The Becker School District is working hard to be proactive in the prevention of mental health disease in thier school system.

 

Recently, six mental health professionals were added to the existing three counselors, five social workers and two special education social workers at Becker schools. The six add-ons are funded by the school district as well as the Minnesota Dept. of Health and Human Services, Sherburne County BRIDGES and Dylan’s Hope.

 

Greater Minnesota Mental Health and Lutheran Social Services have provided five staff members between the four buildings and one provider at the high school. These mental health professionals remain employees of their agencies, but are “embedded” into the school system up to four days a week.

 

“They work closely with school mental health teams to identify students who could benefit from individual or group counselling,” said Asst. Supt. Jean Duffy.

 

“The benefit of these mental health professionals being embedded in school life is that they can meet students as they come off the bus, walk through the lunchroom and generally be seen by students and staff as part of the school system.”

 

Duffy says the school coordinates the services and ensures coordination of care by working with school staff and parents.

 

As part of their proactiveness in mental health issues, the school brought in Dr. Mark Sander, PsyD, LP to help community professionals, parents, guardians, coaches and youth leaders create trauma responsive environments and understand the toxic stress associated with some children’s behavior. The seminar was held Thursday afternoon and evening in the PAC.

 

Dr. Sander shared information about how stress and trauma affect a child’s growing brain.  He explained what Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are and how they affect a child’s behavior and functioning.  

 

Dr. Sander also talked about the importance of resilience and providing examples of how to build resilience in different environments such as schools, home and within the community.   He shared about the importance of self-care for parents and others who touch the lives of children and why self-care is critically important as adults live with, and care for, all children.

 

Dr. Sander is senior clinical psychologist for Hennepin County and the director of school mental health for Hennepin County and Minneapolis Public Schools. He is a certified master trainer in the Adverse Childhood Experiences study and a visiting scholar at Wilder Research. Dr. Sander presents across the state and at national conferences about trauma, mental health and school-based therapeutic services.

 

ACEs describes a traumatic experience in a person’s life occurring before the age of 18 that the person remembers as an adult. Nine  types of ACEs are: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, mental illness of a household member, problematic drinking or alcoholism of a household member, illegal street or prescription drug use by a household member, divorce or separation of a parent, domestic violence towards a parent and incarceration of a household member.

 

According to a poll conducted in 2011, over half (55 percent) of the Minnesotans responding to ACE module questions reported experiencing at least one ACE in childhood. Emotional abuse topped all with 28% followed by living with a problem drinker (24%). Separation or divorce of a parent received 21%, mental illness in the household 17% and physical abuse 16%.

 

Further supported by the BRIDGES collaborative, last year Becker schools recruited guest speaker, Heather Forbes, who spoke on the impact of trauma on children and developing interventions that are most effective to help them thrive.