What mental health resources does Milton Area High School provide?
According to Milton High School Guidance Counselor Ms. Leslie Robinson, the school offers a weekly support group for coping skills that can aid up to 10 normally students and runs for 10 weeks twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. This year they were only able to run it once in the spring due to the availability of guidance staff, added Mrs. Robinson.
Ms. Robinson said that the school counselors also provide support by checking in on students that they know need additional help.
Guidance Counselor Mr. David Newell said that they utilize the “BESS Screener” to help identify students who may be struggling. It is a Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS), It is part of the BASC-3, a standardized Behavior and Emotional Screening System, Added Ms. Robinson. Then guidance counselors can check in with students and provide community services, she added.
According to Ms. Robinson, teachers and staff must be briefly trained in obvious signs of trauma and suicide every three years. Nurses, Guidance Counselors, and some other staff need more extensive training by the state Department of Education, added Ms. Robinson.
Because of the more in-depth training Mr. Newell and Ms. Robinson received, they can give the other staff an overview training. This training has proven beneficial, added Ms. Robinson; she said staff were very receptive and asked a lot of questions, which led to discussions about the situations students may find themselves in and how to deal with it.
According to both counselors, teachers are very good resources for students because students see teachers more frequently than the counselors and form closer bonds. It is easier for teachers to notice when students are acting “out of the norm” and can tell when a student may be struggling.
So, for a teacher to just simply ask a student if something is wrong is the best way to help a student as a teacher, added Mr. Newell. If there is something wrong with a student, the teachers can notify guidance counselors or resource officers, said Ms. Robinson.
