CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Westmoreland school districts to pilot mental health, drug, alcohol initiative

Tribune-Review - 9/6/2016

Sept. 06--Three Westmoreland County school districts are piloting an enhanced Student Assistance Program to promptly provide behavioral, mental health or drug and alcohol counseling and an array of other services this year.

"It will be more like one-stop shopping," said Christine Oldham, superintendent at Ligonier Valley schools, which is introducing the program along with the Franklin Regional and Jeannette districts.

"We are really excited about this," Oldham said. "We see this as an opportunity for a lot of our families to get connected to services."

The program is operated through Westmoreland County Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which provides each district with a liaison from subcontractor Westmoreland Casemanagement and Supports Inc. The liaison will work with core teams at schools to assess the needs of referred students and match them with related services.

In past years, those referred to the Student Assistance Program and their parents might have had to do a lot of the legwork to obtain the services recommended for them. The program will ease some of that burden, officials said.

"Our liaison will have office space in the district, and she'll be able to meet with parents and students directly and conduct a diagnostic assessment and almost immediately connect them with services," Oldham said.

Previously, Ligonier Valley had different liaisons assigned part time to its high school, middle school and elementary buildings.

"Now, there will be one full-time individual who will be familiar with all of our families and can provide more consistency and coordination. Now the parents have one person they're communicating and working with," Oldham said.

Dirk Matson, Westmoreland County's director of human services, indicated the three districts were selected for the pilot based on need.

"We asked if they'd be interested, and they jumped at the chance," he said.

He said the pilot is "much more consumer-friendly. The process is just simplified for the school districts, and from the consumer standpoint, we take out a bunch of steps."

Franklin Regional has student assistance teams made up of its liaison and counselors, teachers and administrators in each of its five schools. Those teams will meet regularly to issue student referrals to the liaison, according to Jennifer DiFulvio, district support services supervisor.

"Having that person on campus helps with providing immediate help in a crisis as well," DiFulvio said. "The (previous) liaison was able to refer students and parents to resources they were aware of, but with (this program), this liaison is required to be aware of all county resources and has an easier connection to them."

The goal of the pilot program is to make the process for students and families who receive behavioral and mental health care seamless, and to allow immediate help for a student in crisis, she said.

Superintendent Matthew Hutcheson said Jeannette will have a liaison available five days a week to cover its two buildings. In past years, he said, a liaison was available "a few days a week."

Hutcheson said he has been advocating for a beefed-up SAP program in Westmoreland. He said the enhanced program "will give us even greater access to work with the county to make sure that services are being delivered in the best way possible."

Cost figures for the pilot weren't immediately available. Matson indicated behavioral health funds are among resources that may be tapped to support the program.

Hutcheson said he'll be meeting monthly with his counterparts at Ligonier Valley and Franklin Regional to review the pilot program.

"Each district has different needs and a different dynamic, but we're all trying to work at what's best for our kids," he said.

Tribune-Review staff writer Patrick Varine contributed to this story. Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

___

(c)2016 Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.)

Visit Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) at www.triblive.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.