District partnering with Solutions to expand mental health supports
March 4, 2014
Moorhead Area Public Schools is partnering with Solutions Behavioral Healthcare Professionals to increase the mental health supports available for students thanks to an extension and expansion of a School Linked Mental Health grant that Solutions has received from the state.
The Minnesota School Linked Mental Health Services grants are provided to local mental health agencies to connect clinical mental services to support the work in schools. Special emphasis is on supporting students early to prevent more significant needs later.
The expansion of Solutions’ grant is providing for a full-time mental health liaison to be located at each elementary school and at Probstfield Center for Education, along with a clinician to work with teams as needed, said Jill Skarvold, executive director of learner support services for the district.
One of the district’s strategic priorities is mental health and character development to create a safe, healthy and respectful environment for students. An outcome of that goal is to strengthen community mental health partnerships to provide co-located mental health services that include family supports.
The integrated system of mental health services in the district is being built in partnership to strengthen the following areas:
• Having mental health clinicians in the schools to work with students, families and school staff;
• Collaborating with school staff to implement school-wide prevention and early intervention programs (such as Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports or PBIS);
• Having school-based case management;
• Having family liaisons or advocates in schools supporting family needs;
• Working to coordinate services to transition students from restrictive settings; and
• Locating offices within the school.
“These are areas identified in research that have clearly made a difference in resulting in successful outcomes,” Skarvold said.
The district has a number of mental health supports such as Early Risers family advocates, behavior interventionists, school psychologists, counselors, student assistance counselor, social workers, and regular and special education teachers. The School Linked Mental Health grant will support their work and enable access to clinical mental health services.
The district also has other mental health partners working to support students, including mental health practitioners, Rule 79 case managers, skills trainers, Truancy Intervention Program (TIPS) family advocates, MSUM counseling program and community supports. The mental health liaisons will be added to this list of partners.
Research has found that 1 in 10 children have a mental health disorder. More children at a younger age are experiencing trauma and aggressive behaviors are seen in younger children, Skarvold said.
The district uses several prevention and intervention efforts to meet students’ mental health needs. The School Linked Mental Health services are intended for prevention and early intervention and to provide access to services.
Skarvold said this does not change or reduce the need for school counselors, social workers, psychologists or family advocates. “We always have a need for support,” she said. “The partnership lets people focus in on what they do best.”
The mental health liaisons will work with school teams with referrals coming from school student support teams with parent permission. Interventions and treatments will be planned with school teams, and the teams will work to connect and coordinate services outside of school to support families.
Skarvold said early results of some pilots are showing improvements.
In 2012-13, in a group of 24 students receiving children’s therapeutic services and supports and/or Incredible Years services, 30 percent had significant improvements in achieving the grade-level learning benchmarks. The Incredible Years parent program saw a reduction in behaviors and helped parents build supports and improve their skills when faced with challenging situations.
Skarvold said that challenges continue to be with coordinating and integrating services, aligning the referral process, helping everyone understand roles, aligning training of staff across partners, understanding and valuing differences in perspectives depending on field, and needing more targeted services for older students, which translates to more staff. Yet it’s an important challenge on which the district continues work to help students receive mental health supports in an integrated manner between schools, families and communities, she said.
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