District mental-health supervisor summarizes expanded counseling services and partnerships

The district’s mental-health supervisor told the board the district has significantly expanded counseling capacity since 2015 and is now operating a comprehensive K–12 counseling program that includes classroom lessons, individual and group counseling and crisis intervention. “I am the mental health supervisor for the district,” the speaker said during the presentation.

The supervisor said the district has added counselors at elementary, middle and high school levels, a district special-education counselor, a CTE coordinator and a new school psychologist, and described program umbrellas such as Tigers Matter and Sources of Strength. Sources of Strength, the presenter said, is “for students and by students” and focuses on peer-led mental-health supports and suicide prevention.

She outlined assessment and referral practices at the high school, saying the district started a screening-and-referral process that asks about mental health and substance use; students identified through screening are linked to community partners. “We use community partners to help us support students that do need support,” she said, naming Lifeways and other providers.

Board members pressed on service delivery: the supervisor said school counseling services are typically short-term (about 12 sessions) and referrals to longer-term community providers are made when needed, with parental permission required. In response to a question about whether counselors proactively check every student, she said referrals mostly come from teachers, administrators and families, though students can self-refer.

The presentation also covered program supports for students in foster care, new counselor-specific evaluations (moving beyond teacher-evaluation models) and the district’s first year using the Wayfinder social-emotional learning curriculum across K–12.

The board did not vote on policy as part of the presentation; members asked follow-up questions about referral workflows and data collection as next steps.