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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2022
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APPEAL TRIBUNE
Mental health
said.
Giving students the tools to succeed
Continued from Page 1A
Freshmen are one of the age groups that have
had the most issues coming back, mental
health professionals said.
“There’s a lot of room to grow, that’s loud
and clear,” Moore said. “The data has told us
that kids are struggling.”
Support is hard to access
Providing comprehensive mental health
services any time is difficult, especially for
those with acute mental health needs, as
psychiatric support for young people is dras-
tically underfunded across the state, Moore
said. During the height of the pandemic, it
was even more challenging.
One of the biggest struggles was reaching
students virtually, Rivera said.
Even if counselors could get in touch with
a student, it was harder to read their emo-
tions online and the students were often
more hesitant to share.
Rivera said it was also harder for students
to seek help outside of the school counseling
department, with many professional thera-
pists going virtual.
Students were not diagnosed with dis-
abilities as early as is ideal because of a short-
age of doctors, appointments and access,
which created a ripple effect. There were stu-
dents in general education classes who
shouldn’t be, or who needed accommoda-
tions and didn’t have them, which negatively
affected their health and self-esteem,
Strouse said.
All these barriers have made it hard for the
district to provide the comprehensive, multi-
tiered support they aim to. They don’t just
want to be helping kids in crisis and mitigat-
ing worst-case scenarios, but the pandemic
and an increase in those struggling with
acute conditions has made their goal of
proactiveness difficult at times, Moore said.
“What we need to be looking at is some of
those upstream issues and it starts with safe
and welcoming schools where every student
feels a favorable sense of belonging and re-
ceives the right support at the right time,”
Moore said. “But right now, that’s aspiration-
al.”
Students at the forefront
In 2018, students at Florida’s Marjory Sto-
neman Douglas High School raised the pro-
file of conversations around student mental
health to a national level as they talked can-
didly about the PTSD, anxiety and depres-
sion that came from surviving the shooting
that killed 17 of their classmates.
Since then, middle school, high school
and college students across the country have
had increasingly active roles in ensuring that
they are safe and have their mental health
needs supported.
It was around this time that Salem-Keizer
began prioritizing student voices around var-
ious aspects of education, from equity to
mental health, Moore said. Now, young peo-
ple throughout Salem are starting organiza-
tions, advocating to the district and working
with mental health providers in schools to
improve services.
With the return to in-person schooling,
the district has seen student interest in men-
tal health increase even further, Moore said.
Mohindra is the president of a student-
led suicide prevention non-profit called Live
to Tell.
“The whole purpose of the nonprofit is ‘by
students, for students,’” Mohindra said. “As
students that have experienced suicidal ide-
ation or have family or friends who have, no
one can tell us our needs better than our-
selves.”
Recently, they collected and shared their
peers’ stories — anonymously — in a mental
health resource guide the group created and
distributed around the district. They wanted
students to know there were other people
who had struggled or were struggling.
One student wrote, “I didn’t want to let my
little brother down,” when asked why they
decided not to take their life.
Another wrote that they didn’t seek help
because they “didn’t want to worry others.”
And several detailed how people didn’t
recognize their cries for help, or didn’t take
them seriously.
Along with these stories, the guide tells
students how to help someone or get help
during a mental health crisis, how to identify
signs of suicidal ideation and how to help im-
prove mental well-being.
They’re working on adapting a version for
parents now, Neha Srinivasan, the nonprof-
it’s secretary and a South Salem High junior,
Rules
Continued from Page 1A
canopy for shade and cooling. Reliance on
trips requiring personal vehicles would be re-
duced and these areas would not typically
contain large parking lots. At least 30% of
current and projected housing needs would
need to be contained within these climate-
friendly zones.
Years of planning
The Climate Friendly and Equitable Com-
munities temporary rules are the product of
two years of work, including 160 meetings
within Oregon's Land Conservation and De-
velopment Department. The rule-making
commission itself held 12 meetings.
Adoption of permanent rules is expected
at the commission's next meetings on July 21
Members of Live to Tell believe it’s not
only important to have kids in these conver-
sations about mental health, it’s also impor-
tant that students are given the tools to help
in a crisis — because it could mean the differ-
ence between life and death.
“A lot of times students are the first ones
to see mental health crises in their peers.
They aren’t always going to go to adults first,”
Mohindra said.
Mohindra has been trained by his coun-
selor in Question, Persuade, Respond, which
teaches people how to identify someone in
crisis, start conversations about suicide and
connect them with resources. Almost all dis-
trict staff are trained in it, as well as some
students.
Mohindra has used his twice.
Both times he had friends who were ac-
tively considering self-harm. Using his train-
ing, he sat down and had long conversations
with them, after which he was able to help
them get professional support.
He’s not sure they’d still be alive if he
hadn’t been able to help them.
