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MADISON, Wis. — As children and teens face more mental health issues, educators are learning new ways to support students.
In Wisconsin, the largest resource for school employees is the Department of Public Instruction's Division of School Services, Prevention, and Health.
Jessica Frain and Libby Strantz are DPI's school mental health consultants.
They spend most of their time communicating with district officials, developing plans, and researching new ways to support children's mental health. They frequently attend and present at national conferences.
“I had the opportunity to connect with some of the national experts in this field and really learn what is on the cutting edge of best practices and bring that back to Wisconsin,” Frain said.
Their work has never been more important. Wisconsin students are struggling. They're not alone.
According to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37% of high school students experienced a decline in their mental health during the pandemic.
In the same study, 44% of high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless most days and losing interest in some hobbies or relationships.
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have definitely seen rates of mental health issues increase,” Frein said. “But these trends have been around for much longer than that. Anyone who has ever worked in a school district, worked with youth, or even has youth in their family can attest to that. can.”
Every two years, the CDC works with states to conduct a youth risk behavior survey. You need to know how your students are feeling and what challenges they are facing.
The most recent data available is from the 2021 survey. Wisconsin's statistics are staggering.
“More than half of the students who responded to this survey self-reported suffering from symptoms of anxiety. We found that more than a third self-reported suffering from symptoms of depression. and about 18% report having seriously considered suicide,” Storns said. “[It’s] The mental health crisis facing our young people is deeply worrying. ”
To put these numbers into perspective, Strunz often tells people to think about the young people in their lives.
“If you think about 10 teenagers you know, statistically half of them are struggling with anxiety. A third may be suffering from depression. And , two out of those 10 may be suffering from serious suicidal thoughts,” Storz said.
The team at DPI is trying to change that. But they also changed their strategy.
“To date, we have focused and focused on some of our students who are struggling the most,” Frain said. “But when you look at the numbers, you see that there are many more students who are having difficulties. So the traditional approach can't really be taken anymore.”
This new approach is called the Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework. It was developed in collaboration with the National Center for School Mental Health and released in 2021.
“The Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework consists of six components, all of which are interconnected,” Frain said.
The six steps of the framework are:
- Ongoing support: Provide consistent services to all students, not just what Struntz calls “random mental health acts.”
- Collaboration: Enabling schools, community resource organizations, and families to work together
- Needs assessment and resource mapping: identify what the greatest needs are and where services are available
- Referral pathways: Enable students to be placed with appropriate providers outside of the school system, if necessary.
- Sustainability: Ensuring these systems continue for students and avoid staff burnout.
- Data: Collect data so you can determine what's working
Frain and Struntz are working with district officials to improve the mental health of students.
“A really important part of that framework is a universal level of support that is proactive and proactive and benefits every student and adult in the building,” Struntz said. “Sometimes it looks like social-emotional learning, sometimes it looks like mental health literacy, and sometimes it looks like efforts to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, suicide prevention, bullying prevention, and countless other things. Sometimes.”
DPI consultants have confirmed that this guidance is working in their districts. That's especially true for collaborations. Frein said he is making a difference for students across Wisconsin.
“It's really beautiful to see this road starting to open up across the state,” Frain said. “Instead of trying to do things individually, you can see the community really coming together and surrounding the students.”
If your loved one is struggling with a mental illness, click here for a list of resources from the Wisconsin Department of Children's Mental Health.
