GROUNDED

Best practice for supporting all K-12 stakeholders

The Desert Sands Unified School District (DSUSD) in La Quinta, California, has long been familiar with the course of change and collaboration it takes to launch mental health support system programming within a K-12 educational setting. The thinking, as Kelly May-Vollmar, Ed. D., Superintendent at DSUSD says, is not something that can or should be viewed as a one-step-will-solve-all solution.

The process, from planning to implementation, is a multi-tiered system of support that, if not approached that way, can overwhelm educators, students and families. To note, while the concept of mental health services is not new in school settings, there is a way to promote its practice for all involved. “We want to be proactive to support the mental health well-being of all of our students,” Vollmar says. “Ensuring our staff are mentally healthy. Giving time and resources for all school staff to achieve the balance of work and overall health.”

“We want to be proactive to support the mental health well-being of all of our students. Ensuring our staff are mentally healthy.” 

—  Kelly May-Vollmar, Ed. D., Superintendent, Desert Sands Unified School District

Even before the pandemic, K-12 administrators and major pediatric healthcare groups were sounding the alarm about an impending mental health emergency. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s “Protecting Youth Mental Health” report, pre-pandemic, about one in five children aged three to 17 had a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral disorder.

The report cites that during the pandemic, 37% of high school students reported poor mental health. Sliding out of the pandemic numbers, Statista’s 2023 “State of Health” survey showed that approximately 87% of young individuals had suffered some kind of mental health problem on a regular basis, with anxiety—at 58%—as the leading issue.

Vollmar says that the pandemic’s aftermath still looms large as a factor in what today’s students, teachers, and staff are dealing with. “The impact of Covid-19 has resulted in continued challenges for our students and families in the school setting. The emotional dysregulation, avoidance and anxiety, substance misuse and psychiatric hospitalizations have disrupted social/emotional and behavioral development and academic achievement for many of our students.”

Today’s educators and school staff are not immune to the effects of the pandemic and can experience an emotional toll on their mental health well-being. “They observe the barriers for their students in the academic setting, i.e., multiple psycho social needs, the competition of excessive electronic access and poor sleep hygiene can interfere in a student meeting their potential.”

In the fight to keep up with it all, DSUSD’s Board of Education (BOE) continues to recognize the link between student academic success and positive mental health. That’s why it identified mental health as one of its three board priorities for the 2023-2024 school year. The initiative is structured into a Multi-Tiered System of Support framework that implements a continuum of evidence-based practices to enhance and teach social, emotional and behavioral development for all students to reach their academic goals. In all three tiers, mental health programming is prevalent in meeting student mental health wellness needs.

• At the Tier I Level, schoolwide Social Emotional Learning (SEL) instruction, teaching SEL and behavior expectations, and discipline that focuses on prevention and teaching SEL is offered to all students.
• At the Tier II Level, a district-wide Request for Assistance (RFA) identifies students who require screening to gain data to drive decision-making to determine the area of small group intervention in social, emotional and/or behavioral skills coaching or instruction.
• At the Tier III level, a few students will require intensive individualized social and emotional instruction and coaching, individualized behavior support plan, mental health intervention, and multi-agency collaboration to stabilize the intensity of mental health needs.

DSUSD Wellness Providers that offer MTSS social/emotional/behavioral programming include school counselors, school-based mental health therapists, school psychologists and its mental health nurse. Programs available include mental health workshops and health fairs, SEL lessons, targeted group support in the area of anxiety, depression, training, wellness recovery, substance misuse, anger management, emotional regulation, healthy relationships, social skills, self-esteem, grief and trauma recovery.

“We are piloting a telehealth program that serves students and their families year-round and we offer wrap-around referral that includes a community agency working with families for a three-month period in the home,” Vollmar says. “Any DSUSD student can access our mental health wellness services. DSUSD partners with the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to provide six confidential and no cost counseling sessions to district employees and their families.”

Around-the-clock care

For the North Shore School District 112 in Highland Park and Highwood, Illinois, the current state of mental health support is all-inclusive, with a focus on wellness for students, staff, and families, parents and/or guardians. The school district, which includes PK-8, nine schools, 3,900 students and 500 employees, provides around 30 social workers, psychologists and student services coaches.

Superintendent of Schools Michael Lubelfeld calls it an “all hands on deck” approach, where every week, every child gets a wellness check-in with a tool called Sown to Grow. Additionally, it uses universal mental health screening assessments in the district for all children K-8 once a year, along with an annual student engagement survey for all children grades 3-8.

On July 4, 2022, the community was the site of a mass shooting, which Lubelfeld says opened up the desire and acceptance of large-scale mental health initiatives. “Our district and the Board of Education is committed to the ‘whole child,’” Lubelfeld says. “They support my direction of district funds to invest in mental health and wellness for staff, students and the community. Funding would be a huge obstacle in some areas and stigmatization of mental health in some communities would also be an obstacle. Thankfully, these are not obstacles in Highland Park and Highwood (Illinois).”

This year, North Shore School District 112  is doing a three-times-per-year SEL screener/check-in with Suite 360 from Navigate 360. In partnership with Lake County, all families have access to Referral GPS. In addition, the district invests with the Cook Center for Family Connection, a year-long program with monthly mental health webinars, an online library of resources, parent coaching and counseling, and more. And, in partnership with Cartwheel Care, they have access to psychological and psychiatric care if needed in an accelerated manner.

“We have a lot of success stories that have come from this kind of support,” Lubelfeld says. “Generally speaking, we have helped more than a handful of families get mental health support when, on the surface, the child did not appear to have any risk factors. We have also helped families who may not have insurance coverage get mental health access. Collecting all elements contributes to overall success—it’s a lot, but it’s never enough.” In a time when many students or faculty might not ask for help, having a blueprint for support for all K-12 stakeholders is a critical element for building generations.

“We have helped more than a handful of families get mental health support when, on the surface, the child did not appear to have any risk factors.” 

— Michael Lubelfeld, Superintendent of Schools, North Shore School District 112