Blueprint schools
Centering student opinions in conversa-
tions around mental health is a priority and
many of the systems being implemented by
the district are based on requests from stu-
dents, Moore said.
“Superintendent Perry has really leaned
into student voice as a critical part of the
work that we do. We should be listening to
students frequently and incorporating their
feedback into how we care for each other,”
Moore said.
This year, South Salem High School add-
ed a calm room, with help from their mental
health advocacy club Saxon Strong. The calm
room serves as a safe space for students,
where they can “take a breath and slow
down,” Srinivasan said.
The room is a repurposed classroom,
hosting couches, padded chairs, tables, fid-
get toys, books, pillows and blankets, along
with words of encouragement adorning the
walls.
It is also a place counselors can take stu-
dents in crisis, outside of their offices, Mo-
hindra said.
When one of Mohindra’s friends was
struggling with her mental health, she would
go to the counseling center and they would
sit her in the calm room.
Before the pandemic, members of Saxon
Strong also worked with the counseling de-
partment to modernize how students can
sign up for counseling appointments — mak-
ing it all online.
Two other schools stand at the forefront
of the district’s mental health investments:
North Salem and McKay high schools.
The district is investing more than
$400,000 to improve resources at these
schools, with the ideas coming directly from
students and staff, Moore said.
McKay will receive its own Community
Wellness Center, or calm room. Moore said
they’re working on getting a “highly trained”
person specifically to staff that space.
North already has a calm room, Paul
Quach, a senior at North, said. Their money
from the district will be invested in the coun-
seling programs, as well as in improving fam-
ily outreach. They’ll be creating a long-term,
mental health awareness plan for the school
too.
The school is also creating a self-efficacy
course students can take online for credit.
The students will go through modules and be
connected with a clinician for support at the
end of the course.
The district aims to increase the number
of clinicians in both of these schools, specifi-
cally recruiting bilingual and bicultural ones
from private practice.
Districtwide, officials are working to in-
crease the number of staff to support behav-
ioral and mental health, particularly at
schools with larger staff-to-student ratios.
The proposed additions in this year’s budget
would bring the total number of school coun-
selors to 123 and psychologists to 15, Moore
said.
Salem-Keizer’s average ratio of counselors
to students is 1-321, compared to 1-255 in
Portland Public Schools, Moore said. Salem-
Keizer’s ratio also lags the 1-250 recommend-
ed by the American School Counselor Asso-
ciation.
And the difference between Salem-Keiz-
er’s ratio and the recommended numbers
grows even more when looking at social
workers and psychologists.
The School Social Work Association of
and 22.
The work began in response to an exec-
utive order Gov. Kate Brown issued in March
2020, within which she directed state agen-
cies to work toward reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. Brown issued her order shortly af-
ter an ambitious yet controversial green-
house gas emissions cap-and-trade bill died
in the Legislature for the second consecutive
year.
Land Conservation and Development
Commission Vice-Chair Anyeley Hallová de-
scribed the rules as "98% there" after the
May 20 meeting. With dozens of pieces of
testimony already introduced, staff will re-
view feedback until the July 21 meeting. Any
new written testimony on the temporary
rules will be accepted through July 1.
Local leaders respond
Stakeholders responded during Thurs-
day's meeting and in written testimony with
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America recommends a ratio of one school
social worker to every 250 students, while
Salem-Keizer’s social workers serve an aver-
age of 1,795 students. The National Associa-
tion of School Psychologists recommends a
ratio of 1-500. Portland Public Schools has a
ratio of 1-845, while Salem-Keizer’s numbers
will sit at 1-2,630 when all positions are filled,
Moore said.
Increasing staff wellness
them, and they can help connect students
with culturally appropriate resources, Srini-
vasan and Mohindra emphasized.
“I’m constantly balancing finding my own
identity and my parent’s expectations,” Srini-
vasan said.
The district has made some strides here,
increasing the number of counselors, social
workers and psychologists who are bilingual
and people of color. However, both students
and the district say there’s more to be done.
Of Salem-Keizer’s current 12.5 psycholo-
gists, four are bilingual and two are bicultural
as well. Of the 22 social workers, four speak
two or more languages. And there are 14 bi-
lingual counselors among the 123 district-
wide.
In 2016, the district began increasing the
social-emotional and behavioral health sup-
ports available in school, as well as the
amount of money dedicated to it in their
yearly budget. That year, a combination of
“broad recognition of students with acute
mental health needs,” along with a number of
completed suicides, made mental health a
priority, Moore said.
Now, the district spends approximately
$38 million paying support staff — counsel-
ors, psychologists, social workers, instruc-
tional support assistants and behavior spe-
cialists — and increasing partnerships, staff
trainings and other services.
