C-PP looks to 'take the lead' on mental health issues
The Steuben Courier AdvocateDec 12, 2017
Local Impact
THE ISSUE |
THE IMPACT | District's efforts range from training for faculty and staff to seminars for parents to the creation of a leadership committee that encompasses a range of stakeholders in the district.
[*Editor's note: The second of a two-part look at
By
"We are attempting to bring mental health needs out of the shadows and for it to be safe to talk about these issues openly," said Superintendent
The effort starts with increased training for both faculty and staff.
Beyond just classroom teachers, teaching assistants, bus personnel and custodians are receiving training through the
"This is where the relationship comes in," Ginalski said. "Meaning that relationship with that one individual who a student confides in, the relationship with a family who has the confidence to trust the school with personal information and the ability of our staff to see behaviors which may indicate that there are issues."
"The reality is that we have built a culture where we speak openly regarding the fact that every single person plays a role with students and in my own experience, some of our most important people have been classroom teachers, teaching assistants and bus personnel," he added. "Kids connect with people on different levels for different reasons and I recognize that anyone in the district, regardless of role can be a resource for a student."
The key person conducting the training for the district has been
"Suicide Safety for Teachers is one of a series of school-based suicide prevention offerings of the
Elements of the training include: Reviewing the importance of suicide prevention; describing characteristics of at-risk students; outlining educators' limited but critical role; clarifying building referral procedures; and identifying school and community resources that are available to students.
"The training is presented in-person to teachers and other ancillary staff (teaching assistants, bus drivers, custodians, etc.)," Carapella-Johnson said. "To date, over 200 staff at the
The district has also been increasing the opportunities for parents to learn about these issues.
"We have already had a training for high school parents back in September relative to suicide prevention provided by
There are also more informal presentations being offered in the district.
"We had a national speaker in last week by the name of
The district has also formed a committee, the Student Mental Health Action Team, to provide direction and leadership on these issues.
"This is a committee of 58 people with every collective bargaining unit represented," Ginalski said. "I had more than 300 people ask to be part of this committee so this demonstrates that the issue is really resonating with our staff. We are well-represented with administrators, school counselors, social workers, psychologists, board members and various members of our support staff and parents. We also have representation from All Saints,
He recognizes that a 58-person committee might seem unwieldy at first glance.
"The committee is large initially because they will break into subcommittees as we dig deeper into the issues and potential work," Ginalski said. "Once we have the goal statements written, we'll regroup to a more manageable number, probably no larger than 25."
But that's not the end of the process.
"The second phase of this is to develop a committee made up of students to work alongside this committee," Ginalski said. "I believe students are an underutilized resource and they can be great help to the decision makers going forward. Who knows better what students are dealing with than students? I plan on putting kids to work in this area as well. Kids learn best from other kids and I plan on leveraging that going forward."
Carapella-Johnson said the community should be aware of the following resources as well:
http://www.steubencourier.com/article/20171211/NEWS/171219978