SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2019 | 9A
Show sensitivity to those
with PTSD around July 4
For many Americans, cel-
ebrating the Fourth of July
means parades, picnics, cook-
outs and, often, fireworks.
But for combat veterans and
others with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, explosions
and fiery displays can ramp
up anxiety and bring back
traumatic memories.
City or community fire-
work shows aren’t usually the
problem — they’re sched-
uled and advertised well in
advance, giving those who
might be affected time to
plan accordingly.
But fireworks set off ran-
domly can be the worst trig-
gers for PTSD, especially
those earth-shaking booms
that send pets scrambling un-
der the bed.
PeaceHealth psychologist
Steve Rolnick, Ph.D., encour-
aged the public to be sensitive
to their neighbors and keep
the loud stuff to a minimum.
Veterans themselves can
take steps to prepare and cope
over the holiday, such as alert-
ing neighbors of concerns.
“Your neighbors may have
no idea that the activity could
cause you distress, and would
want to avoid that,” Rolnick said.
Rolnick also recommend-
ed using noise-reducing ear
plugs; listening to music or an
audio book with earphones;
practicing deep breathing
relaxation; or, if possible,
leaving town for a quieter lo-
cation.
“If your symptoms persist
or worsen, don’t hesitate to
seek help from a provider
who offers trauma-focused
therapy—and if you’re in
crisis, contact local crisis
stabilization services of the
Veterans Crisis Line at 800-
273-8255 (sponsored by the
U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs) or visit the emergen-
cy room,” Rolnick said.
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to receive counseling and
referrals from the mental
health expert, while the
social worker will help the
students and their families
obtain additional services
in the area, creating a one-
stop, well-rounded ap-
proach to mental health.
“It’s really about care co-
ordination,” Jason Hawkins,
chief administrative offi-
cer at PeaceHealth Peace
Harbor, told the Siuslaw
School Board in June. “A lot
of times we have these ser-
vices, but where are they?
Sometimes they’re frag-
mented, or in larger areas
such as Springfield. How
do we deploy services local-
ly? Sometimes people will
come in to see a counselor,
and there are a lot more dy-
namics instead of just crisis.
Sometimes there’s addiction
issues, sometimes there’s
abuse issues.”
And these issues can seep
into the classroom.
“We’re seeing it,” Grz-
eskowiak said. “When you
look at the general statis-
tics for the county and the
western half, there is an
unusually high number of
incidents reported to DHS
(Department of Human
Services) where kids are
kind of melting down at
home. I don’t know what
causes that, what link there
is. But yeah, we’re seeing it.
And if a kid is struggling at
home, they’re probably go-
ing to come here and get in
trouble with the same be-
haviors. You have kids that
have negative interactions
with each other, which tend
to lead to some bigger emo-
tional outbursts and blow-
ups. … Having another
councilor and doing a little
more intensive work will
help stem those and bring
it down.”
As of now, counseling
services at Siuslaw School
District are scarce.
“At the high school, our
counselors are doing a lot
of academic and post-sec-
ondary planning with kids,”
Grzeskowiak said. “They’re
not licensed to do therapeu-
tic work individually or in a
small group.”
Siuslaw Middle School
has one counselor for ap-
proximately 340 students,
“So being able to see every
kid that comes through
is difficult to begin with,”
Grzeskowiak said. “And
they’re not therapy sessions.
They do some skill building
work with interpersonal re-
lationships and that type of
material. That helps some
of it.”
Next year, the elementary
school will bring a second
fulltime counselor to help,
but even then, counselor/
student time is limited.
“The elementary coun-
selors deal with a lot of the
day-to-day, ins-and-outs of
little kids and what they go
through,” Grzeskowiak said.
“But if you have a kid with
a much larger issue aris-
ing from home or a men-
tal health issue, that could
conceivably take an entire
day. And when you’re doing
that, the other 25 kids you
want to check on and make
sure they’re here, they got
all their stuff. If they’re oth-
erwise happy and healthy,
you might not be able to see
them that day.”
Ideally, Grzeskowiak said
that the introduction of
the counseling center will
reduce the number of inci-
dents of pushing, shoving
and physical aggression
seen outside of the class-
room.
“And we would see fewer
of the kind of outbursts we
do see in class,” Grzesko-
wiak said. “That’s really the
whole goal of this.”
The majority of issues
the counselor is expected to
deal with are just normal,
everyday problems that
children face, “the day-to-
day, run of the mill, 21st
century kind of stuff that
kids need help with as much
as anything else,” Grzesko-
wiak said.
But there have been in-
stances where some stu-
dents will get so upset that
they knock over desks or
throw a chair.
“Our staff is really good
— the counselors, admin-
istrators and teachers — in
dealing with that,” Grzesko-
wiak said. “We haven’t had
the big newspaper incidents
like some incidents in Eu-
gene schools.”
In November 2018, more
than 150 people attended a
Eugene School Board meet-
ing to discuss a myriad of
issues regarding behavioral
health issues in the district,
and the lack of funding to
alleviate the issues.
According to a Nov.
29 article in The Regis-
ter-Guard, “…Teachers and
educational assistants alike
at the meeting said they are
witnessing more students
becoming more violent
more often at school. They
detailed children biting,
kicking, hitting, screaming
and urinating in the class-
room.”
Siuslaw is not experienc-
ing the same type of behav-
ior or at the level seen in the
bigger city.
“The incidents here are
fairly isolated,” Grzeskowi-
ak said. “You can have one
student who does this once
or twice, maybe three times
in a month, and it will be-
come the talk of the entire
school. Some of those inci-
dents get blown way out of
proportion.”
But when they do occur,
it can create frustrations
in the classroom between
teachers and the student
body, as well as be social-
ly isolating for the student
having issues.
