Daviess County Public Schools has been working toward making their school system a better place when it comes to mental health and mental wellness for their students at all grade levels.
When DCPS Mental Health Coordinator Rhonda Welch came on staff 7 years ago, she said there were only three members dedicated to the mental well-being of the whole district.
They have increased their personnel by 120%, including adding district social workers and student assistance coordinators.
“So these kids can get those services,” Welch said. “We are linking them with resources in our community, trying to get them to services beyond what youth service and our family resource centers can do for them.”
Ultimately their team helps cover social, emotional, physical, cognitive, academic and identity areas. Welch said they hope to focus on the children holistically.
Outside of the formal positions, the district has also opted to train all staff that deal with the students in any capacity in Trauma Informed Care.
”We want everyone to be aware of what to look for. So that if you identify a student at any level in our district, you know how to get to one of us so that we can help you or get you someone who can,” she said.
In addition, they use different surveys that will help the staff know how to approach the students throughout the year and perform check-ins if necessary. One of those is a self-reported survey that allows the student to express their situations.
There are also signs outside of some classrooms so the students can signal to their teacher how they feel during the day.
“Some of our teachers have charts outside their door where they just have to point, maybe [the kids] don’t want to talk and so you can say I’m angry today, and that lets that teacher knows we need a conversation,” she said.
Welch said the program has seen success and they hope to continue finding options to provide for all of their students’ needs.
