Mental Health Crisis in Our Schools

by Barbara Gransee

Adams County community residents, like many other residents in rural Wisconsin communities, are faced with unique stressors such as a lack of transportation, lack of employment opportunities, and the lack of skilled childcare. They are more apt to experience greater challenges accessing quality mental health care than those in more urban settings. Therefore, when staff from the Adams-Friendship Area School District were approached to testify in front of the Wisconsin State Senate Education Committee this past winter regarding our mental health crisis in both the school district and our community at large, and to share all that we are doing to combat it, we were ecstatic. Our message to the Senate included harrowing statistics, a student story of hope and eventual loss, a description of grant-funded activities we are conducting to address mental health, and a call for action to assist school districts in abating the mental health crisis in schools.

One contributing factor to our mental health crisis in Adams-Friendship is a shortage of mental health providers and services. The ratio of population to mental health providers is 2,560:1 in Adams County compared to the state’s ratio of 623:1.^₁ There were times in the last year when people needed to wait at least eight weeks to see a therapist at Health and Human Services and often could not be scheduled for a second session for at least another eight weeks. Other contributing factors are a lack of access to health care providers and poverty. Unfortunately, literature suggests that children in poverty are more likely to report higher rates of depression, anxiety, and antisocial behaviors, thus only compounding other stressors.^₂ Consequently, many of the students arrive at school unprepared to learn due to the numerous compounding issues related to poverty and a lack of mental health resources. Despite these circumstances, our district has been working to address the aforementioned stressors.

During the past two school years, the Adams-Friendship Area School District (AFASD) has hired two school social workers to work with families and youth. One school social worker provides family-based services to our three elementary schools. The other school social worker provides school-based mental health services to the middle school, high school, and alternative school students.

Evidence-based prevention curricula has been implemented by our health educators and school counselors in the areas of social and drug resistance skills, bullying prevention, conflict resolution, sexual abuse awareness and prevention, mental health promotion and suicide prevention. We have implemented Positive Action, an evidence based social-emotional curriculum in grades 4K through 8th grade, which is taught two to three times a week by classroom teachers and reinforced throughout the school day by all staff. Some issues discussed include positive self concept, personal hygiene, study habits and work habits. The primary focus is that positive thinking leads to positive actions which leads to positive feelings; in other words, do bad, feel bad; do good, feel good. Botvin Life Skills is a substance abuse prevention program targeting social and psychological factors that contribute to substance abuse use and risky behaviors. It is being implemented at the middle and high school with hopes to reduce risks of alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse, and violence. In addition, we have trained staff in Trauma Sensitive Schools, which not only provides staff with an understanding of the potential impact trauma can have on behavior and learning, but also teaches skills and strategies to support students affected by trauma.

Staff, community partners, and parents have also been invited to be trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid, where they will learn to recognize signs and symptoms of mental health and/or addiction problems and how to interact and assist youth that may be experiencing these issues. The course specifically teaches participants about the risk factors and warning signs of a variety of mental health challenges common among adolescents, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, psychosis, eating disorders, ADHD, disruptive behavior disorders, and substance use disorder.

In an attempt to minimize the impact of existing mental health problems and prevent crisis, AFASD will begin a mental health screening program this school year, which will allow for early identification of mental health problems at all grade levels. Additionally, Safe Schools Ambassadors has been implemented. It is a bystander education program that encourages changes in social norms and highlights the power of student leadership in stopping bullying and violence. Students are often the first to witness bullying and know things about the situation that adults do not. Furthermore, AFASD now offers on-site mental health counseling services in three of our five school buildings. Students who would otherwise not receive counseling due to transportation and/or family support are now receiving therapeutic counseling from outside counselors at school. In addition, door to door transportation to counseling appointments is provided to students in the summer to make effective therapy possible.

Adams-Friendship Area School District has also taken steps to ensure the overall health and well-being of the whole child through a variety of initiatives. We have implemented every day physical education across the district for all children in kindergarten through 5th grade. A school-based food pantry is located in our poorest rural school, and we offer free breakfast to all students, free lunch to all students kindergarten through 8th grade, and a dinner program to any high school student who stays after school to do school work or extra-curriculars. We have entered into a partnership with Health and Human Services to provide dental care in our poorest elementary school and the opportunity to receive dental sealants for all students in grades 2 and 7. In addition, students are offered showers when needed at all grade levels as well as the use of washers and dryers.

Adams-Friendship Area School District has sought and been awarded multiple grants the past few years in response to our poor mental health statistics. These grants have allowed us to implement many of the programs discussed above. For instance, we have been awarded approximately $1 million through grants in the past year, which is a considerable amount of money to a district that has an overall 19.3 million dollar budget. Which leaves the question, how are we going to sustain our current services, which at times, still fall short? As a district, it is our sincere goal to increase the number of students who feel that they are welcome and belong at school; to increase the mental health resources that we have available to students; to ensure no student considers suicide, goes hungry or is abused. Our ultimate goal is that every student in our county and their family and neighbors will have access to the same resources available to every other child in Wisconsin regardless of location, family income, or challenges facing the family.