Mental health professionals call for more "trauma informed" training in public schools
Register-HeraldApr 21, 2019
Whitlock was one of the handful of panelists at Friday's stakeholder meeting regarding how public schools are responding to the opioid epidemic. She said, "I'm happy to be here, but I'm not happy over the reason I'm here.
"The opioid crisis has had such an impact on our schools, and our teachers are crying out for help."
Whitlock and others at WVDE have formed a first draft of an initiative to aid in conquering the crisis -- "Reclaim
Per WVDE's research, nearly 58 per 100,000 people in
"Students are coming into kindergarten with behaviors we've never even seen before, and as behavior problems increase, the academic scores go lower and lower," Whitlock said.
"Reclaim
"Students are dealing with things they've never had to before, which leads to the teachers dealing with things they've never had to before," Whitlock said. "A parent could overdose the night before and they still come to school the next day and try to take a math or spelling test. It's traumatic."
Building more partnerships with other agencies is also necessary, Whitlock said, because there's no need to duplicate programs when working together would be more beneficial. She also believes it's important to build more training on the student level as well.
Building leadership among the youth is crucial so students can lead their own peers, she said.
"We want to get into schools and show how to build peer networking groups so they can provide positive peer pressure," Whitlock said. "Maybe this exposure will encourage students to join the mental health field when they graduate."
Whitlock said extreme behaviors among students are becoming more regular and causing a domino effect.
"We have to get together and fix this," Whitlock said. "Our teachers are facing compassion fatigue and they're saying, 'This isn't what I was trained to do. I want to help them but I'm not equipped.'"
To put the "arousal theory" to work, Bush said
"The teachers have much to do with this," Bush said. "We have to be able to train them for the things they are now having to deal with, but self-care is so important for our teachers. We have to take care of the people who take care of our children."
Also under Project Breathe, when it comes to providing support, several grants have been given for "calming corners" and "reset stations."
Calming corners, also dubbed "Child Attitude Adjustment," are an area of the classroom a child can go with things like books, teddy bears or pillows to calm down when they've been having a stressful day. The reset stations used for "adult attitude adjustment" are for teachers, including things like massage chairs, foot massagers and diffusers.
"Sometimes you just need a few minutes to recuperate," Bush said. "They've both gone over really well. We want teachers to know they matter to us.
"They have to be OK for the children to be OK."
Having mental health services for students and the coverage to actually do so go hand in hand, and Medicaid spends
According to
In 2014, the
Medicaid provides health coverage to 42 percent of all children in
"School is an obvious, important venue for convenient access to health services because children spend most of the day at school," Stoll said.
Teachers are asking for more wrap-around services for school children, and according to
With a large population of students in the state having to receive health care at school, Caseman said it was disappointing no legislation was passed to increase school health support services during the 2019 legislative session.
"Not yet, anyways. We hope that changes soon."
Email: jnelson@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @jnelsonRH
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