10 Sacramento-area schools to implement mental health counseling services this fall
Sacramento BeeJun 25, 2020
In collaboration with the county's
The first 10 schools are a combination of elementary, middle and high schools throughout the
The program will assign a social worker designated as a mental health clinician to each of the selected schools. The clinicians will then work to integrate themselves into the school communities to offer both "trauma-informed" and preemptive mental health care.
"As students (return) to school, we know very well that students will have suffered from having been isolated from their friends, not having been in contact with their friends (and) sport," said
County and district officials said the timing of the program rollout is opportune to address the effects of disruption of traditional schooling by the coronavirus pandemic, and the effects mental health conditions have on academic underperformance and other facets of student life at area schools.
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Officials from participating districts selected schools within their boundaries based on rates of suspension, chronic absenteeism and numbers of socioeconomically-disadvantaged students within schools.
In SCUSD,
Dr.
"If you go to a high school, (some students) have had trauma since they were 2 ... to 4 years of age," he said. "So it's really helpful to be able to talk to them at a younger age."
The county plans to fund the counselors through
The following schools will be the first to receive a mental health clinician, beginning in the fall of 2020.
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