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Mental health concerns in schools rise

Post-Bulletin (Rochester, MN) - 1/29/2016

Jan. 29--In the last ten years, the Rochester Public Schools has seen an "alarming" increase in mental health concerns among students.

But it has struggled finding qualified staff for mental health professional positions, even though it has funds slotted to pay for positions.

In an attempt to continue to de-stigmatize mental illnesses and introduce the community to resources, Rochester Area Council PTA held an event Thursday evening so students can get help and do what they're at school to do -- learn.

The event encouraged parents to recognize abnormal behavior in their children so they can address it. According to data from Olmsted County, these concerns often peak in 9th grade, when students enter high school, likely because it is big time of transition, Moody said.

"It's a huge need," said Denise Moody, the mental health services coordinator with Rochester Public Schools. In the ten years she's been with the district there has been a huge increase in needs for resources.

"We can't seem to keep up with the requests of our buildings," she said.

Also increasing is the complexity of mental health conditions in individuals. Where students only might have had one diagnosis a decade ago, Moody said now many students are experiencing combinations of mental health concerns, which has challenged the district's service model.

"We're looking at our service delivery models and how do we respond to things when they don't fit to nice neat little boxes," she said.

Thursday's event provided parents and community members with information about concerns like anxiety, depression, suicide prevention, stress, PTSD or eating disorders. A group of about 50 community members attended.

Moody said it's important that addressing students' mental health concerns be a group effort.

"This isn't something that's just happening at school or just happening at home so how can we coordinate and make sure we can reach kids where it's most needed to collaborate across settings."

As part of budget cuts several years ago, counselor positions at each of the elementary schools were cut, which poses a challenge because many of those positions were responsible for the district's proactive mental health education, like teaching social-emotional skills.

"I think it's a huge loss that our kids are not getting direct instruction around some of these really important skills and could it be that some of our increase in the concerns we're seeing because kids haven't had that regular instruction."

Often though, these workers work on the more reactive side of things and handle existing concerns, rather than prevention.

The district had two mental health practitioners in the 2009-10 school year, it now has 17. Moody also noted the district's school social work staffing has also doubled in that period of time.

The district uses school social workers, mental health practitioners and has a partnership with Fernbrook Family Center to provide onsite psychotherapy in eight buildings.

Even though the area is strapped for resources, Moody said it's good to see that mental health is becoming somewhat de-stigmatized on a national level. She hopes if the community becomes more educated about concerns, it will help in addressing them.

"I think the stigma around mental health is reducing," Moody said. "We're really trying to teach kids that it's OK to reach out for help if needed."

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