E3- EDUCATE-ENGAGE-EMPOWER
One of the HASD’s strategic planning focus areas this year is safety, both physical and emotional. The district has placed a priority on student safety. With the recent referendum projects, each building now has a visitor management system (Raptor), security cameras and a door control system. Also, two way radios are being used among the administrators and key staff, our crisis response manual has been updated and staff members in each building are trained and have drilled on how to respond to crisis situations.
HASD conducts the Youth Risk Behavior survey annually, which helps identify risk-taking behaviors with students at the secondary level. In recent years administrators noticed that the results were concerning in a couple of areas, especially in younger students. Dr. Heidi Schmidt, District Administrator stated, “Our thought was to break the stigma about mental health and promote mental wellness so students have their needs met and staff are supported.”
District leaders and community members brainstormed what an ideal program for K-12 mental wellness would look like. It was decided that a comprehensive K-12 mental wellness program would include prevention, education, diagnosis and treatment. HASD has partnered with Catalpa Health, Samaritan Counseling, Family Services of NE Wisconsin, NAMI Fox Valley and The United Way to create a comprehensive K12 mental wellness program proposal. The proposal resulted in the formation of the mental wellness program known as “E3-Educate-Engage-Empower”. The collaborative received a $201,000 grant from the Community Foundation and $15,000 from the Kubly Foundation. This is a four year grant with the goal of the district sustaining this initiative after four years. The Hortonville Area School District Board of Education has endorsed and approved this initiative.
The program follows a 3 tier approach:
Tier 1 will focus on education and engagement. HASD staff have been trained in QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer), a suicide awareness protocol. A group of staff and administrators are also certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid. A group of HHS students and advisors were trained in Sources of Strength, with the goal of sending out positive messaging around mental health and coping strategies.
Tier 2 will include staffing of a mental wellness screener. According to Wendy Neyhard, “Just like we screen students for vision and hearing, we want to screen for how they are feeling.” The screenings will begin this fall at HHS and continue to 7-8th grade at both middle schools second semester. “The goal is to identify any students who are having concerns, contact parents, and get the families the early support they may need,” says Neyhard.
Tier 3 will be diagnosis and treatment with onsite mental health therapists and individual or family counseling.
HASD is one of the few school districts in the state to receive designation as a mental health clinic. The E3 design includes onsite Mental Health Therapists, Case Managers, a Universal Mental Health Screener, educating the staff through awareness and training, and student/parent support groups.
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