Episode 70: Highlights of the School Counseling Program and Introducing Hope Squad with Dr. Jeff Roberts

SHOW TOPIC
Highlights of the School Counseling Program and Introducing Hope Squad with Dr. Jeff Roberts

SPECIAL GUEST
Dr. Jeff Roberts, Seneca Valley Student Services Director 

 Dr. Jeff Roberts has been an administrator in the Seneca Valley School District since 2009, and currently serves as the Seneca Valley Supervisor of Gifted Education and Student Services. He recently earned his degree in doctoral studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Administration and Leadership Studies. In addition to supervising gifted education, Mr. Roberts oversees the school counseling, health service and library departments. Dr. Roberts is a graduate of the Leadership Butler County program. He is also currently a member of the Butler County Suicide Prevention Coalition, and a board member of the Butler County Alliance for Children. 

IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW

• What can parents do or who should they contact if they sense their child has the ‘winter blues’ or seasonal depression?
• How can parents and/or students go about meeting with their school counselor? 
• How can parents find mental health resources on the Seneca Valley website?
• What is Care Solace, and how can you access it?
• Seneca Valley will be introducing a new program this spring called Hope Squad. What is Hope Squad and how will it work?

Transcript

File Name: Voices E73 Jeff Roberts.mp3

File Length: 00:16:08

FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode) 

00:00:02:27 - 00:00:10:05

Introduction: Welcome to Voices, a national award-winning podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District. 

00:00:11:12 - 00:00:18:01
Jeff Krakoff: Today, I'm joined by Dr. Jeff Roberts, who is director of student services at Seneca Valley School District. Thanks for joining us today.  

00:00:18:23 - 00:00:20:00
Jeff Roberts: Thank you. It's good to be with you. 

00:00:20:12 - 00:00:57:20
Jeff Krakoff: So the big topic for today is mental health, right? We want parents and students to know that nobody's out there alone. There are a lot of mental health resources available. So I'm talking to you in February. A lot of people, whether they call them the winter blues or the doldrums, not getting enough vitamin D and sunlight, you know, there's everything from, you know, am I feeling blue to maybe a little bit more right. Going on from a mental health standpoint. So if you're a parent or students kind of what's the first step to contact somebody at the school district? 

00:00:58:17 - 00:02:08:12
Jeff Roberts: Excellent question. So in our classes, we try to help students understand how to recognize if they themselves or if one of their peers is not feeling quite right. And so that happens in our health classes at the secondary level, happens in our science classes at the elementary level. And the first thing to do, if you feel that way, is to reach out to a trusted adult. And in most cases, that's probably your classroom teacher. And we have instructed our classroom teachers to make I'll use the term warm handoff because it's going to play into something they'll talk about later to one of our school counselors. So they really are the central the hub of our mental health ecosystem. They do a lot of the referrals and they do a lot of the initial assessments of what might make sense. And since we're talking here during National School Counseling Week, I will give them a shout out. Very pleased that I can work with 22 of the best people in the world that are our school counselors. We have one in every building, and then in our secondary buildings, we have several counselors that work with kids. 

00:02:09:29 - 00:02:23:03
Jeff Roberts: And I'm going off track for just a second, but they're responsible for career readiness, getting kids ready for their future academically, supporting them with good decisions about what makes sense. And then our topic today, which is, of course, mental health. 

00:02:23:16 - 00:02:47:10
Jeff Krakoff: Okay. So each school building I know has highly trained, very well qualified counselors and professionals. If a student or parent thinks that, yeah, I really do need to talk to somebody, how do they go about reaching out to the counselor in their building? And what are some of the kinds of things that you're hearing and seeing that students and parents want to talk to counselors about? 

00:02:49:15 - 00:03:47:02
Jeff Roberts: So the easiest way to reach that school counselor is via telephone or email. And just saying, you know, is there a time that we could talk about, you know, an issue that I'm seeing in my son or daughter or if it's the student themselves just reaching out and saying, hey, I'd like to make an appointment to talk to somebody. We do see students with no appointment if it's an urgent issue. We want to be able to talk to them in that moment. But for most situations, we try to schedule them at a time that makes sense in our secondary schedule. During the study, hall would make sense just so that they're not also needing to make up work from a class that they're missing. So that's the beginning of the conversation. And, you know, we're sharing the message that asking for help is normal and healthy. So everybody, I think, sees a physician and gets a checkup from time to time. So, you know, getting a check up on a mental health perspective is healthy and normal as well. 

00:03:47:13 - 00:04:13:02
Jeff Krakoff: Yeah. You know, I kind of started with the idea of you're not alone. People aren't alone. I think in this world of social media where everybody's posting how fantastic things are and how happy they are and life is great. You know, a student may think, well, maybe it's just me. But, you know, I would imagine that a lot of people to different degrees could benefit from talking to a counselor, right? 

