As part of the district’s goal to better emotional health for students, a subcommittee of counselors and psychologists created a mental health resources database earlier this fall.
“[It is] just one database that we can refer parents and students to so they are all getting the same information,” counselor Becky Hodgson said.
The Student Well-Being website is divided into four sections: resiliency, substance abuse, depression/suicide and decision-making. For each topic, frequently asked questions are answered to offer basic information to both parents and students. The website is also designed to provide privacy with situations such as substance abuse, Hodgson said.
“We don’t want to give out medical advice,” Hodgson said. “We don’t want to tell parents we think we are diagnosing their child, it’s more about ‘hey, here’s some information; consult with your doctor.’ It’s more about pointing them in the right direction.”
Although it took nearly a year to make, the website is still in its beginning stages. Two years ago, Hodgson said the district developed a drug and alcohol prevention committee, which is comprised of one representative from each building in the district. From that committee, a subcommittee formed of Hodgson, Blue Valley Academy counselor Chris Kulanin, BVSW counselor Christy Dixon and BVSW psychologist Cathy Kerr. To create the website, the committee worked with the Information Technology (IT) department and communications to gain approval, and the website went live this fall. Hodgson said the committee plans to build the website in the future.
“There’s so much that we want to talk about and we want to give parents the resources, but we also don’t want to overwhelm them,” Hodgson said.
The district has attempted to convey this information in the past. For a while, Hodgson said the district held evening sessions with guest speakers in order to educate parents about mental health issues. However, not many parents came to these events. With a website, Hodgson said the district can maintain current information that is easily accessible to parents and students.
Improving student well-being is also a district goal. Principal Amy Murphy said BVNW is required to write at least one academic goal and one personalized student learning goal to form well-rounded students.
“It’s an important website because it is about the whole kid,” Murphy said. “You don’t educate part of a kid; you educate the whole kid.… If you don’t feel safe, if you don’t feel comfortable here, you aren’t going to come and perform well academically. If it is difficult for you, if you have anxiety, if you can’t get through the front door, it doesn’t matter what kind of cool learning is going on inside.”
Murphy said the website is a good starting point. After the website receives more publicity, she said the community will become more familiar with the website and begin to benefit from its resources.
“My hope is that it becomes a living, breathing document that is ever-changing and that [we try] to stay on the cutting edge of what’s out there for kids to use,” Murphy said.
