According to an article written in 2015 called ìSchool Shootings and Student Mental Health: Role of the School Counselor in Mitigating Violenceî and sponsored by the American Counseling Association, 75 percent of students who suffer from some form of mental illness do not receive mental health services.According to a post by Dr. Winston Chung on http://psychcentral.com, many school shooting perpetrators were dealing with symptoms of depression, narcissistic tendencies, rage and often used ìsplittingî ñ- the inability to hold opposing thoughts, feelings or beliefs ñ- as a coping mechanism. Splitting can contribute to a person rationalizing things like homicide, the post states.Kim Boyd, director of community care for El Paso County School District 49, said the district is aware of the increased concern for student mental health, which is part of the reason D 49 hired her in July 2017. Since then, Boyd said she has been working on helping the schools develop and implement a socio-emotional learning curriculum for students, so issues can be addressed before they become dangerous.ìWe were reactive (to mental health issues) well prior to many of these shootings,î Boyd said. ìWe are trying to do character development in elementary and middle school so in high school they can handle themselves better. It is about trying to figure out what the kids need so they do not resort to self-harm or harming others as coping mechanisms.îBoyd said she has been applying for grants to get funding for more professional development days, and is working on finding ways to get all 1,600 district staff members additional mental health training over the next two years.However, Boyd said she faces a hurdle with offering additional training because typically that must be done after school, on weekends or during school breaks. ìProviding training for staff during breaks and after hours or during the summer is not necessarily being respectful of their personal time,î she said. ìWe do not need to add more stress.îBoyd is a licensed clinical psychologist and licensed school psychologist. She said a misconception about school counselors is that they offer therapy for students who need it, but they do not. She said she is working to bring more therapeutic support to D 49 so that students who do need therapy can more easily access it.ìWe have AspenPointe, a community mental health provider, at three of our campuses; and are looking to roll them out to all of our regular campuses,î Boyd said. Sand Creek High School, Patriot High School and Evans International Elementary School each have a designated room for AspenPointe so therapeutic resources or counseling sessions can be provided, she said.Part of the difficulty with identifying students who may have mental health issues is finding someone to step up and reveal the problem to a person in a position of power, Boyd said. The Safe2Tell program allows students, teachers, staff or parents to make an anonymous report about disconcerting behavior or threats. The program has been identified on the back of student and staff ID tags throughout the districtís high schools, she said.ìWe train the students and staff to see that the Safe2Tell information is right there,î Boyd said. The program can be used for any scenario, i.e., if a parent sees something worrisome posted on Facebook or if a staff member wants to report a concern about another staff member.According to the Safe2Tell website, the program was initiated by the findings of a study convened after the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado. The study was intended to make recommendations about preventing another school massacre; and, as a direct outcome of that study, the Safe2Tell Initiative was created.ìThe Safe2Tell Initiative was created to implement a critical recommendation: to provide an anonymous venue for parents, students, teachers, school administrators and law enforcement to share information,î the website states.Boyd said training for staff members on prevention and awareness, as well as how to verbally de-escalate a student in crisis will continue to be a focus at D 49.ìWe have teams on every single campus that have that training,î she said. ìThe goal of our district is to get more mental health training and support to every staff member.î