00:04:13:27 - 00:05:33:21
Jeff Roberts: Absolutely. And our school counselors do not have the role to be the ongoing mental health counselor for that particular student. So they're trained to triage and identify if a student would need a more ongoing counseling relationship. And if that's the case, we have a couple of different options that we steer families to. First of all, mental health is something that's very personal for families, and so we want to work with them in the way that they are comfortable. So in each of our buildings, we have Glade Run therapists, so they're contracted to be there in the building and make it convenient for mental health support. And so if that's something that the family likes, then we're glad to do that. In this day and age where families are so busy and it's difficult to get a schedule going. Obviously, you know, therapy offices are very busy late in the afternoon. Sometimes it's very difficult to even get in if you want to get there at 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening. So the convenience of being able to do it at school is really appealing to a lot of people. But that's not always the perfect match. You know, as an adult, when I go to a physician, if I don't feel like they're quite the right physician, I go somewhere else and I try to find that match. 

00:05:33:23 - 00:06:23:07
Jeff Roberts: The same thing should be true for mental health now. So if you don't find that perfect match, we also use a referral system called Care Solace. And Care Solace is free for our Seneca Valley staff, students, parents to use, and they can either anonymously get connected with mental health services or we can help them get through that process with the warm handoff and what's called a care concierge. So they will talk to the family about what kind of services they're looking for, and Care Solace will help customize and say, you know, if your child's concerned about an eating disorder, then we're going to find you that kind of help. If you're concerned about a substance use issue, then we're going to help you find that specialist. So we really like Care Solace as an option for families that are looking for a very specific kind of help. 

00:06:23:18 - 00:06:42:27
Jeff Krakoff: Now, how does it work, Dr. Roberts? You know, we talked about you may want to reach out to a counselor. You may want to get involved with the Care Solace program is the first step to talk with a counselor. And I imagine there's lots of information on the website for the district. Right? Can you walk us through that? 

00:06:43:10 - 00:08:00:15
Jeff Roberts: Yeah, absolutely. So obviously, in a in a phone conversation or a Zoom conversation with the counselor, they can relay all of this to you. But if you want to be sort of self-serve and you want to go to the website, the quick link for you would be svsd.net/help. So our help resources are a quick link there. Also on the SV app, a lot of our students go there because they're checking their grades. They want to see if they got an A on that most recent test. Yeah, down in the lower right hand corner there's a help icon. You can tap on that and immediately get to those help resources. And I will share with families if it's a crisis situation. You know, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is right there - 988. It's just a three digit number. You can call and get immediate 24/7 support. And, you know, hopefully that's not a resource that you need, but it is there. And in the moment, of course, is something that you might want. We also give our secondary kids a business card in the fall and in the spring that reminds them of that link to svsd.net/help. And we tell them to slide it into their phone case or somewhere that's handy if they need to give it to a friend in a moment where they're concerned about somebody just as that kind of warm handoff to say, hey, here's some resources that can help you right now. 

00:08:01:06 - 00:08:07:23
Jeff Krakoff: Now, speaking of resources, I understand there's something new coming this spring called the Hope Squad. What is that all about? 

00:08:08:09 - 00:09:21:10
Jeff Roberts: Yeah, I'm really excited about this. So for a long time, our district has done suicide prevention in our health classes. I mentioned a little bit about that earlier, and we have found that there are students that are naturally good connectors. They're the kids that everybody wants to talk to whenever there's downtime because they're just warm, friendly people and they look out for their peers. So we want to connect with them and give them extra resources. When it relates to mental health support, the research clearly shows that students that are struggling are much more likely to reach out to a peer than they are to an adult. And so if a student is struggling, then we want to put resources in the hands of the students that can help them first. And our Hope Squad will launch at the high school this spring. They're going to start up in March and then we're going to launch that at Ryan Gloyer Middle School in the fall, beginning of the next school year. And the way Hope Squad will work, the students that are trained as Hope Squad members will get the very basics of how to refer somebody that's having mental health difficulties. 

00:09:22:01 - 00:10:35:14
Jeff Roberts: And you'll hear this probably frequently. We're not training them to be counselors. You know, maybe someday they would decide that that's something they want to do. But for us, what we're doing is making them confident referrers so that they can hear something, say, Oh, I know that my friend here needs help. And they know how to get that friend help and they know to do it right away. We don't want to say, oh, let's wait till Monday and have that conversation with the counselor. Let's get that child help right away. So that's the beginnings of Hope Squad. And what I love about Hope Squad also is that they are going to be an advocacy group in our schools to share a positive message about mental health and to lower the stigma of seeking assistance. So we want to make it normal for kids to feel like if I need to ask for help, that that's a good thing. So very excited that Hope Squad is launching. I'm thrilled. It is a totally volunteer position for our faculty. It's run by our kids and our faculty, and we had 25 faculty at the high school volunteer to be advisors. I've scarcely ever seen like two people volunteer to be an advisor for something. But I think that speaks to the quality of our staff and it speaks to the importance of this of this mission. 

