The School District of New London and Parkview Elementary are continuously working to broaden our school based therapy options by partnering with area mental health organizations. Currently Sherman Counseling, Integrity Counseling, and Open Trails are providing therapy services to clients, who attend Parkview, during the school day. The benefits of this option are that parents do not have to take off work to get their child for therapy appointments, and students do not miss as much school. The process to get started with School Based Therapy is handled confidentially between parents, Mrs. Pagel and the therapist.  Please note that the School District of New London only provides the confidential space for the therapist to provide services. If you are interested in this option please contact Mrs. Pagel for more information and referral paperwork.

The short answer is, no, school counselors do not, and cannot, provide long term mental health therapy at school. School counselors provide, what is known as, short-term brief solution-focused counseling.  School counselors are for ALL students. We support and educate students in the areas of academics, healthy social and emotional well being, and post secondary success which is most of the time is accomplished through our weekly guidance classes. I tell students my job is to to help grow students to be successful and productive citizens in our community. There are some students who need additional support and are referred to the school counselor for assistance by teachers, parents, or student self-referrals. School counselors will meet with students who need additional assistance for group or individual sessions on average one time per week that spans 4 weeks on average for Individual sessions and group counseling sessions range from 6-8 weeks in length. If a student's mental health needs exceed that amount of time, or the student is in need of more intensive mental health services, then a conversation with the student's parents occur with a recommendation for outside mental health therapy must be provided.  School counselors partner with students' therapists, with signed release from parents, to ensure consistent mental health intervention used in the school setting. This partnership is invaluable if a 504 or IEP is needed as a result of the severity of the mental health diagnosis.

Further information about the importance of having school counselors in schools can be found at www.schoolcounselors.org. For elementary counselors specifically, more information can be found by clicking HERE.

The first thing adults need to do in these situations is to download our own calm. If us adults are showing anxiety and/or tears then the child will as well. The second thing is to identify what is driving this emotion (new baby at home? parent divorce/separation? new school/recent move?). Majority of the time children will stop crying in less than 1 minute after the parent leaves (the longer the parent lingers, the harder it is to calm the child and disrupts learning). It is always easier to be preventative then reactive in situations like this. It's important that parents stay positive about the school experience when talking to their children.  If this separation anxiety does not ease after 1-2 weeks, contact your child's teacher, principal or school counselor to help develop a plan to help. If your child's separation anxiety is unable to be relieved with interventions, severely impacting their mental well-being, school attendance, and/or lasting beyond a month, I recommend seeking the assistance from a mental health therapist, child psychologist, or child psychiatrist to have assistance in identifying what is causing that heightened level of anxiety.

Below are additional information to help assist parents with separation anxiety:

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/separation-anxiety-and-separation-anxiety-disorder.htm 

https://www.parentmap.com/article/how-to-end-drop-off-drama 

School attendance and participation, whether in person or virtual, is vitally important for academic growth. It is also the law that children attend school until 18 years of age or high school graduation.  Once a child is considered a habitual truant, monetary fines are given to parents.  As a school, we do our best to partner with parents to prevent habitual truancy. An attendance meeting will be scheduled with the child's guardian, principal and school counselor. The intent of this meeting is to get an understanding of what is causing the attendance concern and to collaboratively come up with a plan for attendance improvement. In some instances the SRO (school resource officer) will also participate in the meeting to assist with questions regarding the truancy laws. With regards to school counselors specifically, if the attendance concern is related to mental health, social situations, or other factors such as homelessness, the school counselor can help the parent find resources and work with the child. Please see above Q/A if the truancy is the result of your child refusing to go to school.  It's hard to see your child cry and scream at drop off, but it's important to stay consistent in the message that they need to go to school to learn.

Please Click Here to see the parent/student handbook for further questions about our district's truancy policy.

Please Click Here for the link to the Wisconsin truancy law.

You've received a phone call or a knock on the door by a social worker from the county stating a report has been filed with them regarding your child. Many people who have been in this situation will be flooded with a multitude of emotions, but most common is fear and anger.

Having to make a call to the Department of Health (CPS) is never something an educational staff member takes lightly. Every case is unique, but in the event a call was placed with regards to your child, it's very important you direct all questions and concerns to them and not the school. Here's why:

• Anyone who places a call to DHS/CPS is held in confidence. That includes mandated reporters and or other members in the community. By law if you were to call the school to ask who placed the call or to speak to the person who placed the call, we are only allowed to say "I can not confirm nor deny a call has been placed." We are not legally allowed to disclose any information about a report or discuss the details as it would hinder any investigation DHS/CPS is conducting.

• Every person who is employed by the school district is a mandated reporter. Mandated reporters  are not allowed to investigate the information shared to us. Our job is to report the information that either the child directly told us or we seen first hand. We are not allowed to dig further to determine if what the child shared is true or accurate; that's the job of the social worker assigned to the case. Majority of the calls placed by the school are screened out and no action is taken. Asking a mandated reporter to call CPS about a concern you have about a child will immediately be screened out (we also will not place that call but encourage the person with first hand knowledge to place the call). First hand information will only be accepted by DHS/CPS (i.e. if a teacher is aware of information has to place the call and can't ask another staff member to make the call for them). 

• If a mandated reporter does not make a report to DHS/CPS when qualifying information is directed seen or told, the consequences can be sever. By not filing a report when one should be made, we face $1000 or more in fines, a loss of our license to work in a school system (which most of us paid $50,000 or more to acquire said license), and up to 6 months in jail.

Further information can be found by clicking HERE

The first thing that needs to occur is to determine if the situation fits the definition of bullying. The word "bully" has been over used by society and majority of the time the situation isn't bullying, but a mean moment. Every child at some time has done something mean to another. Calling a child a bully, can be just as damaging to that child, as the mean moment behavior done to another child. When a true bullying situation does occur, it is handled with great care and swift action to end the bullying happens immediately.

