There’s a growing teen mental health crisis because of the pandemic. This is how one Lehigh Valley school district is addressing it
Morning CallMay 16, 2022
“To think that we’re going to see academic success in our classrooms without dealing with mental health concerns that override students’ ability to process, think and remember things, we’re fooling ourselves,” he said.
Bailey and his team prioritized students’ mental health by creating the school’s wellness center — a dedicated space for therapy — in 2019.
The wellness center centralizes therapists and helps more students receive services by way of group sessions. The center also has a “peace room” for students who need a dedicated space to calm down and practice coping skills. The center has decreased stigma in the school about seeking help, school leaders said.
“What we’re doing here is trying to serve as a pilot for the state,” Bailey said.
Now after seeing the impact of Liberty’s efforts,
Specifically, students have struggled with suicidal ideation and self-harm, Sage said, as well as communication skills as they reacclimate to in-person activities. These are trends in mental health seen at the national level, too.
According to a recent survey from the
“Liberty started with this journey prior to the pandemic, and I give
The district plans to pay for the center with about
Additional money will come from the district’s budget, Sage said, but a proposal has not yet been created. Liberty’s center was built with
The wellness center will allow for therapists to collaborate on students’ care plans and see more students daily through group therapy, while also making clear to students and staff where services are offered.
“It’s just maximizing our space and our therapists’ ability,” Sage said.
This school year Freedom has had 388 referrals to the
However, Freedom only has three full-time therapists and an additional three part-time therapists.
“We knew that there was going to be a large number of students coming back this year needing support,” said
Liberty has also seen the impact of the pandemic on its students’ mental health.
“I dealt with kids who broke up with their boyfriend, they’re fighting with their parents,” she said of past student problems. “Now, these kids have so much trauma: things happening from COVID, isolation, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation.”
Liberty, which has 2,800 students, has had more than 700 SAP referrals this school year, compared to 500 at the end of last year, Assistant Principal
The wellness center has allowed for therapists to more easily collaborate on their caseloads by implementing group therapy sessions while destigmatizing mental health among students, Sorensen said.
“Kids want to come down here, they want to be in this program, they want to go to therapy,” she said. “That didn’t used to be the case not very long ago.”
One student is
“I’ve learned to handle situations differently, to think about positive things instead of negative things,” Correa, 18, said.
The school only has two full-time therapists and two-part time therapists to see students like Correa, along with a small group of occupational therapy interns from
Liberty has funding for four additional therapists — two full-time therapists and two part-time — but there’s a shortage of mental health workers to fill these positions, administrators said.
While the wellness center has helped Liberty manage the mental health impacts of the pandemic, administrators said investment from state and federal funding will be important to find therapists, and help new centers open at schools in the future.
“I can’t imagine what more of a year we possibly could have had without this,” Tsamoutalidis said of the wellness center. “This is definitely the proactive way of the future.”
Morning Call reporter
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