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Trying to cut months-long wait times, Dallas schools put millions for staffing to address student mental - The Dallas Morning News

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Dallas ISD will nearly double its number of mental health professionals for the upcoming school year.

Tucked into the district’s $1.646 billion general operating budget approved by trustees on Thursday is $5.8 million for 57 new “mental health clinicians” -- licensed social workers, licensed counselors and licensed specialists in school psychology dedicated to helping students with behavioral, emotional and social issues.

“Collectively, we have all heard the need for more services to students for mental health,” said Dallas ISD’s Assistant Superintendent for School Leadership Leslie Stephens.

When Stephens assumed oversight of the district’s mental health efforts in November, she was stunned to discover that in some instances, students and families were on a three-month wait list to receive counseling or therapy.

“I was appalled,” Stephens said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, if that was my own child, and they were going through something or I felt like that they needed long-term counseling, my anxiety level probably would have risen.’”

Last year, for care beyond what a school counselor would normally offer, the district had two separate departments providing services: 23 mental health clinicians were based out of the district’s 11 youth and family centers, while another 38 clinicians roamed the district’s campuses.

Long wait lists were common at the family centers, Stephens said, and the campus-based providers served up to eight different schools -- and were pulled into crisis counseling situations as those popped up throughout the school year.

Additionally, the district didn’t have an electronic referral system in place, so when a school counselor reached out for additional care for a student, there was no formal process on which department would be in a better position to help.

“It was real clear that we needed a cohesive alignment of services,” Stephens said.

Starting next month, DISD will launch a new mental health services department, combining the site-based and campus-based programs under one roof.

The new employees will be split between the two different models of care, Stephens said. Doing so will allow wait times to drop, and give clinicians a more manageable caseload, working with four or fewer campuses, she said.

In addition, the district recently expanded its telehealth options for mental health, partnering with Children’s Health Dallas to provide added care at 15 campuses, including seven high schools: Carter, Lincoln, Molina, Roosevelt, Skyline, South Oak Cliff and Spruce.

“This is absolutely needed,” Dallas ISD’s Chief of School Leadership Stephanie Elizalde said during a June meeting with the district’s board of trustees.

Prioritizing student mental health care, particularly during the coronavirus crisis, is essential, experts say.

“Students can’t just get back to their academics if they’re not mentally healthy,” said Lesa Pritchard, the president-elect for the Texas School Counselor Association and an executive director at Boerne ISD. “That’s not how the brain works. Everyone’s level of anxiety is high right now -- for kids as well as adults.”

In a recent poll of 1,500 teenagers -- ages 13 to 19 -- commissioned by the National 4-H Council, seven in 10 respondents said that they had recent struggles with their mental health, manifesting through stress, anxiety, addiction and depression.

The survey, conducted by The Harris Poll from May 4 to May 14, also found that over 75% of students wanted a more inclusive space at school to talk about mental health, “mental health days” for students to prioritize their own health, and more outlets for students struggling with mental health.

Michelle Kinder, the former executive director of Dallas’ Momentous Institute and a nationally recognized expert in social-emotional health, praised the district’s recent efforts to give mental health greater importance.

She was heartened by a perceived shift of how school systems approach mental health on their campuses, with more social-emotional learning and practices directed to address childhood trauma.

“For years, the conversation was about how we could get our schools under control,” Kinder said. “The message was, ‘You’re our problem and we’ll keep you under control in order for us to do our jobs.’ Now, it’s about support. More counselors, more social-emotional learning. The message is, ‘We’re here to serve you, and everything we’re doing is an investment in your potential.’”

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