Winchester Sun, May 27, 2016
Clark schools to offer mental health services
By Whitney Leggett
Mental health issues are a growing concern for students, according to Greg Hollon, director of pupil personnel and student support services for Clark County Public Schools.
In the past three years, the district has seen the number of students in the home-hospital program because of mental health issues surpass those with physical ailments.
“In just this very small element of dealing with home-hospital issues, we’ve seen a change,” he said. “Previously, about 80 percent of home-hospital students were for physical ailments and 20 percent for mental. Fast forward a couple of years later, and that has switched to 65 percent mental, 35 percent physical.”
Hollon said those numbers don’t represent the magnitude of mental health concerns across the district, but give a glimpse at a trend that needs to be addressed.
In Clark County, those needs will be addressed thanks to a new partnership between the district and an agency that will give daily access to mental health services in each school, Hollon said.
The Clark County Board of Education approved earlier this month an agreement with Mountain Comprehensive Care to provide mental health services for all preschool through high school students in the district.
The agreement places a mental health therapist in every school to address issues immediately at no cost to the district.
“These therapists will be one of the first in our line of defense,” Hollon said. “Right now, we have to call out to some other services. We deal with mental health issues some in-house, but with severe issues and in some cases, we have to call other agencies to assist. This puts someone in the buildings full time to be there to address issues as they occur.”
Hollon said this not only speeds up the process, but provides an opportunity to de-escalate situations involving mental health concerns.
He expects the program will be in place at the start of the upcoming school year.
Mountain Comprehensive Care is a Prestonburg-based care center dealing with adult and children’s mental health services, psychiatric and psychological services, substance abuse services and school-based services.
Hollon said services are billed to Medicaid or private insurance, not the district.
“Our goal is to provide the most well-rounded services that we can for our students, our families and our community,” he said. “This gives us an opportunity to have someone in each building on hand to help with any situations, but more importantly, to get to know students who may have concerns before they manifest into a major problem,” Hollon said. “This is no longer just a reactive thing, we’re being proactive.”
He said the details about how students would be referred to therapists are still being worked out.