One of the district’s goals going forward is
to focus on staff wellness and mental health
training, Moore said. When staff lack sup-
port, they are more likely to leave, be unable
to provide proper care to students or resort to
their biases.
So, the district aims to provide staff with
more tools to address their own mental
health, from outside help to in-school sys-
tems.
“When adults are not doing well, we unin-
tentionally engage in behavior that contrib-
utes to negative outcomes,” Moore said.
The students agreed that it was also im-
portant that teachers have mental health
support training. More than 4,700 of Salem-
Keizer’s approximately 5,650 staff are cur-
rently Question, Persuade, Respond trained,
Aaron Harada, Salem-Keizer’s communica-
tions project manager, said.
Teachers are often the frontline. They’re
the adults that students will reach out to first
for help, so they need to be equipped to sup-
port the mental health of the youth, Sriniva-
san said. And teachers who are well-versed
in mental health matters can also help them-
selves if they’re struggling, creating a positive
cycle of support.
“If they know how to help students with
mental health, they know how to help them-
selves too,” Mohindra said.
Increasing the accessibility of resources in
the future — so that they’re not just available
to kids when they are in the building — is also
important to Mohindra.
“Most of the resources that are currently
available are only accessible at schools. But
how do we help people who can’t show up to
school every day?” Mohindra asked.
Another issue he pointed to was the mas-
sive caseloads counselors have. Counselors
work on everything from changing class
schedules to helping students in mental
health crises. When they’re assigned to 350
students, that’s a huge job, Mohindra said.
Moore agreed that staff is spread thin,
which is why the district has prioritized com-
munity partnerships. These partnerships,
with community health groups like Trillium,
provide students and family with access to
counseling services that in-school counsel-
ors cannot provide.
But even this has its challenges, especially
with the pandemic, as the need for clinicians
is high while the availability is low, Moore
said.
Rivera hopes to continue to make sure
students know what supports are available
to them — partnerships with outside mental
health providers, resources in both English
and Spanish and more.
And the students agree with that. Quach
said schools can offer all these resources, but
if students don’t know about them or don’t
feel comfortable using them, there is no ben-
efit.
“We can provide all these resources, but it
doesn’t do anything if we don’t change the
school culture,” Quach said.
Diversifying support staff
How to get help
Another priority for student advocates
and the district is increasing the cultural
competency and diversity of mental health
staff.
Quach struggled with mental health his
freshman year. He thinks if there had been
an Asian-American counselor available, that
would have changed a lot of his experience
early in high school. It’s one of the reasons
he’s so passionate about advocacy work now.
A lack of cultural diversity in staff tasked
with addressing mental health has a litany of
consequences for students, Quach said.
Counselors of color understand cultural
expectations because they’ve lived through
The National Suicide Prevention Line of-
fers free, confidential support to people in
suicidal crisis or emotional distress. A skilled,
trained crisis worker provides assistance and
resource referrals.
Call 1-800-273-8255 for help 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. For assis-
tance in Spanish, call 1-888-628-9454.
For the Youth Line, call 877-968-8491 or
text ‘teen2teen’ to 839863.
Eddy Binford-Ross is the education inter-
n at the Statesman Journal. Contact her
at edbinfordross@statesmanjournal.com or
follow on Twitter @eddybinfordross.
a range of perspectives, from fully in support,
to recommending postponement, to strong
opposition.
Even within the Salem and Eugene re-
gions, city, transportation and business
groups were split on the efficacy of the rules.
Ian Davidson, president of the board of di-
rectors of the Salem Area Mass Transit Dis-
trict (a.k.a. Cherriots), expressed the board's
"full support" for the rules in written com-
ments. He said building better infrastructure
for pedestrians and bicyclists, changing vehi-
cle parking availability and creating housing
and job density would work together to im-
prove mass transit.
"High quality transit services relies on
precisely the outcomes that the CFEC rules
seek to accomplish," Davidson's May 19 letter
read, in part.
On the other hand, six Oregon Democratic
lawmakers representing the Eugene region
sent a letter to the commission May 16 sum-
ming up the concerns the cities raised and
asking the commissioners to delay imple-
mentation of the rules.
The cities of Springfield and Eugene filed
letters 22 pages and 41 pages long, respec-
tively, raising a variety of concerns about the
rules and the language used. While the law-
makers acknowledged that some of these is-
sues were addressed, "many of the signifi-
cant issues raised ... have not actually been
resolved," according to their letter.
The lawmakers urged the commission
not to move forward with the rules until these
outstanding questions were settled. They ad-
ditionally raised concerns about the costs the
new rules would have for local jurisdictions;
Springfield estimated its costs at $5 million to
$7 million to undertake the initial work re-
quired by the new rules.
"It does not behoove anyone if technical
elements remain in the rule that are prob-
lematic to implement, leaving space for con-
fusion, delay and possible challenges," the
lawmakers wrote.
Looking to the future