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Date: 12/18/2023
LUDLOW — At the School Committee meeting on Dec. 12, Superintendent Frank Tiano gave a presentation with from a representative from each school on the youth mental health crisis.
East Street Elementary School Adjustment Counselor Maura Ricardi, Harris Brook Elementary School Principal Nikki Reed, Baird Middle School English Teacher Michelle D’Amore and Ludlow High School Social worker Ron Hokanson were also presenters at the meeting.
Tiano said, “90% of our kids get off the bus, they come in, they get educated, they go home, but we do instances where kids are struggling, parents are struggling. A lot of people associate this with the pandemic but there were levels of mental health issues with our adolescents with the decade prior to the pandemic.”
The focus of the conversation was to discuss steps each school is taking to work with students with mental health issues and future solutions as well.
The Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts conducted a study specific to the needs of Western Massachusetts counties.
It found that 45% of youth ages 14-24 reported feeling so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped doing usual activities.
In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out six in-school strategies that are proven to promote and support student mental health and well-being.
It included: increasing students’ mental health literacy, promoting mindfulness, promoting social, emotional and behavioral learning, enhancing connectedness between students, staff and families, providing psychosocial skills training and cognitive behavioral interventions and supporting staff well-being.
Tiano added, “When I look at those two studies, suggestions they have for schools in helping parents and helping students. One of the things that stood out from our surveys, stood out from my focus groups, from interview and so forth was the mental health and well-being of our students which is why this is objective one for us.”
Ricardi said youth mental health is an issue that needs to be a constant open conversation and to start by looking at the parents who may need help.
She said, “We have adults who are raising the students in front of us that are in mental health crisis themselves. The needs of our families I think also need to be talked about, we have children in foster homes, we have little children who are not able to unbuckle themselves from their own seatbelt, but they come in everyday smelling like marijuana, we have lovely grandparents who are trying with the best of their ability to raise their 3- to 5-year-old.”
Ricardi said she consults with parents’ weekly who approach her looking for help in different areas.
“Parents are saying certain behaviors are from the pandemic and they will grow out of it but the pandemic is not what it was before, so we have a child who is extremely dysregulated or extremely anxious or lots of negative self-talk. That is at the kindergarten, first grade level and so projecting what can that look like when they are in fourth grade or sixth grade.”
A main issue that everyone agreed on is that there is a decline in the number of counselors employed in Ludlow Schools due to budget cuts.
The Western Massachusetts study also showed that by 2025, the expected shortage of trained clinicians, especially psychiatrists, is expected to double.
“There will never be enough trained clinicians, therapists to assist with mental health needs of all individuals. The only way out of our current mental health crisis is to focus on prevention by building skills in individuals so that they may handle life stressors without needing top tier services,” Tiano added.
Reed highlighted that her school counselors are constantly working with students one on one, in small groups while also going to classrooms teaching lessons, observing students and working with each teacher.
Reed said, “Students have changed due to the technology and the cellphones, so it is a lot for one position. Until I started writing down what a counselor does each day it kind of floored me and made me realize why they look so exhausted or look so manic some days.”
Another point brought up was how the technology use over the last 5-10 years has caused parents and students behavior to change.
D’Amore said, “I talk to former students who are now in their 20’s asking what is happening with kids today. Although they are only 10 years older than our Baird [Middle School] students, they recognize that growing up and parenting have never been harder. New research is regularly published that shows technology in general is the enemy of America school children.”
Hokanson talked about the work he is already seeing in Ludlow in terms of social emotional learning skills being used each day.
“What I have seen in Ludlow through Dr. Tiano is just the emphasize on SEL, that we have to be focusing on SEL because the kids are not going to be able to function and learn in their classes and teachers’ jobs are going to become that much more difficult if we are not focusing on SEL. In order for SEL to work, it has to be a district wide thing,” he added.