Austin district expands campus-based mental health services

Sept. 07--From the outside, it looks like any other classroom.

But just beyond the yellow door at Crockett High School is a counseling center with a licensed psychologist that offers therapy and mental health services beyond what administrators and high school guidance counselors are usually able to provide.

Crockett's counseling center was launched in 2012, the first mental health services center in the Austin district. After administrators reported improved student behavior, attendance and academic performance, the district has added counseling centers to a dozen other schools. Anderson and Bowie high schools will get theirs this year, bringing to 15 the total of on-site mental health centers at middle and high schools in the Austin district.

"There are things I didn't realize it was going to address and change. It has effects that were not even planned," said Crockett Principal Craig Shapiro, describing a more positive campus climate. "I have this extra layer of support. Those kids are getting the high needs service that they absolutely need to get through. Not only are we helping those kids, now they're actually going to graduate, whereas prior, we may have lost them through dropout and so forth."

Such on-campus services are gaining traction across the country, including in other area school districts.

Darcy Gruttadaro, the director of the child and adolescent action center for the National Alliance on Mental Health, said that while on-campus counseling clinics are a relatively new concept and are not in schools in every state, they are becoming more prevalent.

Gruttadaro said receiving mental health services is still considered "taboo and a stigma," and bringing those services on campus can help to normalize it.

"This is about delivering care where children are, and that makes a lot of sense," she said.

The campus counseling centers are run by Vida Clinic or Austin Travis County Integral Care, the subcontractor in the district's partnership with Seton Healthcare Family for mental health services.

Administrators, staff, the school nurse and parents can refer students to the clinic. Students can also refer themselves. In each case, parents must provide consent.

"We're working with students who have complex needs that the other services on campuses cannot meet," said Ellen Richards, Austin Travis County Integral Care chief strategy officer. "We want to make sure we get services to them as quickly as possible in ways that work for them."

The sessions are billed to insurance or Medicaid, and if the teen is covered by either, the clinics offer sliding fee scales, sometimes providing the services for free.

The establishment of the centers and the cost of the on-site therapists are largely paid through a federally approved waiver, which allows the state's Health and Human Service Commission to expand Medicaid managed care. However, this school year's additions of Anderson and Bowie high schools do not qualify because the schools' populations are not majority low income. The district will spend up to $340,000 for the first year to provide services to the two schools. District administrators said they didn't want to leave a gap in services for the students at Anderson and Bowie. Acknowledging the waivers will end at some point, the district's goal is for every counseling center to be financially self-sustaining.

At Crockett, Elizabeth Minne, a licensed psychologist, provides one-on-one therapy, family counseling and group sessions.

"The students who work with me really feel this community here strives to understand them as people and to help them to succeed and be effective, not just academically but also in terms of their mental health needs," Minne said. "While they may come with histories of significant distress and trauma and other painful experiences in their lives, they realize they can actually be resilient and overcome those stresses so they can have a satisfying and productive experience while they're here."

Austin district Trustee Ann Teich, a retired teacher, said that while schools often are on the front lines in identifying students with mental health issues, they need to be able to refer students to professionals.

Austin Travis County Integral Care last year also began providing behavioral health services to varying degrees in three other school districts: Del Valle, Pflugerville and Manor. In each of those districts, primary medical care is also provided in addition to mental health services.

The U.S. Surgeon General has reported one in five children and adolescents will face a serious mental health problem during their school years.

"A child's mental health deals with their ability to perform in school," said Josette Saxon, senior policy associate for mental health for Texans Care for Children. "When the schools are putting supports in place where they can address their students' mental health needs, it helps the students' performance in the classroom."

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