee Assistance Program is available to all of our employees and their dependents,” she explained. “This service is available to people experiencing any types of difficulties, whether it be job related or personal. This intervention is strictly confidential. It’s all part of our Resources for Living Program, which is available to our employees and their children up to the age of 26, and it does not require medical insurance coverage.”
After the presentation, School Board members lauded the presenters and their colleagues with words of praise and applause, led by Board Member Richardson.
“I would like to say how important mental health is, especially in today’s climate,” she said. “I appreciate the emphasis we are putting on mental health and just to be cognizant of our surroundings. I really appreciate our mental health professionals and the job you do for our students and staff.”
Chairwoman Donna Mills concurred.
“I’d like to close in thanking everyone that came out, the presenters as well as all of our mental health employees,” she said. “Everything that was said today was enlightening and informative. I myself did not realize we had so many employee mental health and wellness programs. If you’re an employee, please take advantage of what we have here. I also want to thank the community for passing that referendum because a lot of this that we’re doing is a result of the referendum being passed.”