When teen mental health struggles spiked during the height of the pandemic, the need for increased support and awareness became more urgent than ever before.
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The district added 29 new positions to support mental health throughout the district this year, introduced new communications and materials aimed at raising student awareness of mental health resources, and applied for numerous mental health-focused grants. One of the grants PSD received amplifies existing mental health work and builds mental and behavioral health infrastructure. Another is helping PSD and Colorado State University grow the next generation of school social workers by offering them internships and fellowships in local schools before and directly after they earn their master¡¯s.
Signs of improvement with student mental health
It will take time to see the full impact of these changes. However, there are already encouraging signs of progress with student mental health in PSD.
Recently returned Fall 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado survey results show improvement in several areas related to mental health compared to Fall 2021 survey results. Healthy Kids Colorado (HKC) is an anonymous survey of middle and high school students administered statewide every other year.
The results of the fall 2023 survey are also more positive than results from the Fall 2019 and Fall 2017 Healthy Kids Colorado surveys. For example, 43.3% of PSD high school students in 2021 said they felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row during the last 12 months that they stopped doing usual activities. In 2023, this percentage dropped to 25.2%, down from 31.4% in 2017 and 34.7% in 2019.
The percentage of PSD high school students who took the HKC survey who said they seriously considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months was an alarming 17.7% in 2017, 17.5% in 2019, and 21.4% in 2021. In 2023, that percentage was almost half what it had been just two years prior: 11.1%. The percentage of respondents who said they attempted suicide at least once in the previous 12 months climbed from 7.0% in 2017 to 7.6% in 2019 and 8.1% in 2021 before declining to 5.4% in 2023.
There is still work to be done - ideally, all of these percentages would decrease to zero percent. Trending in the right direction for the first time in years, though, offers hope.
Another source of hope is that nearly four out of five students (79.6%) said in 2023 that they have an adult to go to if they have a serious problem. This is an increase from 73.5% in 2017, 72.2% in 2019, and 76.1% in 2021.
Having someone to talk to is vitally important for mental wellness. It¡¯s also important to know where to get further help. A PSD-based survey, the Connections survey, added new questions this year, asking elementary school students if they know how to reach out for help if they have big feelings and need to talk to someone and asking middle and high school students if they¡¯re aware of mental health services available to them. Nine in 10 students responded affirmatively.
Mental health and belonging is a priority
PSD has prioritized mental health and belonging as a strategic plan priority. Work being done around this priority area reduces stigma, increases awareness, and assists students in finding the help they need are all steps to better mental health in Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø.
Updates on work in PSD
Social Work Internship and Fellowship Program
PSD received the largest grant award in the state ($9.7 million, spread over five years) in the 2023 budget cycle for the U.S. Department of Education¡¯s Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program. The district partnered with Colorado State University to create a social work internship and fellowship program using grant dollars. CSU Master of Social Work program students can apply for a paid internship in PSD in their last year of school, then apply for a two-year, paid fellowship after graduation.
The social work internship and fellowship program started this school year with 10 interns in nine PSD schools. Interns have supported more than 500 students and made over 3,000 student contacts in their first year. They primarily support students through individual and group sessions and focus on building rapport, emotional regulation, and resolving conflict.
¡°Increasing access to mental health providers in our schools helps students connect with additional trusted adults and helps schools grow their capacity to support both students¡¯ academic and social-emotional and behavioral needs,¡± said PSD Senior Executive Director of Student Services Liz Davis.
The program will add another class of interns next school year, and nine of the interns are moving on to fellowships in PSD schools.
Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education)
PSD is one of six school districts selected by the Colorado Department of Education to participate in this grant initiative, which provides $1.56 million over four years. PSD is using this funding to build, sustain, and grow mental and behavioral health infrastructure, align best practices, and focus on prevention of mental health issues. PSD¡¯s prevention framework is called the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) and is a trauma-informed, restorative, and culturally responsive way to meet the needs of all. Project AWARE has hired two MTSS-Social, Emotional Behavioral (SEB) coaches to support this work.
¡°We see our mental health data improving and we also want to ensure sustainability of practices and this downward trend of data for years to come,¡± said Leah Jones, PSD¡¯s Project AWARE coordinator.
Mental Health Awareness Materials and Communications
Having as much information in as many places as possible to help as many students as possible is the goal of new communications and materials centered on mental health. Starting in 2023-24, schools were given posters that link to the district¡¯s revamped mental health web section, bulletins with mental health tips for student restroom stalls, and parent and student postcards with information about starting a conversation about mental health. These materials were refined following focus groups with students and counselors in Fall 2023, and new designs are being released this fall.
Additional resources include weekly Wellness Wednesday social media posts with mental health tips from PSD professionals, mental health articles, guides for coaches discussing student athlete mental health, and stickers and magnets with the 988 logo and the slogan used in many of the materials of Ask, Listen, Connect (Ask how someone is doing, Listen to their Answer, and Connect them with resources).
Ongoing Mental Health Activities
Here are a few highlights of more mental health work in PSD:
- This was the ninth year that PSD school counselors have put on a Mental Health Matters event with a resource fair, breakout sessions, and a keynote speaker.
- In January 2024, the Futures Lab at Poudre High added a Behavioral Health pathway for students interested in mental health careers.
- PSD continues to work collaboratively with numerous community partners.
- A School Health Professional Grant expanded drug and alcohol intervention with additional school counselors and prevention services to all PSD schools serving high school grades.
- High school peer counseling and leadership students participate in a Peer Summit each fall.
- Eleven elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools offer Sources of Strength, a nationally recognized mental health resiliency and suicide prevention system.
- PSD added 20 trauma-informed and brain-based Neurosequential Model in Education trainers this year.
- Mental health education for staff includes QPR suicide prevention training; Youth Mental Health First Aid; and trainings for mental health employees specifically about crisis response, community resources, and internal alignment.
- Approximately 200 school mental health staff trained in suicide risk screening.
- Mental health professionals in PSD are working together and using data to meet the diverse needs of students.