There are 4 types of conflict: disagreement (difference of opinions-no one upset), rude moment (done something on accident that hurt feelings or body. Usually done because not socially thinking), mean moment (hurt someone's feelings or body on purpose, but only happened once or rarely), Bullying (hurt someone's feelings or body on purpose, happens over and over, and the person doing the hurting has more power).  

Majority of the time elementary school behaviors fall into mean moments, but here's what parents can do if you feel your child is being bullied.

• Please try to stay calm with your child when they make the report to you. 

• Gather as much information from them as you can. 

• Ask your child who they reported this information to at school (emphasize the report needs to be made to an adult). 

• Once you have all information gathered from your child, please provide to the school principal.

Many times the school principal will collaborate with the school counselor when investigating a bullying report. Great care is taken to speak to all involved children, including witnesses, individually. Once all information has been determined and discussions with the children have occurred, consequences are then handed out based on the findings by the principal.  Please note, due to confidentiality, we will never disclose the consequence (or any other information) of a child that is not the legal guardian of that child. What we can do is outline steps taken and outcome of the situation (i.e. this was a mean moment and restorations of the relationship was used, or it is bullying and proper consequences and steps are being followed). 

The last important piece I'd like to emphasizes is the importance of continued communication to school staff.  As we tell our students, keep reporting if mean moments or bullying does not stop. If we don't know it's happening, we can't help.

Stopbullying.gov is a wonderful website filled with information to help end bullying.

In my opinion, if you are asking if your child could use therapy due to a struggle they are having, then the answer is YES. Mental health unfortunately has a stigma, but I feel there's been much work done to break that thought process. Just like we've all experienced having a cold, we've all experienced having a mental health ailment. Just like colds, some mental health ailments are short term and can be self-managed (i.e. depression that lasts a week or two after the loss of a pet). However, when we are dealing with mental health situations that are long term with little to no relief, then it's time to seek professional help.  Therapists can help children with ADHD, depression, anxiety disorders (i.e. generalized anxiety disorder, tourette's disorder, OCD, etc), low self-esteem, self-harm, attachment disorders, adjustment disorders, family change (such as new baby or divorce) and many more. I've seen a spike in children with anxiety disorders that many parents contact me for advice. CBT or DBT are highly recommended and backed by science to greatly help children (and adults) with anxiety disorders. If you are looking to get help for your child's anxiety, ask your therapist if they are trained in CBT. Art therapy, music therapy, equine therapy are also techniques that have had success in helping children. 

Here's some good resources for further therapy considerations:

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/finding-therapist.html 

https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-therapist-for-your-child/ 

Here's a link to Wisconsin Office of Children's Mental Health

https://children.wi.gov/Pages/Resources/SupportForFamilies.aspx

*This is not an exhaustive list. There are many mental health organizations throughout the Fox Valley, Green Bay, and Waupaca Co. areas*

*With a signed release, Mrs. Pagel can partner with your child’s therapist to ensure continued care into the school setting*

·        Samaritan – 902-886-9319 - https://samaritan-counseling.com/

·        Sherman Counseling– 920-733-2065 - https://shermanconsulting.net/

·        Catalpa Health – 920-750-7000 - https://catalpahealth.org/

·        Open Trails – 920-585-8715 - https://www.opentrailscounseling.com/ (provides school based therapy)

·        Rawhide Counseling Services (Formally known as Chaps) – 1-877-300-9101 https://www.rawhide.org/who-we-help/counseling-services/

·        Psychology Associates of the Fox Cities – 920-738-9999 - http://pa-fc.com/

·        Counseling Specialists LLP 920-882-9877 - https://counseling-specialists.com/

·        Balke Counseling LLC – 920-231-1430 - http://balkecounseling.com/

·        GJB Health Services – 920-560-4525 - https://gjbhealthservices.com/

·        Psychiatric Consultants – 920-720-7000

·        Esprit – 920-720-6000 - http://espritcounseling.com/

·        Nourishing Eden (pre-teen to adult) – 920-358-0893 - http://nourishingeden.com/

·        Integrity Counseling Services - 920-385-1420  http://www.integritycounselingllc.net/

·        Evolve Counseling Services - 920-364-9078 http://evolvehealing.org/

·        REACH Counseling -  920-426-1460 - https://reachcounseling.com/programs/

·        Sexual Assault Crisis Center - 920-733-8119 - https://sacc-foxcities.org/

·        Purple Lotus Counseling - 920-543-5583 - www.purplelotuscounselingllc.com

I'm so proud of the partnerships we have created with area mental health agencies to be able to have therapists provide therapy to their Parkview students who are their clients. Currently Parkview Elementary have three therapists through Sherman Counseling, Open Trails, and Integrity Counseling who come to the school.  We are continuously working to add options for parents with school based mental health options, so please check back often or contact your child's school counselor for school based therapy options.

Benefits of school based mental health services vs outside therapy:

• Therapy occurs at school which equals to less time outside of the classroom, and less time parents miss work. 

• Therapists also have office space outside of the school, so parents have an option of either space.

• Parents are allowed to come to school to participate in sessions with their child (if that's decided between parent and therapist)

• Streamlined collaboration between the school counselor and the therapist to ensure continued care into the school setting.

If you're interested in seeing if your child could start therapy with one of these providers, please contact your child's school counselor for the referral form. You can return the referral form to the mental health agency, or you can return it in an envelop to your child's school counselor and the referral form will be faxed over to the agency of choice. Either Sherman Counseling, Open Trails, or Integrity Counseling will contact you to discuss insurance, payment options, and intake process.  Please note that Parkview and the district only provides a confidential space for the therapist and your child.