Communities in schools now offer counseling

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Long-term mental health counseling is now part of the services offered to students by communities in Permian Basin schools.

The nonprofit, which has focused on dropout prevention, has spread from Odessa and Midland to Pecos-Barstow-Toyah to Big Spring.

Previously focused on high school campuses in the basin, Communities in Schools now provides services to Dowling and Goliad elementary schools and, most recently, to Murry Fly.

Mental health offerings began last summer.

“… It’s really an effort… on the community side in schools, to… do more preventive maintenance…” said General Manager Eliseo Elizondo.

They discovered that other CIS affiliates served elementary campuses and this was one of the few that did not.

The approach is to catch young people as early as possible in order to put them and their families in touch with the necessary resources and get them off to a good start academically.

“… There is academic support and then there is a lot of socio-emotional learning. SEL is the buzzword right now, but it really is… teaching these kids at a young age how to deal with adverse situations and the proper response to anxiety and tension and the things that drive them crazy or uncomfortable, ”Elizondo said.

“… It’s twofold for us on this front because we’re hoping to have preventative maintenance and have the ripple effects that prevent some of these situations. Some of the students we’re dealing with, as they get to be teenagers… honestly, we do a lot of damage control at this point, ”he said.

They try to stop all the problems before they start.

“But on socio-emotional learning, we try to avoid, especially the mental health issues that are going to develop, when these kids start off on the wrong foot and don’t know how to properly handle these situations…” Elizondo mentioned.

He noted that there are certain indicators that children are at risk as defined by the Texas Education Agency. This is how CIS can be on the same wavelength as the districts.

At a young age, few of these factors should come into play, but they do for at-risk students, Elizondo said.

“There is a great need for social services. Teachers, counselors and administrators are already seeing children taking action, having problems in school and many times these are strong indicators and not necessarily written down on paper, but you can start to see the answers they have. They act; the lack of interest in academics has already started at that time, as they deal with other things.

If young people face situations at home like hunger or sleeping in their car, for example, coming to school is a relief valve for them.

“You see kindergarten, grade one kids acting and throwing things at teachers and cursing people. I don’t think a lot of people realize that… ”Elizondo said.

The age range of children served by communities in schools is 5-18 or 19.

Elizondo said the mental health component is not part of the standard model of communities in schools.

“In fact, only a few affiliates offer this kind of mental health support, and we are now one of those few affiliates,” he said.

Jessi Morgan, Mental Health Support Program Manager, said this was part of breaking down barriers to success for children. And the students of the past two years have had to deal with a lot – the mass shooting, the pandemic, the trauma, the past bereavement, and the day-to-day issues, so they need mental health support more than ever.

“We have already received a lot of referrals,” Morgan said. She added that it will affect around 300 students this school year.

In addition to professional counseling, peer support groups are also offered.

“Kids love groups and research shows that groups can sometimes be more effective than individuals (advice). This does not mean that what we do (with) the individual (the counseling) is not important, but just being with other children, knowing that you are not the only one suffering this huge loss or change can really impact the student. And also, gives them a chance to find purpose in their pain as they walk other peers through it and offer support, advice, etc., for what has worked for them. It’s definitely a process that works and that we fully believe in, ”Morgan said.

Elizondo said the response from the school district has been overwhelmingly positive.

“… I think most of them realize that… you can’t have enough therapists and counselors. There is more than enough work for everyone… ”Elizondo added.

The grant-funded program provides free school counseling during the school day, Morgan said.

“You don’t need transportation; you don’t need to have money; you don’t have to have anything. You just have to be in school. We need to get a parental consent form signed, and then we come to your school and see you at a convenient time… ”she said.

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center offered telepsychiatry to students. Morgan said they refer to Texas Tech Psychiatry as needed.

“… We are not here to replace what they do; we’re just sort of there to be an extra layer of student support as well – which students can never have enough support – so (that’s) everyone on the bridge there. … If something happens, we can do teletherapy. During the summer, if they don’t want to come to the office here, we can do teletherapy, so we also offer teletherapy, but we prefer in person, ”Morgan said.

ECISD has a layer of Academic Advisors and SAS Advisors, who provide crisis response.

“We are not here to provide a response to the crisis. SAS advisors continue to do so. It’s for the kids who need that long-term care and support. We see them for long term sessions… setting goals, treatment plans, all of that giving them the professional counseling experience right at their school, ”Morgan said.

Previously, CIS case managers made referrals to external agencies. Morgan said

Communities in schools were looking for a state grant to provide mental health, but that failed, so Elizondo said with her and Morgan’s stubbornness they got funding.

Elizondo said they had gone back to what his Plan A was. He said there are benefactors who have supported them.

Morgan said students had the option of visiting the CIS office in Odessa or Midland, or doing telehealth.

Along with Morgan’s team of four, they also have an online database that they use specifically for bereavement counseling if needed.

“If for some reason, like we have some that are a little more distant like Pecos, they’re not ideal for them, you know, see one of us all the time so they can go to the our coordinator’s office and meet with an online bereavement counselor in the office, ”Morgan said.


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