The reasons for such out-
bursts from students can be
complex. While sometimes
it can be a disciplinary is-
sue, generally it involves
multiple factors. A counsel-
ing center could help deter-
mine those factors.
Grzeskowiak said that
the majority of issues occur
when students are transi-
tioning.
“If somebody is doing
something they really, real-
ly like, and it’s time for the
entire class to move from
reading to art, we have some
kids that are so entrenched
with what they do, that they
will have these outbursts
over it,” Grzeskowiak said.
“If you feel that way, how
do you deal with it before
the outburst? That’s a lot of
what our counselors work
with, but for some kids, it’s
going to be more time than
an individual school coun-
selor can give. And if they
really have a true need for it,
we’ll have a clinical profes-
sional on-site that can help.”
Trained
on-campus
counselors, along with
other medical and social
service professionals, can
determine the root of issues
with students.
“They learn how to deal
with that with some out-
side services,” Grzeskowiak
said. “And things got better.
That’s the thing. We’re try-
ing to give kids more tools
to get along the way.
Having counselors on
campus will also help stu-
dents having trouble keep-
ing up with their school-
work and attendance.
“If you have a 10 or 11
o’clock appointment, you’re
getting checked out of
school at 10:30. And then
you’re gone until noon for
your appointment,” Grz-
eskowiak said. “If you’re
going to Eugene, your day’s
over. But even if your ap-
pointment is in town, your
day’s over because if you go
from 11 a.m. to noon, you
have to have lunch. So the
parents go to lunch off cam-
pus, and then by the time
lunch is wrapped up and
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Wed-Fri 11am-5pm,
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Friday, July 12th, 1:30-4:30 pm
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Spirit of Summer Art Reception
at the FEC
Friday, July 26th, 5-7 pm. Meet the artists
and their artwork, vote for People’s Choice
Awards, enjoy music by Jeff Lovejoy as
well as food and drink.
Next Art Change-Out Day
Monday, July 8, 2019, 9-11 am
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Quarterly Members’ Meeting
Tuesday, July 16th, 3:00 pm. Come learn
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Writers on the River - Creative
Writing Workshop w/ Catherine
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Memoir Writing: From Real Life to Read
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Turn life experiences and family memories
into captivating stories.
Sat., July 20, 2019 10 am - 12 noon
All writing levels and genres, Contact:
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Big Wave Poetry 1st Tuesday
Open Mic
Tuesday, July 2, 2019 at 7:00 pm.
Tuesady, August 6, 2019 at 7:00 pm
Admission is free and refreshments will be
available.
Poetry Workshop
Small group meeting of poets to enhance
their written word.
Last Tuesday of each month, 6:30-8:30 pm
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Painting with John Leasure
Writers Workshop
Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm
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Writers discuss their current works and get
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2nd Tuesday, Monthly, 1-4 pm
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they’re ready to go, it’s al-
ready 1:30 and there’s only a
little over an hour left of the
school day. And they don’t
come back.”
Students already in a cri-
sis end up falling behind
in their homework, com-
pounding issues and lead-
ing to more outbursts.
However, by having a
counselor on campus, the
students can attend services
without taking off half-a-
day of school. It’s a process
that the district has already
tried, bringing in counsel-
ors from Options Counsel-
ing and Family Service to
Siuslaw Middle School on
certain days a week to see
a group of students back to
back.
“That way, kids don’t
have to miss, parents don’t
have to run back and forth.
We don’t lose anybody for
attendance, and it works,”
Grzeskowiak said.
The services expected
to be offered at Siuslaw are
meant to be limited.
“This isn’t a true psychi-
atrist’s office,” Grzeskowiak
said. “This counselor will
not be able to make a full
diagnosis. But they would
be able to screen and rec-
ommend secondary coun-
seling to a true psychiatrist
or psychologist, as it fits. It’s
a lot of helping kids with
problem solving, emotional
regulation, and how to real-
ly interact with your peers
and your adults in a big-
ger role. That’s really a lot
of what it comes down to.
But we’re not going to bring
kids in and 20 minutes lat-
er you’re walking out with
a clinical diagnosis. That’s
not the goal.”
Instead, the WLBHN
counselor will be an inter-
mediate step where stu-
dents can either develop
coping skills on campus or
be referred to either Peace
Harbor or a provider in Eu-
gene for assistance.
The counseling center
will also hope students and
their families navigate the
myriad of different resourc-
es that are available to those
seeking mental health assis-
tance.
“The receptionist does
double duty as a licensed
clinical social worker, so
they are helping families
get lined up and get their
paperwork done and com-
plete,” Grzeskowiak said.
“That’s the other barrier.
Even if you can get an ap-
pointment [with an outside
specialist], you might not
have insurance, or the right
insurance. And there’s a va-
riety of different programs
that can help people from
all economic levels. The
problem is, people don’t
know where to start on how
to get into the paperwork
system. And that’s what
our licensed clinical social
worker can do — come in
and help families get lined
up for the services they
need.”
WLBHN has already
hired a nurse practitioner
for the program and is cur-
rently searching for a social
worker. The two will travel
together between Mapleton
and Siuslaw districts, with
two days spent in Florence
and two days in Mapleton.
A fifth day will be devoted
to office time for paperwork
and processing.
In addition, Mapleton
is looking to expand the
services of the counsel-
ing center, incorporat-
ing some clinical services
and first-contact medical
screening for all people in
the community.
Both centers are expected
to open this fall.
“This is a fantastic,
game-changing boost for
these communities,” Haw-
kins said. “Providing these
critically needed services,
right in our local schools,
will make a huge positive
difference for children and
their families. We can’t wait
to get these clinics up and
running.”