Fourth graders at Killingly High School often visit their favorite park near the school. It’s been tough going into her teenage years during the pandemic, but these four friends of hers still manage to joke about how music can help them get through tough days. increase.
Calvin Sandberg, a senior at Killingly High School, said, “Everyone has earbuds at school all the time. “80% of the time we walk down hallways to get where we need to be.”
Classmate Olivia McOscar agreed. “But if I forget my AirPods, the day is ruined,” Olivia said with a laugh. “Or if your AirPods fail.”
“If your AirPods die, you’re going to have a bad day very soon,” says Calvin.
But these students also want to look beyond music to help them with their tough questions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of her high school students will report that he will have poor mental health in 2020, and the teen mental health crisis is only getting worse, according to the latest report. I am following
Friends of Calvin and Olivia said they became their own mental health advocates after the Killingley school board rejected the high school’s free, school-based mental health center earlier this year.
“All AP stressed out [advanced placement] I was thinking about classes and college, but the school board started making my anxiety worse,” says Alyssa Caron, a senior at Killingley High School, who began feeling severely anxious during her junior year. “They just thrashed the plan like that and it really hit me hard, especially because I need help.”
The school district received $3.2 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to help establish a mental health center at Killingly High School. However, the school board voted against the plan in his March, citing reasons such as lack of transparency and violation of parental rights.
Parents who support the center have filed complaints with the state department of education, claiming the district failed to provide mental health services to students in need. The department determined that the complaint was substantive and initiated an investigation. A report on her decision not to open a mental health center was due out in October, but the state board of education is now due out next month.
Amelie van der Swaagh Sr. said things would be better if she could get mental health support at school in the meantime.
“I’ve battled anxiety all my life,” Amelie said. “And I realized that so many people around me that I care about need help because they can’t afford a therapist or go to their parents or whatever.”
Mental Health: A Political Issue?
One of the major concerns of the critics who rejected Killingly Mental Health Center was the lack of parental involvement in the counseling process. Even though the CT Association of School Based Health Centers recommends that Killingly set up one or more centers because there are not enough mental health services for children in the local area.
The association reported that Killingley was one of 21 towns recommended for the establishment of school-based mental health centers, with a total of four centers located at Killingley High School, HH Ellis Technical High School and Killingley High School. Recommended for Glee Middle School, and Killingly Memorial School.
“When the board first started talking about the possibilities, we wondered if people were taking us seriously. I thought I could finally get the resources to help in the right way to do that,” Olivia said.
School-based mental health centers have been around Connecticut since 1982. There are currently about 100 school health sites providing mental health services throughout Connecticut, according to the CT Association of School-Based Mental Health Centers.
“This is not a new concept,” said Lynn Linde, Ph.D., executive director of the American Counseling Association, who says states have been using the model for years.
Linde said the new thing is that mental health has fallen prey to a national culture war. I said that it is polarized in a way.
“The message it sends to adolescents is that you don’t matter. We know best,” Linde said. “What you feel is not as important as what we think. And it will only exacerbate the mental health crisis for young people.”
Oliva, a student, was similarly slaughtered.
“When the board said no, our struggle felt null and void and everything felt politicized. Mental illness doesn’t matter what party you are. It affects everyone influences
Members of the Republican-led Killingley School Board did not respond to multiple requests for interviews.CT Public Radio also reached out to Killingley High School for comment on resources available to students in need.
“Our usual last grade was eighth grade,” Olivia said. “From pandemics to mental health to climate change, our four years of high school are all politicized. We shouldn’t be spending all our time fighting for our rights.” ”
model next door
Sandra Fairbairn, Director of Behavioral Health Operations for Generations Family Health, helps run a mental health center based at Putnam Middle School in the town next to Killingley.
The center is a typical office space, Fairbairn said, much like a nurse’s office. Beanbags and student artwork fill the space.
“Here, students can come and meet front-end people and let clinicians know they’re here,” she said. It’s very important.”
She declined to comment directly on the Killingly controversy. Parents are involved in the process because the two licensed clinicians here adhere to all of the same rules that doctors have to do with minors.
“Once the appropriate consents have been completed and returned, we get them into the system and schedule them,” said Fairbairn.
Michael Morrill, a member of Putnam’s Democratic School Board, spoke at a Killingley School Board meeting about his experience starting the center ten years ago.
“Here, generations have proven that parents are part of the process. And I think the victims of this controversy are clearly our children.”
Morrill said children in this generation are experiencing stressors, such as school shootings and social media, and there is growing concern about the impact this has on students.
“They have a very different range of needs. As an individual school district, we cannot provide the level of support these children need,” he said. , is a great way to provide that support.”
After all, Killingly’s high schoolers want a mental health center like their friends in the next town.
“What’s the difference between the Putnam kids and the Killingly kids?” Alyssa said. “Why can’t the Killingly kids get the help we need?”
this story First published on October 21, 2022 by Connecticut Public Radio.
