CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Workforce shortage hampers mental health care at schools

Gazette - 7/18/2022

Jul. 18—CEDAR RAPIDS — Hundreds of students in Cedar Rapids are waiting for school-based mental health services — most of which are provided by community organizations facing a workforce shortage.

Maggie Hartzler, school-based clinical supervisor at Tanager Place, estimates about 200 students are currently waiting for services. Tanager Place could hire 15 more therapists — five of them school-based therapists for Cedar Rapids schools — and provide children, adults and community members with the mental health support they need, Hartzler said. But there isn't the workforce to support it.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District last month reported 524 students were referred to or waiting for school-based therapy services. This includes students who were identified as needing services and families that may have said they already have services in place or aren't interested in them, Hartzler said.

A total of 885 students are being served through school-based mental health services in Cedar Rapids schools. There are almost 16,000 students in the district.

Students spend almost half of their days in a school setting and are six times more likely to get evidence-based mental health treatment when it's offered in school, according to school board documents.

There are "really significant emotional and mental health challenges teachers and students are experiencing that makes it really difficult for them to thrive in school right now," said Kari Vogelgesang, director of Professional Development at the Iowa Center for School Mental Health at the University of Iowa.

Vogelgesang helps deliver professional development through the UI for educators to increase their knowledge and understanding of mental health issues students could be experiencing.

"Teachers aren't mental health care providers, and we don't want them to feel like they have to become that," Vogelgesang said. "We do think of them as first responders, and need to make sure they have enough education to identify the signs and symptoms of a student struggling."

To bridge the gap between the need for services and number of licensed therapists, Tanager Place hires behavior health interventionists — an additional support but not a licensed therapist.

A behavior health interventionist can work with students on building skills. For example, if a student has high anxiety, the provider works with him or her to find ways to manage the anxiety in the classroom and at home, Hartzler said.

Educators are a "bridge" to building a relationship between families and mental health providers, Hartzler said.

"For a lot of families, it can feel really scary. ... It requires a lot of trust to say, 'I'm going to allow you to meet with my child when I haven't had an in-person meeting with you because my work schedule doesn't allow it' or whatever other barrier they may have," Hartzler said.

By integrating mental health services in to schools, therapists can work with teachers to help them understand the needs, Hartzler said. This effort started in earnest in 2015 at Tanager Place with providers working with educators to give context to behaviors some students are exhibiting so the educator can better understand.

Tanager Place served over 1,500 students in nine school districts during the 2021-22 school year. Hartzler said that's probably 1,500 students who otherwise would have gone without the services.

Mental health providers also can be a resource to help attract and retain teachers, Hartzler said. The Cedar Rapids district lost 126 teachers at the end of the 2021-2022 year, up from 100 last year.

"When teachers feel confident in what they're doing, they're more likely to want to stay," Hartzler said. "When we give teachers tools to help them feel like they're doing a better job or take away the shame when a kid is struggling — it's not necessarily that you're doing anything wrong.

"This kid has other things happening, and you could be the most wonderful, beautiful, amazing teacher, and you're still not going to be able to teach them math because there are other things on that kid's brain more important," Hartzler said.

The Cedar Rapids district has been an "incredible advocate" for mental health services in their schools, Hartzler said. "They have put dollars toward this effort in a way that allows us to do really good work," she said.

Prioritizing supportive resources like mental health services has been a topic of conversation for Cedar Rapids school board members. The board recently agreed to explore options for shifting resources toward mental health and other supportive services for students as they discussed the role of school resource officers.

Foundation 2 Chief Executive Officer Emily Blomme has an idea to partner school resource officers with trained crisis counselors, who work to navigate and de-escalate mental health-related situations and connect students with community resources. Foundation 2 provides crisis mental health services in Eastern Iowa and to the Cedar Rapids school district.

Foundation 2 already operates a similar program — the Law Enforcement Liaison Program — in the Cedar Rapids Police Department, Marion Police Department, Linn County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies in Eastern Iowa. It is a nationally recognized model with an 87 percent diversion rate from hospitals and jails, Blomme said

It's hard for children to learn when they are grappling with their mental health, a history of trauma, lack of support or are hungry, Blomme said, but it can take months to get in to see a mental health provider because there simply aren't enough licensed psychiatrists and therapists.

"The system is so incredibly broken right now, and it is heartbreaking," Blomme said.

A large percentage of a child's live has been spent in the pandemic. For a 10-year-old, it's 20 percent of their life, said Jenny Schulz, lawyer and executive director of Kids First Law Center in Cedar Rapids, which provides legal advocacy for children whose parents are in custody disputes or divorce conflicts.

"That's a really long time to be going through a hard time, especially for kids who were isolated in a home where there was abuse or substance use, the effects of the pandemic were stronger," Schulz said.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com

___

(c)2022 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

Visit The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at thegazette.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.