00:10:36:12 - 00:10:40:25
Jeff Krakoff: So how many students in each building do you envision will be part of the Hope Squad? 

00:10:41:21 - 00:11:25:19
Jeff Roberts: So the nomination process goes like this. Our students were asked to name three students they would go to if they were having difficulty. So it was that simple of a question. And based on that, we've identified kids in every corner of our school. So kids that are connected in the musical and kids that are connected on sports teams and kids that are connected to kids in the band and kids that are connected to our students in vo-tech, kids that are connected sort of in all sort of areas of our school. We anticipate that about 15 kids per grade level will be part of this Hope Squad. And since it's a 9-12 group, that could be 50 or 60 kids overall across our entire 9-12 high school. 

00:11:26:07 - 00:11:35:27
Jeff Krakoff: Now, how will kids know who is part of the Hope Squad to know? Or is it just random that you think there's a higher chance that these kids will be approached? 

00:11:36:09 - 00:13:30:15
Jeff Roberts: Sure. So we want to lay them out with all sorts of swag. So we're going to get them a T-shirt that they can wear periodically at school. We're going to get them bracelets and buttons and necklaces and things like that. So they're visible to their peers. We're also going to set up a bulletin board so they can see the photos of their peers. We don't want it to be a secret who peers can reach out to. And while you might not know that person by name, you know them by sight, Oh, yeah, that's so-and-so, and they're in my geometry class. And that instantly lowers that level of, I don't know anybody that's on the Hope Squad based on the way that we've done this. You probably are familiar with that kid. Maybe you haven't talked to them before, but you know that they're accessible. And I should mention about the kids that are selected. First, they have to agree to want to do it, and second, they have to get permission from their parent. We understand that being available to kids when they might share something about their own mental health struggles can be pretty emotional. And that might not be right for all kids. So there is an always available opt out. So if a kid is on our Hope Squad and they say, you know, listen, this is getting a little too heavy for me, I don't think that I want to continue, then that's perfectly fine. We don't want them to continue against, you know, what's appropriate for them. And same thing parents know best. So if a parent says, you know, listen, they're emotionally struggling themselves and I certainly don't want them to, you know, be thinking about other people's concerns. But here's the thing, Jeff. Our kids already have that burden. Kids are already coming to them to say, I'm struggling with this or I'm struggling with that. But they don't necessarily have the tools to be able to process that or deal with it. And one thing I love about what we're doing with Hope Squad is we're going to build skills of resiliency and self-care and boundaries. 

00:13:30:18 - 00:13:50:12
Jeff Roberts: So if a kids come in to me six times a day, how do I say to them, You know, it sounds to me like you need to have an ongoing counseling relationship and not, you know, come in to me six times a day with an issue. So there's a difference between being available and then being a doormat. And I think probably most adults have experienced that sort of situation before. 

00:13:50:21 - 00:13:58:07
Jeff Krakoff: What a great program. We're going to have to do a follow up next year after this is implemented and talk about some of the real world results there. 

00:13:58:18 - 00:13:59:03
Jeff Roberts: Yeah. 

00:13:59:23 - 00:14:05:06
Jeff Krakoff: Is there anything else you'd like to share with folks about all the mental health resources available at Seneca Valley? 

00:14:06:05 - 00:15:37:24
Jeff Roberts: Yeah. I'll say one more thing about Hope Squad. You know, we've looked at programs for about a year or so to find the right match, and we like the research base that we have read about this program that it really works and that it really does create a more positive school culture. And that's why we're pursuing it. Not because we were looking for one more thing to add to what we do at Seneca Valley. We're pursuing it because it works. But as a closing statement about mental health, you've heard me say it a couple of times. It's normal to ask for help and we need to, as parents and guardians and family members, help our students understand that piece, that there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, I'm not sure about this or I'm not feeling the same today as I was last week. Sometimes as adults, we write things off as being kid stuff, or we say very well-meaning things like, Oh, you'll feel better tomorrow, but we don't really know that as adults. The truth is, if a student is struggling, then we should talk that out. And we don't need to send all of the alarm bells. But we should follow up on that and get that student support, whether it's, you know, Care Solace and a referral to an outside agency. Glade Run here at school or maybe it's a very minor problem and our school counselors can help assist with that. I guess the end result for me is we want to help and I think we're trying to make it as easy for families as we possibly can for them to access the help in the way that best suits them. 

00:15:38:10 - 00:16:02:01
Jeff Krakoff: Well, thanks so much for laying out all the resources. And really, there's it's pretty easy for people to engage if they choose to and want to. And you're right, normalizing this is so important not just for kids, but for adults as well. Right. So thanks again. That was Dr. Jeff Roberts, director of student services at Seneca Valley School District. Pleasure having you on. 

00:16:03:02 - 00:16:03:15
Jeff Roberts: Thank you.