Providing Building Blocks for Healthy, Balanced, Engaged Students

SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE) is continuing the conversation and support for mental health following the Say Something Assembly. SLE has curriculum in place for all ages to help them learn how to identify and communicate their feelings and become more resilient. The mental services at SLE and in the community are a testament to the need and offer the help that many need to be able to stabilize and get back to a healthy, balanced life.

The Say Something Assemblies were held Jan. 17 and was put on by the Missoula County Sheriff's Office. Both a student and parent assembly were held to discuss bullying and teen suicide.

SLE Guidance Counselor Toni Sexton said the Say Something Assembly was "an awakening." She felt a good percentage of the students realized that the teachers did care about them and do have daily struggles with them.

"Say Something called it out," said SLE Behavior Support Coordinator Angela Harris. "These are issues that the kids talk about amongst themselves and they are knowledgeable about." Harris added that the conversation showed students that the adults in their lives realize these are issues they may struggle with.

Harris estimated three-quarters of the students at the assembly had an emotional response to the material.

"The social norms broke down and [the students] allowed themselves to have that emotional response," said Sexton. "And they thanked people because it touched them."

Harris said that the day after the assembly students were more aware of their fellow students, were more willing to give hugs and let people know that they cared.

A few students in the community, including high schoolers reported to an adult that they or someone they knew were feeling suicidal.

"Every school in the United States is dealing with a large [number] of children who need services. There is a lot of stress. When we [as parents] are stressed, our kids are stressed. With the amount of stress and the physiological response to events that happen, it's hard to determine how that will affect someone," said Harris. "What we've found is that education cannot be separate from mental health because in order to be educated you have to be able to have a clear mind to receive the education that is being given. The supports are being put into place to alleviate the stresses while in the building so they can receive the education that they need to be high achievers."

SLE has curriculum in place to help students mentally grow in positive ways. Pre-kindergarten through third grade learn about "Zones of Regulation." This curriculum helps students recognize how they feel and eventually learn how to use their words to express themselves.

Harris said the Zones of Regulation teaches them to assess their physiological level of alertness. When people feel down and tired, their bodies are low and in the blue zone. They need something to help get them into the optimum place for learning, which is the green zone. Yellow is a more hyper-aroused state where someone might be worried or anxious. The red zone is out of control.

"No zone is bad. It is teaching students how to be aware of themselves and what coping skills they may choose to regulate where they need to be," said Harris. "The goal is for the students to learn how to regulate themselves and we try to provide an environment where they have freedom to do that."

The fourth- and fifth-graders use a curriculum called "Strong Kids" where they learn how to recognize their feelings and resolve conflict.

Sixth-graders take assertiveness training. This includes what it looks like to be assertive versus passive, how to be verbal, how to shake hands, and other interactions.

"It's social skills," said Sexton.

The seventh- and eighth-graders now go through Phlight Club, an event where adults and student interact through cooperative learning, trust and teamwork activities. The intent is to build the capacity for youth to identify adults in their lives, called anchors, that create a web of support to keep them from slipping through the cracks. Phlight Club is founded on the curriculum called Kaleidoscope Connect.

"Kaleidoscope Connect is really about enhancing an individual's protective factors that exist from their own family structure and pointing the youth back to their values and the things that are important in their own upbringing. The research shows the more connected, caring adults you have in your life, the more resilient you are. The power in it is that the kids choose who their anchors are. It empowers them," said Harris.

SLE hosted a Phlight Club last June as a pilot program to see if it could be made part of the health curriculum in the school. Only those students who chose to attend were a part of it.

Harris felt those students and adults that attended "created a community of connectedness that was extremely impactful."

"These curriculums are building blocks as the students are developmentally aging to really concentrate on things to help them become more healthy, balanced, engaged citizens for the community," said Harris.

In addition to the curriculum, Harris believes SLE has the highest availability of mental health support per student enrollment in the state. There are three licensed therapists that work at SLE every day, Harris and Altacare therapists Deanna Hanson and Jennifer Bosley. Sexton is the school counselor. Sue Pierce and Bekah Cahoon are behavior interventionists that work with students on behavior and emotional regulation through the Altacare program. Altacare therapists Lee Dicks and Stephanie Nelson provide services at the Swan Valley School and Seeley-Swan High School.

In the community, Sammy Douglas is a clinical therapist with Partnership Health Center at the Seeley-Swan Medical Center. Kaitlyn Ahlers and Heather Halko are two University of Montana doctorate clinical psychology students that offer free mental health services through the Healthy Relationships grant on Thursdays.

"People are looking to come here to practice," said Sexton. "That's where [SLE Superintendent] Chris [Stout] and Angela have done a fantastic job of saying 'Yeah, come on down.' We're guinea pigs but we are the hub where it is all going down."

"Services can only grow with need and I think there is the need. People have seen the benefit that it has provided in several different situations," said Harris.

Harris and Sexton's goal is to continue to put prevention programs in place that provide students the tools to function better and stabilize where they are. There is a student concerns process that allows parents and/or school staff to raise concerns about a student. The staff then meets with the parents to decide what interventions are being done or need to be done to stabilize the situation. If those are not effective then they proceed with referrals.

"I feel the majority of the time when a student is labeled [and has a medical file with the therapist] it is because it is impacting them greatly and they need to have the supports in place in order to succeed," said Harris. "Diagnoses allow services."

When Harris hears adults question why these services are needed because "We turned out just fine," she responds, "What basis are we using to say we are just fine?" said Harris. "We want to do something different and help these kids learn things that they need to know so [the number of interventions by Child & Family services, drug and alcohol abuse, and one of the highest suicide rates reported in the country] can be changed."

 

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