Kings Local Schools offers a number of ways to help students with mental health

WARREN COUNTY, Ohio (WKRC) - While hope is on the horizon when it comes to tackling the pandemic, students are still struggling. Some school districts are ramping up efforts to address mental health concerns.

Kings Local School District is one of those. Social Emotional Health Coordinator, Kim Sellers, says the district is focused on every aspect of student health including their emotional and mental well-being.

“We do know that students if they’re not in a good place emotionally, they can’t learn,” Sellers said.

There’s a mental health therapist in every school in the district with telehealth options available for students who chose to remain in virtual learning.

“Kings Cares Callers” is an initiative that connects 48 K-9 remote students with high school students for a weekly Zoom call that helps with isolation and keeps them connected with the district. School counselors are also hosting some virtual groups with online students.

Sellers regularly shares mental health resources with parents in the district. This past week’s newsletter including some alarming information.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently published a study that rates of suicidal behavior were up 25-percent last year compared to 2019. Sellers says Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Psychiatric Intake Response Center has filled beds on multiple occasions recently. She describes what psychologists refer to as “ambiguous loss” which many students are experiencing with the sudden suspension of routine and social connection.

“I think even though they do okay with the masks, not being able to see their friends' faces or being able to hug, the social distance, it has started to really, really wear on them,” Sellers said. “I think that the further out we get from it, we’re seeing that this is the curve that we won’t necessarily be able to flatten as quickly as what we’d hope.”

In addition to therapists, Kings’ three elementary schools each have a therapy dog.

There are programs that have become routine in the district. “The Character Effect” focuses on mindfulness and positive psychology while older students are set-up with the “Atlas for Schools” program. That’s an app that walks students through modules for different feelings from sleep health to coping skills to stress reduction.

Sellers describes relates it to the “Calm” app but for Gen Z.

“It’s something that kind of meets them where they’re at. It’s their generation. It speaks their language and it’s something that they can really relate to,” Sellers said.

While individual student information is private, the district is able to get a snapshot of what’s happening overall with student users.

“So if we see a lot of kiddos that are dealing with that academic piece, academic anxiety, then we know hey, we really need to switch gears and focus on bringing in something about this and we’ve done that,” Sellers said.

Just last week, junior high students participated in the “Signs of Suicide” prevention program. 298 students participated with 12 therapists on hand who were able to follow-up with 74 students one-on-one that day.

“We went into the classroom talked about signs, awareness, how to identify, how to talk to a friend, gave them the option if they wanted to talk to somebody that day or if they were concerned about a friend and we were able to identify students that may not have otherwise been on our radar,” Sellers said.

Sellers was pleasantly surprised with how engaged students were in the program but she says overall, there’s still work to do on ridding of the stigma associated with mental health.

“Just like if you were sick and you broke your arm or you had a respiratory infection, you would go to the doctor and get medicine and get better. Same thing with mental health,” Sellers said. “It’s the same thing. It’s very important and it impacts so many parts of our lives. Getting students to realize that it’s okay to not be okay has been pretty significant.”