It was in March that the Georgetown-Farm School District received a two-year, $635,000 state grant to help provide mental health services for district students, families, and staff.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Lisa Cramer told us during a 1490 WDAN News Makers program that there’s plenty of work to do, for all grade levels.
AUDIO: We are going to have a drug and alcohol counselor that’s going to be in our schools, a couple days a week, that we haven’t had in several years. And she’ll mostly be at the junior high and high school. We’re bringing in more social work from the outside, and they’ll focus probably a little more at the elementary. So we’re really hoping to hit everybody.
The hope from all of our guests was that at the end of this two year grant, more contacts are made, more services established, and additional sources are found that allow mental health care for the Georgetown – Ridge Farm school district community to continue to grow. In fact, Jim Russell from the Vermilion County Mental Health Board says he has short term goals, such as helping make these connections, but an important long term one as well. And that is, a mental health professional in every school district.
AUDIO: Part of the, I guess, challenge; is just getting people to recognize the need that exists. But also the opportunity to connect the kids with services right in the school building. Some of the kids have transportation issues. If we can put a mental health professional in the school for the students and the staff when they need that support; it would be a tremendous, tremendous help.
Also joining us on the program was Kimberly David from Project Success. They provide after school programs to 18 schools and one community center throughout Vermilion County. And they’ve been busy in the Georgetown –Ridge Farm district for some time.
AUDIO: We have after school programs at all of the schools in Georgetown, and this grant is going to help us provide more mental health services to those students after school, as well as supporting the families through some different events and opportunities. So we’re hoping to have some specialized staff members come in and just talk to students with some individual or small group counseling.
Georgetown-Ridge Farm Director of Educational Technology Trent Eisenbarth, who helped the district apply for and achieve the grant, says in addition to bringing services in, this grant will help provide a way to get to key services.
AUDIO: We will be able to also provide the transportation to TAKE them out to some other partnerships we’re looking at. Such as Hooves of Hope and Gateway Family Services out in the Potomac area, where they have animals that they use for some of these services. And they do have counselors there and social workers. So that’s a big thing.
Another thing Jim Russell mentioned is that once these services are established in the Georgetown – Ridge Farm District, they could perhaps be sustained by Medicaid or insurance funding.
