Free therapy for Jordan Road School students, parents
SOMERS POINT — Jordan Road School students and their families have an opportunity to learn coping skills and receive therapy and treatment at no cost through a partnership with a local mental health services provider.
“With the increased awareness of the mental health needs of our students, it became obvious that we needed to provide more than school-based counseling,” Somers Point School District Superintendent Michelle CarneyRay-Yoder said.
She said guidance counselor Joseph Schmidt reached out to different counseling agencies in the area to see if any would be interested in collaborating.
“Jewish Family Service was quick to respond, as they understood the need because of their continual waiting list for outpatient services, and agreed to meet,” CarneyRay-Yoder said. “The goal is to create a way to service our students on a more intensive therapeutic level, but within our school buildings.”
JFS Chief Executive Officer Andrea Steinberg and Naomi Jones, Ph.D., senior director of outpatient services, detailed the program during a Board of Education meeting Thursday, Dec. 16, during which it was approved. The start date is contingent on funding availability.
“We are hoping as soon as we can in January 2022,” CarneyRay-Yoder said.
Funding is being provided through American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief.
“One of the areas under those parameters is mental health and the state is inviting schools to bring in mental health providers and offer in-house support to students,” Jones said, noting JFS would be providing two full-time therapists at the school to serve students and their families, with hours during the day and early evening.
Services will include individual and family therapy, educational and support groups and a resource center. Ongoing activities will include education and resources on de-stressing and coping skills as well as structured therapy supporting general well-being.
Jones said the resource center will be staffed 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, with one of the two therapists always present while the other is free to offer individual or group therapy concurrently.
Scheduled sessions with the two therapists would be offered 3 to 6 p.m. daily for a total of 30 therapy hours per week.
“The extra benefit is that we can also use this service for families since we are extending the hours of the therapists to after school/evening when parents and guardians (and siblings) can participate in sessions,” CarneyRay-Yoder said.
Jones said all students and their families will have access to trained therapists using evidence-based practices and best practices, specifically trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, the nurtured heart approach and parent management training.
“COVID has impacted the mental health of all ages. To assist children in particular, having partnerships with schools is a great way to provide children access to mental health care,” Jones said.
She said the sessions would be confidential, even from school staff, and that JFS would be tracking the number of unique individual and groups sessions and the discharge type, noting that some will have met their goals while others drop out without resolution.
She said students can be referred by school staff or their parents, who will attend sessions.
“Mental health services will be based on the need of the students. We won’t have any limit to what the need is. We can assume COVID impact for every student and then we will provide our services based on that,” Jones said. “We’ll be flexible to the needs of the student.”
Jones said there are a lot of barriers to families getting mental health treatment, such as cost, transportation and child care issues.
“Having something that is at the school, in your neighborhood, a family environment, is just going to increase access for the youth and their families,” she said.
Jones noted JFS also is providing group therapy on coping skills and trauma at Mainland Regional High School.
“This is brand new for us at both schools. We just started at Mainland about a month ago, but we have not had school-based services in the past,” she said.
Jones said one of the positive pieces of the pandemic is that “there is a spotlight on mental health and having to meet needs of people in creative ways and be more flexible about how we provide mental health support to people.
“Otherwise this funding might not have existed to do this project,” she said.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff