[Music] aoy minetonka I'm David law superintendent of minetonka schools thank you for joining us for this episode of our district podcast aoy minetonka today we're talking about one of our key goals set by the school board and a critical area of focus for our school district excellence and well-being connection and belonging in particular we're going to focus in on well-being and how our schools provide supports and opportunities for our students and staff in this area joining me today is Health Services director Annie lumbar Benson and Schoolboard director Dr Mike rcall Annie Mike tell us a little bit about yourself and your connection to the district thank you well I am as David said the director of Health Services here in the district I am starting my sixth year before I was an employee I was a parent so I have two boys one is a seventh grader at mme and the other one is unbelievably a senior at MHS both were C kits kiddos so shout out to them nice Mike uh yeah my name is Mike remol I'm a Schoolboard member I was elected two years ago in a special election then got reelected last year um so now I'm now almost all the way through my second year on the board um we have lived in the school district for 12 years and we have four kids that have been either either completed their schooling at motanka or are currently in school in minetonka great and you're not campaigning this fall I am not for the first time in three years I am not campaigning this fall and that's got to be good for your mental health right there well uh let's talk a little bit about our mental health efforts going on in the school year this year and maybe a little bit about what's happening this year and your roles in those activities sure and I think it's important you know that we really can't separate out the two as well-being impacts mental health and vice versa and I think also remembering that schools are really a microcosm of our communities so what happens out in the world is really reflected in our schools and so we really have a multi-pronged approach here in minona to supporting students as there's really just not one path to support kiddos and there are so many things that can impact a student's well-being so we really take that multifaceted approach what I love about this is it really aligns with my background in education as a public health nurse because we're really focused on that prevention what can we do pro actively to support kiddos and yet if that's not quite enough then we stand ready to serve at the intervention level to make sure that everybody's needs are bet Mike you've got a medical background and when you got on the Schoolboard you Dove right into some of these mental health opportunities uh what's your role supporting mental health as a director and uniquely aligned to the mental health advisory committee as uh members of the school board we all uh are we sit on various committees in the district and for myself I'm sitting on the the mental health advisory committee uh as well as the Tonka cares committee um both of which have obviously the mental health uh advisory committee focuses entirely on Mental Health the Tonka cares committee focuses on a number of things involves more community members as well um but also focuses on Mental Health uh as well as substance abuse issues so um it has been a a great experience for me to be able to use my medical background my medical training and you bring that that experience to these committees so for you you have a passion in this area but the board has had multiple year commitments to supporting mental health and well-being can you talk a little bit about where that comes from as a as a member of the larger board yeah absolutely you know before the pandemic even started we were already having in the United States we were seeing problems with mental health issues um and that just got a lot worse during the pandemic uh to put some of the recent statistics into context the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration performed a survey in 2023 looking at mental health issues uh for the previous year if we take that data and apply it to our current High School class it would mean that in the past year about 706 students had a major depressive episode 474 students had Suicidal Thoughts 230 students had developed a the plan for suicide and 131 students actually attempted suicide that's almost one student for every day the school is in session uh Additionally the CDC has data that suggests that those rates may even be twice as large as that uh s MHS study uh survey showed and that that means that persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness are occurring in the equivalent of all of our senior class and more than half of our junior class um and these were all increasing before the pandemic and since the pandemic has occurred during and after those numbers have just exploded um some other numbers that are really important to us girls are at higher risk for anxiety depression and eating disorders and boys are more likely to die by Suicide or be diagnosed with a behavioral disorder and I think our own surveys have have demonstrated that in Minnesota at large and in minona and while the risk for Dying by Suicide is higher for boys the postp pandemic uh Health and Human Services data said that 51% of er visits for suicide attempts uh there was a 51% increase in ER visits for suicide attempts in adolescent girls and of course black lgbtq plus and other marginalized group including soci economically disadvantaged students have rates that are two to three times higher than those that are outside those groups so it's it really is a a big problem that we're dealing with on a national scale but especially in minetonka we we really want to make sure that as a board we want to make sure that our students are being well taken care of so th those National numbers and surveys feed the board's passion to make sure that our kids are as healthy as possible right and it's in just further fine-tuned by our own internal surveys that we that we perform every year with the students and the parents and families so uh how often does a mental health advisory committee meet and what what are the kinds of things that happen at those meetings sure yeah and just to give a little bit of background um the the committee was established right before Co happened and so we quickly had to Pivot to online meetings during that time and really we've been fortunate to have consistent members for a lot of those four and a half years so people from the community um parents providers that have really have a lens that we may not have in the school and so there was work that was done through um an evaluation through William D Dr Dy that gave us a big snapshot of the district and ways that we can help support kiddos so we worked through those recommendations and implemented a lot of changes from that uh from that report and so we meet quarterly and it helps to just again give the lens of what are parents out in the community seeing that we need to prioritize and how can we support kids and what are the providers and therapists that are out serving our students what do they bring to the table and what can they offer in terms of a plan and so really our goals and priorities for this year um look include identifying the needs from the perspective of the community what is beneficial and needed to support our kids uh prevention and intervention strategies as we talked about we really have the most benefit from doing some prevention versus waiting until there's a problem and trying to intervene then how do we connect families to community resources that are out there to support their students and then identifying and disseminating mental health related professional development in an effort to support our staff so let's go you went through that spectrum of services let's start with prevention what are some of the ways minona schools proactively Works to support student mental health sure I think there's so many things that we do on a daily basis that are just behind the scenes and that includes our bullying prevention curriculum and developing those skills in the classroom of how do you engage to be a good friend and what is expected of a learner and how do we manage Stress and Anxiety let's say that we're we're really nervous about a test that teacher may as as part of a larger lesson talk to the students about what can you do when you're feeling anxious and stressed and so some of those reduction strategies that we just build into the everyday teaching just kind of on an ongoing basis is one of the pieces that we do to on that prevention level all right and so so of the board goals about social emotional learning K12 are the foundation for mental health and mental well-being too yep we're doing some piloting at the middle school right now y of I think the program is called be good people and will will that information get back to the board on how things are going absolutely y so we knew that at at the elementary level we were doing a great job of working with kids to help give them names and identify those feelings and we realized that that work doesn't just stop at the at the secondary level and at the high school level so how do we expand that to ensure that they have the vocabulary and the skills that they need to be successful Learners throughout their academic career okay transitioning from proactive work how do we identify who we think might need some more support at school is it parent phone calls or staff uh input kind of a variety of ways we get we find out a number of different ways we may have a parent reach out to us and say I'm concerned about my kiddo or it might be that through information through our our Universal screening that we do that really looks at how are kids gauging how they're doing in terms of their social and emotional health that give us that give us input and feedback it might that a teacher has a concern and so really that support staff Works collaboratively to talk about what are we seeing with these kiddos are other staff seeing it what are the parents seeing at home and what resources do we have to help support that okay the the next level is tougher what what do we offer in schools and what's the landscape in the community and you probably both have input on this I can start with that I think it's important to remember remember that while we are a great place for a lot of resources we are not a facility that's open 247 so we want to be clear about I know that you've shared this uh previously is that we want to ensure that parents are equipped with resources because we are not open on Saturdays so if a student is in crisis we're really not the place to go but there's a lot that we can do within the school setting including like we talked about those support staff that help to meet with those students that could be counselors social workers psychologists and really what we wanted do is ensure that parents are connected to the resources that they need so that they have them available at the time that they need them and how about in the community Mike what's your perspective after being with Tonka cares or the mental health advisory committee do are we building the right kinds of bridges to transition students who need help uh we are I mean we're we're having some difficulty everybody is in the United States is having some difficulty right now just because the number of providers is not as as large as would like as it to be as would be ideal um there is enough of a provider shortage that you know we we they tend to the providers tend to prioritize for those who are in most in need um and a lot of students a lot of adults even when they are are having just sort of day-to-day problems they they are having a harder time getting connected so we we are doing the best of we can we have uh direct connections with a number of providers in the community that we can reach out to and connect with students um and and help them get in touch that way so that they have somebody that they can that they can turn to for for some of these crisy situations uh the other thing that that the mental health advisory committee is working on right now is updating our website uh the the district website on mental health and well-being so that families staff students can all can all reach these resources they can it it will help Point them towards those resources that will that will serve them in times when they they in most need when they're not in the buildings hey what's collocated services that was one of the things that I was going to add so one of the things that we do here in minetonka is we have a collocated uh counseling model with relate Services we were one of the very first adopters to be able to provide in-person therapeutic services while kids are at school so we've worked really hard to establish and grow our relationship with relate and happy to report that we have therapists in each of our buildings that serve those students that would otherwise maybe go unserved so what we're really trying to do is meet those kids where they're at with their needs and they might not be able to access Services outside of school for a variety of reasons there are a number of barriers so the relate therapists are on site to provide that necessary and needed therapy during the school day okay we've talked about something that hasn't been covered today what's a Jed foundation and how does that have to what does that have to do with our mental health efforts and supporting our students sh absolutely and this is one of the of the things that I'm most excited about and passionate about so the Jed Foundation is a nonprofit out of New York that's focused on preventing suicide and protecting the emotional health of teens they recently uh realized that they have a lot of expertise and knowledge and they wanted to share that on a nationwide level so they decided to partner with the aasa the uh School superintendence Association did I get that right that's great and they decided to do a district comprehensive approach with a limited number of districts so so we are one of 14 other districts that were selected out of 56 to be part of this initial uh Jed Foundation cohort so what that involves and really it has more benefits than I could even possibly list but the pilot project is really an opportunity for us to receive a 360 degree diagnostic of the mental health structures that we have laid out in our district uh receive guidance best practices and connect with other District leaders so some of the things that are happening with that is it Ked off with us establishing our steering committee who the key players in our district are Dr rall is one of them not surprised good and then we had a district mental health specialist that came and did an on-site visit with us and visited each of our schools to to just kind of get a feel of what does motanka look like from there we completed a self- assessment that looked at all aspects of our district policy what supports we have in place for kids our collocated Therapy Services then we did a principal survey what do principales see from their lens we're currently just launched our faculty and staff survey we're in the midst of that so to gauge staff's assessment and and perception of how things are going in our district and then what will follow is a student survey at the high school level to say how do how do students perceive this so from there they will take all of this information and um really be developing a personalized strategic plan for us here in minaka that will really guide the work hopefully that the mental health advisory committee will be part of and for us as a district to say what next steps what what will that look like where do we need to go from here so it's really exciting work so that's a chance for our district to say what are we missing in our program and what do other schools do that might better support students yeah exactly and some of the the seven different areas that our work will focus on once we get our strategic plan is developing life skills promoting that social connectedness and positive School climate which again t in with those B board goals of belonging um encouraging help-seeking behaviors who do kids go to if they're struggling in school improving recognition and response to signs of distress and risk and we've already been doing quite a bit around uh professional development for mental health for our staff promoting student access to effective mental health treatment establishing and following crisis management procedures which has been a big focus of the district recently and then promoting mean safety so it's really a a very comprehensive approach to help support our kids in the in the many areas that they need to help support that mental health piece well anything to add about the Jed Foundation I know you've been pretty involved with that also yeah and it's been really exciting to watch this develop and and evolve over the course of the past year um I think especially since minona was already starting to do some of that work even before the pandemic one of the nice things that we've been able to see is how much that's already paying off how much that's already fitting into this jet model um I think as one of these 15 school districts are ours included I think we are finding that we are probably already a little bit ahead of the curve and so we are probably going to be sharing as much and and helping other districts learn from us as much as we are going to be getting back from this this program uh that being said uh one of the really exciting areas that um we are just getting so much more data that's available now and Medicine went through this about 10 15 years ago when the electronic health records came online suddenly we had all this data we could analyze and and figure out what how we make connections between different things education is now kind of in that in that moment when we are starting to gather a lot of data