More than 100 teens helped by Sonoma high schools’ Wellness Center in first 3 months
The Sonoma Valley High School Wellness Center, which opened with a soft launch on Aug. 15, has already provided drop-in services to 128 students and one-on-one support to 35 students.
“We are the first school in the county to launch this work,” said Jillian Beall, director of educational services, student wellness and inclusion for Sonoma Valley Unified School District, during a presentation at its board meeting on Oct. 18. “There are schools in other counties that have done the work of the wellness center, but we’re really excited to be the first school in this county to do this. We’re also partnering with the county to support other districts to implement it, as needed.”
Serving Sonoma Valley and Creekside high school students, the Wellness Center has three therapists who provide brief intervention in individual and group settings five days each week. The center offers students mental health services and a safe place to practice coping, regulation and self-care skills as well as opportunities to talk to a trusted adult and connect to off-campus services and resources.
The Wellness Center is funded by a $3.75 million Supportive, Achievement-based and Flexible Environments (SAFE) Sonoma grant, which the U.S. Department of Education awarded to the district in 2019. It’s a five-year grant, providing $750,000 per year, beginning with the 2019-20 academic year and will sunset in 2023-24. SAFE Schools grants stipulate some specific targets that must be realized each year (see sidebar).
During the Oct. 18 meeting, trustee Anne Ching called for a board study session to better understand if the objectives of the grant are being accomplished.
“I’m hearing from teachers on the front lines that restorative practices aren’t working,” she said. “I would like to have a study session where we can go through the data and see if we are doing the right things. Are we seeing the needle move? Is this the right investment? We also need to talk about the finances of this. I would like to see a detailed breakdown, as reported in the grant general performance report.
“We [board members] also have to build a budget, so we need to know the true ongoing costs of these investments, and if we have limited resources, we need to be able to make allocations where we get the highest return.”
After the school board meeting, Beall said that some current expenses of operating the Wellness Center will be reduced going forward, since they were startup costs. But financial support will still be needed.
“As a team, we are currently researching local, state and federal grants for mental health and future funding,” she said.
SVUSD intended to open the Wellness Center soon after receiving the grant, but then the pandemic hit, forcing the district to shift its focus to supporting students and their families with COVID-related issues.
At the board meeting, Beall discussed the progress that has been made in utilizing the grant.
“The SAFE team is building a system and an infrastructure to address the needs of our students by strategically implementing interventions and services designed to provide equitable, timely and responsive support to our students and families in the form of social-emotional learning development and wellness,” she said.
Beall explained that SVUSD is attempting to actualize these objectives by utilizing a multitiered system of support.
•Tier 1: Build, support and sustain this tier academically, socially and emotionally to ensure all youth are set up for success, and that they will be healthy, engaged, nurtured and connected.
•Tier 2: Increase capacity at all schools to support students’ mental health needs.
•Tier 3: Create clear, coherent systems for students to access all tiers of support (academically, behaviorally and social-emotionally) that are restorative, equitable, coordinated, safe and resilient.
The SAFE team consist of Beall as well as district social workers Camille Garcia and Michelle “Missy” Jackson, counselor Kim Bellach, bilingual community liaison Mariana Madrigal, and child welfare and attendance specialist Treytcy De Haro Martinez. They are assisted by 10 interns, most of whom have achieved or are working toward bachelor’s or master’s degrees in social welfare or family therapy.
“Our district social workers are able to support our team of interns in the work they do,” Beall said. “This team provides the Tier 3 support for our students.”
During the first three years of the grant, the SAFE team addressed Tier 1 needs by implementing a social-emotional learning curriculum and establishing weekly advisories in secondary schools as well as dedicated time daily in elementary school master schedules. Psychologists were assigned to each school in the district, suicide prevention lessons were provided at the secondary level, and behavior referral processes and procedures were implemented to support students’ academic, behavior and mental health.
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