Mental Health Team

Our Mission

We are here to support your child’s well-being and success in school.

Call or email us any time.

“The mission of schools must include teaching kindness. Without it, communities, families, schools, and classrooms become places of incivility where lasting learning is unlikely to take place… Kindness can be taught, and it is a defining aspect of civilized human life. It belongs in every home, school, neighborhood, and society.”

-Maurice Elias, director of the Social-Emotional Learning Lab, Rutgers University

We believe every student brings strengths to Cazenovia Middle School that contribute to a positive environment. Our goal is to help every student develop strong social emotional skills such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making skills. We use evidence based methods for community building, group counseling, individual counseling and consultation with staff and families to model, teach and reinforce our community expectations.

This year we are introducing SPARK to represent our expectations. Our staff and students get to show their SPARK everyday.

S-Safe, P=Problem Solver, A-Always responsible, R-Respectful, K-Kind

This year we are also integrating more Restorative Practices into our school system, including proactive community circles and restorative conferences with students following a conflict. If you are interested in learning more about this evidenced base practice, please contact us!

Services We Provide

Tier 1 - Creating a school-wide Social Emotional Classroom Curriculum based on Evidence-Based resources like, The Positivity Project, Mindfulness, Create a Culture Of Kindness, and DBT Skills In School. Participation with Multidisciplinary District Mental Health Team Meetings for Cross- Building Collaboration to Support Students, Community Building Circles, Restorative Conferences, Providing Social-Emotional Support for Teachers and Staff, Staff Training, and Universal Screenings.

Tier 2- Small Group Therapy, Classroom Lessons and Skill Building, Individual Therapy, and Behavioral Support.

Tier 3- Individual Therapy, Small Group Therapy, Daily Behavior Check-ins, Outside Referrals to Community Supports, Family Collaboration, Behavioral Supports for Students, Family Psychoeducation, Evaluations for Students Going Through the Committee of Special Education Process, Individual Behavioral Management Plan.

Mental Health Team Presentation

Contact Us

Micael Speirs, School Psychologist, mspeirs@caz.cnyric.org

Jennifer Kilpatrick, School Social Worker, jkilpatrick@caz.cnyric.org

Marla Reger, Coordinator of Mental Health Service, mreger@caz.cnyric.org

Bobbey McCarthy, Counselor 7, 8, 9, bmccarthy@caz.cnyric.org

Katy Pushlar, CMS nurse, kpushlar@caz.cnyric.org

Phone: 315-655-1324