and one of the tools that we're hoping to be able to use is can we take this data that we're seeing whether it's grades whether it's absenteeism uh factors like that and see if we can piece together what sort of warning signs can we identify in this data that can help identify those students who are going to be at at most need who might be potentially having a crisis uh that we can intervene before that actually develops I would also add I think thank you for bringing that up uh we are comprehensively looking at a district as as to how all of those interplay with each other because we know that kids that are struggling with mental health are often struggling with attendance they're struggling with academics they're struggling with those interpersonal relationships so as a district we have looked at those early warning signs and what is the threshold for saying when put together these kids are are are might be at risk and we want to intervene before they get to that crisis point so that is something that's been very intentional with the work of the district too is to develop those thresholds to say you know what let let's take a look we let's make sure that this kiddo has some supports in place and when we look comprehensively at that big picture of the kiddo and all of those pieces that go into the whole student that helps to guide our work has your experience been that parents are generally supportive are they curious or want any more information my experience has been that parents want to do what what whatever they can to help support their kiddo and a lot of times they don't know what to do and they're looking for support they're looking for answers and so if we can be partners with parents and helping to figure out those resources and solutions that's really a natural role for the district yeah and speaking as a board member you know speaking with community members we we hear a lot that you know when we explain what's going on with the district District especially with this Jed Foundation project and some of the other work we're doing with the mental health advisory committee a lot of parents are really grateful that it's happening they don't know that it's going on you know we try to talk about it as much as possible through through either our board meetings or or podcasts like this um we try to get word out there but so many parents aren't aware of it and when they become aware of it they are very grateful that it's happening and they're very impressed that we are are taking such aggressive steps to to try to battle this this problem well as we're wrapping up is there anything else you think it's important for a community to know about how we are working to improve our ability to meet students where they are and improve their mental health sure I I there's so much that we didn't talk about that we're doing in the schools too that for everywhere from our growing through grief to our grief sensitive schools initi well let's talk about growing through grief sure sure what is that yeah so it is a program that it is a partnership with Park nicholet and it started 27 years ago we were the first group to say Yes W that it it's really identifying and acknowledging that most students will have a significant loss in their lifetimes and how do we support that because unsupported grief again manifests itself in affected relationships affected academics and so really it provides that school-based specialized grief counseling in individual and group therapy sessions when a kid has had a significant loss and provides uh death related Crisis Support for staff and students in the unexpected or expected event of the loss of a student or staff member so it's really a wraparound service that looks comprehensively at how do we support kids around grief around informed um supports with teachers with professional development of how do we support kids that are grieving and how does that look in the classroom so really some exciting things happening there too wow anything we didn't cover that you that youve experienced since you've been on the board with the mental health advisory committee well I think we've covered things pretty well I'm I'm very very impressed with how how much the community of mental health support uh both in the school and the providers outside the school really work together in order to come up with solutions for the students um and I think the uh it's going to be really exciting to see how this Jed Foundation project really changes their trajectory helps us figure things out a little bit more you know how to do things a little bit better and and provide the best that we can for our students I would also add I am just grateful for our our community providers who step up and step in with us in this work we are very lucky to have Partnerships and organizations that are committed and willing to do the work with us and I think it just it's so evident in our Tonka cares Coalition and our Min tanka family collaborative and the variety of organizations and agencies that are in it doing the work with us it's really impressive well last week at our PTO meeting the Hopkins and I'm not going to remember the name of the provider um but another group that prioritizes 14 to 26 year old students and fast service and lowcost service we have a lot of partners that stand with us to serve the needs of our kids yeah exactly well I want to thank you both for giving up an afternoon to inform our community about all the ways we are working to ensure our kids stay healthy get healthy and that we can transition them through our system as needed partnering with other community agencies and I want to thank you and our community for joining us on this important topic as Dr Mike shared the data shows that this needs to be an area of priority for our school district and I'm proud of the work that we're doing within our school district to commit to our students mental health thank you for joining us for this podcast join us again in the future we'll see you around