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The program, funded by the U.S. Army Medical
Command, was budgeted at $1.3 million in
fiscal year 2011
Anxiety disorders, which account for 12
percent of students.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,
which includes 47 percent of students.
(JBLM sees a higher-than-usual number of
kids with ADHD because it offers addition-
al resources for those students, Army offi-
cials said.)
Families and teachers with students who
receive individual services through School
Behavioral Health complete before-and-
after treatment questionnaires. According to
bor and Lynn Pistachio of DuPont, who
belong to an organization called Totally 4
Troops. Putnam founded the organization in
2007 to make greeting cards for soldiers
overseas to send messages back home to
their loved ones.
Putnam and Pistachio provide the materi-
als and assist in the craft sessions. Meeting
for five weeks this school year, the kids cre-
ated more than 130 blank cards to send to
troops overseas. The kids also made cards
for their parents for Mother’s Day and
Page 4 The Seattle Skanner
June 27, 2012
Father’s Day.
The craft club helps kids practice social
skills, and it provides a therapeutic way for
them to feel like they’re helping their par-
ents or their friends’ parents, Shoch said.
One fourth-grade girl whose mom had
recently deployed summed up her feelings
this way: ``I like making the cards and
knowing they are going to make someone
happy who might be in a situation like me.’’
About 31 percent of all students in the
Clover Park School District live on the mil-
itary base, and an estimated 40 percent of
students district-wide are military depend-
ents. So far, School Behavioral Health oper-
ates only in schools behind the gates of
Lewis-McChord. Alford said the program
would like to expand to off-base schools
with high numbers of military kids, if it
could solicit the help of a partner in the
Lakewood community.
For now, kids at off-base schools such as
Mann and Woodbrook middle schools and
at Lakes High School - all with a high per-
centage of military families - rely on a pro-
gram called Military and Family Life
Consultants. It’s operated jointly by the mil-
itary and the school district.
The MFLC program offers students and
families support on issues such as stress
reduction and self-esteem building, but they
do not delve into the same medical and
mental health issues that the School Behav-
ioral Health specialists can.
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data from those surveys, parents reported
that kids’ behavior and emotional stress
improved significantly following treatment.
Teachers also reported significant improve-
ments in student conduct, attention prob-
lems and peer interactions.
In addition to working with individual
students, counselors offer lessons in the
classroom and after-school programs that
any student in the school can participate in.
Shoch started an after-school craft club
for kids at Carter Lake. She got a big boost
from volunteers Dianna Putnam of Gig Har-
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settings, where Army officials say about
one-third of patients are no-shows.
The School Behavioral Health program
serves kids in all grades, kindergarten
through fifth grade. It provides one-on-one
therapy as well as small therapy groups.
On average, at any given time, there are
24 students receiving individual services
through the program at each elementary
school. The most frequent diagnoses are:
Depression or other mood disorders,
which account for 26 percent of students in
the school behavioral health program.
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School Behavioral Health. The program,
funded by the U.S. Army Medical Com-
mand, was budgeted at $1.3 million in fiscal
year 2011.
Based on a model developed at Schofield
Barracks in Hawaii, JBLM’s program is the
Army’s second such effort.
It places mental health experts such as
Shoch in each of the six on-base elementary
schools operated by the Clover Park School
District: Carter Lake, Evergreen, Hillside,
Clarkmoor, Beachwood and Greenwood.
These specialists provide free on-site help
to students and families, including individ-
ual therapy, family therapy, medication
management and more. In addition, a psy-
chiatrist travels between the six schools to
see children.
``It takes the providers out of the clinic
and into the school,’’ said Jennifer Alford,
deputy director of the program.
That’s one of the keys to its success,
according to those involved with School
Behavioral Health. School is an environ-
ment where kids feel comfortable. It has the
added advantage of being convenient for
families, and reducing students’ time away
from the classroom.
A trip to school also carries much less
social stigma for families than a visit to a
mental health clinic or hospital.
One measure of the program’s success
shows up in statistics that reveal how faith-
fully appointments are kept. The compli-
ance rate at JBLM is more than 95 percent -
much better than other programs in similar