Saturday, February 3rd 2024 07:00 am
Written by Alice Gerald
Senior Contributor
According to an article in the New York Times on March 21, 2023, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in December 2021 that mental health issues have a “devastating impact” on young people. said their mental health is at risk. .
One way school districts are responding to the growing need for mental health services is by creating a program called Youth Mental Health First Aid.
“Hamburg Central School District has been implementing this program for the past seven years,” said John Fitzpatrick, Grand Island Central School District Superintendent on Special Assignment. “When we heard about this, of course for the benefit of our students and staff, we wanted this program to help people who may have mental health issues or who may be experiencing a crisis. I thought about it.
“People experience disability all the time throughout their lives, but how that disability manifests varies in terms of the challenges it poses to a person's mental health. I think it also highlighted the need for support for adults in the community.”
To assist students who may be experiencing a mental health crisis, everyone working in the Grand Island Central School District is trained in youth mental health first aid.
“The purpose of this program is not to diagnose or treat anyone who may be experiencing hardship or crisis,” Fitzpatrick explained. “This is what the program calls extending a warm hand to someone to deal with a crisis or challenge, such as a psychologist, counselor, or anyone who can deal with it. This essentially means that the person receiving the training Be a mental health first responder. If you get a cut on your hand, first responders will rush in and put a Band-Aid on you as if it were a physical emergency. Then, if you need treatment. , and hand it over to a qualified person.
“Ultimately, what this program does in its training is provide a common language for everyone to use, essentially allowing people who are going through a crisis or hardship to show up as their true selves. It's about giving them permission to ask questions that might help them. You need to listen to them and give them a voice so they can articulate what they actually want to say. Then, A trained mental health worker can give you options and help you seek further support if needed.”
The program began in the spring of 2023 with a core group of 12 people, explained Cheryl Cardone, assistant superintendent for student personnel services. Their first training was a two-hour virtual training and his three-hour in-person training with a Hamburg Central School District teacher. The purpose of that training, Cardone said, was for the core group to decide “if we're interested in moving forward (with) a training-the-trainer program.” All managers and directors then underwent training this summer at a retreat in Buffalo. And in September, the core group participated in a three-day intensive training trainer program. ”
“My favorite thing about this program is that it brings everyone in Grand Island together,” Fitzpatrick said. “The training itself is for all employees in this district, including bus drivers, janitors, teachers and counselors. You are all trained in the same language. It's the only program that unifies the whole and allows everyone to serve everyone else. So in a sense, everyone in this district is being trained to be a first responder for everyone else. It's completely service-oriented training. You can use it to not only serve the people who work here and the students, but also for training at home. This training can also be used in your life outside of school.”
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Students are also becoming more aware of mental health issues among their peers, Cardone explained.
“We often receive warnings from children and parents about children who are struggling with mental health issues, drug problems, etc.,” she says. “Many of our children recognize some warning signs when talking to friends and are very good at alerting counselors and social workers to problems they may be having. . That's why we're getting a lot of press coverage about mental health, from eating disorders to drug use to suicidal thoughts.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said that since the pandemic began, people have shown a willingness to talk about their mental health, both adults and young people.
“Since the pandemic, I think school districts have woken up to the fact that students are starting to come to school with a variety of mental health issues,” he says. “I'm sure it's coming from home as well. Since the pandemic, we've also seen a lot of adult mental health issues. But at the local level, we're also aware of that.”
“The social workers in each school building have done a really great job working with the whole student body to make sure the kids are aware of (the issues). I can only emphasize one thing. Family Support Services, of course. But Jessica Hutchings, who works part-time as a social worker at a middle school and part-time at Family Support Services, started the social-emotional learning component in the WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) program. So students who take the WEB program in middle school also receive training in social-emotional learning.”
Cardone said the training “was conducted on staff development day in November 2023.” “We have already trained 125 people in the district, most of them support workers, and we plan to train another 125 teachers on March 1st. We plan to train 35 of them over the next few weeks. We hope to do a few more small group trainings before the end of this semester, which means we'll be able to train new employees next year. An additional 300 people will need to be trained.
The process to train all district staff is expected to take two years. Training sessions are then provided to new hires in the district. Fitzpatrick also explained that there is potential for training programs for young people.
“Youth Mental Health First Aid USA is developing a peer-to-peer peer training program to recognize warning signs among peers, but it hasn't really been vetted yet. But it's a work in progress,” he said. Said.
The initial cost of Youth Mental Health First Aid was covered by an American Rescue Act grant.
“That money is no longer available,” Cardone said. “The district covered a lot of the cost, so the district will have to cover the rest of the cost. This year's cost will be $10,000, including books and materials.
“Next year, I think John is projecting it will be around $6,500 to $7,000. A program that impacts everyone in the Grand Island community doesn't require a huge financial investment.”
