President's Letter: Collaborating to Meet More Needs

We wear many hats in our buildings. Students, parents and teachers look to us for help in many areas, but our expanding caseloads and mounting responsibilities act as a barrier for us to respond. To meet the varied needs of our students in a timely fashion, interprofessional collaboration is key. Working in partnership with other professionals in your school and community can maximize your efforts to meet the needs of every student. This is especially true when addressing students’ mental health needs.

According to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health’s (ODMH) most recent statistics, Oklahoma ranks third in the nation in terms of the prevalence of mental illness. We are also one of the most underfunded states, which results in issues of access to mental health care. For example, ODMH reported that in Oklahoma County, more than 39,000 children under the age of 18 required mental health treatment, but only 20,100 received treatment. That’s a gap of more than 19,000 students not receiving care in Oklahoma County alone. This unmet need affects students’ school performance and can also result in school safety issues.

Although these statistics are troubling, a hopeful one comes from a 1998 study by Catron, Harris and Weiss. The study concluded that approximately 96 percent of students follow through with school-based mental health services, while only 13 percent follow through with community mental health center referrals. Despite the age of this study, one could suspect the results would be similar in 2020 because of decreased funding and increased reports of depression and anxiety in school-aged children. Providing school-based mental health services removes many barriers for students and families in terms of accessibility.

Remembering that school counseling is “a program, not a person” when collaborating with agencies to provide treatment, preventative programs and other assistance programs maximizes the impact of your school counseling program and increases the likelihood that students will have access to mental healthcare. Some school counselors with large caseloads and/or a high-needs population must triage which students they see first, based on the severity of need. Collaborative efforts to bring treatment providers into your school can reduce barriers school counselors face by expanding the student support you can offer and promoting equitable practices for all students in your building. It also gives students more opportunities to form supportive and safe relationships during their time at school.

ASCA’s position statement, The School Counselor and Student Mental Health (2020), states that school counselors “advocate, collaborate and coordinate with school and community stakeholders to meet the needs of the whole child and to ensure students and their families have access to mental health services.” Collaboration is key in our work to best serve every student and decrease the stigma of mental illness. And OSCA is on your team.

Contact Missy Smith, OSCA president, at mrsmissysmith@gmail.com.