Brevard County in need of social workers, counsellors to meet student mental health needs
With concerns about children's health and behavior growing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Brevard County School Board members said the school district needs more personnel to handle student mental health.
“We have a lot of hurting kids,” School Board member Katye Campbell said. “Whether it's the continued trajectory that we were already on, the conversations we were having before the pandemic ever started, or the results of pandemic, or all of the above, we've got a lot of needs to meet.”
It’s not easy to quantify how student mental health needs may have increased during the pandemic, Campbell and School Board Chair Misty Belford said. Disciplinary issues and mental health referrals have spiked, but last year fewer students were attending class in person.
“We can't really compare apples and apples,” Belford said. “So we've we didn't really attempt to come to any conclusions on any of that.”
Campbell said all around the nation many are concerned that COVID-19 disruptions have impacted students’ mental health and behavior. Students have had their schedules disrupted and many have lost out on a year of in-person learning. Some have lost contact with friends and social supports such as sports and extra-curricular activities that helped them cope prior to the pandemic.
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The last several months have seen several unusual incidents of troubled student behavior in Brevard schools that have resulted in thefts, fights, arrests and even more classroom disruptions for kids.
For instance, in September, lunch hour antics by misbehaving Eau Gallie High School students culminated in an assault on the school’s dean and two students being arrested for fighting. In response, the school staggered lunch schedules. In another example this fall, a spate of school property thefts possibly driven by a TikTok trend led some schools to restrict phones and backpacks in restrooms to prevent students from filming themselves stealing soap dispensers so they could post it on social media.
“A lot of people are speculating that it could be due to just the disruptions that we've had for some students,” Campbell said. “If they weren't in school in the building for a year and a half and they're now coming back to the building … how much did they not pick up on just how to behave in a classroom?”
Campbell said the district has mostly been able to meet its students needs for counselling "in-house," and has been referring students for outside treatment. But the district does have need for more counsellors and social workers.
More: Students returning to school after COVID-19 facing scarce mental health resources
Belford said those positions can be difficult to recruit for, because workers in those fields can often make more money working in the private sector.
“That's why we've contracted with some outside providers to try to kind of close those gaps,” Belford said. “And that seems to be going well. But if we had somebody with boots on the ground at every school, that would be our preference.”
The district will also be using COVID-19 relief money to help fund parent liaisons. This year, the district hired parent liaisons to help work with situations that don’t require the expertise of a social worker or school counselor. A parent liaison might work with a family about a student’s attendance problems, Campbell said. Many of those positions are still available.
“A lot of our schools are having a hard time finding that,” Campbell said. “So if there are people out there who are interested in that job, at most schools, it would be a good thing for parents to inquire about.”
Bailey Gallion is the education reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallion at 321-242-3786 or bgallion@floridatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Student mental health concerns COVID-19 social workers staffing
