Effects of pandemic drain student mental health
Schools try to help kids while parents, teachers also deal with strain.
As the school year comes to a close, the lingering impact of the pandemic on the mental health of Clark and Champaign counties’ students, teachers and parents remains heavy on the minds of administrators and health counselors.
The past school year was tough on everyone involved in the education process — especially students.
COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the year caused students and teachers to miss more school even though many children who were taught remotely the previous year were already behind in the learning process. Some kids displayed new behavioral problems. There were new politics around regulating schools and what teachers can or can’t teach.
All of that — plus dealing with an ongoing pandemic, which sometimes came with the death of family and friends, job loss or housing loss — was exhausting for everyone.
A Center for Disease Control survey in 2021 found more than a third (37%) of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the
COVID-19 pandemic, and 44% reported they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year.
How trauma affects kids
Sue Fralick, director of Community Behavioral Health Services for Dayton Children’s Hospital, said more children are showing severe behavioral problems this school year.
Fralick oversees Dayton Children’s mental health staff that works in multiple school districts.
She said now that COVID-19 cases have fallen significantly compared to peaks this past winter, people think other effects of the pandemic have also lessened. That’s not the case.
“If somebody’s experienced trauma, their social and emotional ages get stunted at the age that that trauma occurs,” Fralick said. “And it takes work to help the kids grow out of that age, if somebody pays attention to it,
and that’s where counseling can help.”
Students who learned virtually the last two years missed a transitional growth stage from middle to high school, Fralick said. They had not been able to grow socially and emotionally due to lack of contact with other kids and a lack of routine and expectations from in-person school, she said.
For example, embarrassment might show up as anger, as the kid hasn’t learned to appropriately express that emotion due to lack of exposure to embarrassing situations around their peers.
Academics are also a challenge for many children, Fralick said, because the part of the brain that engages in learning online is not the same part that engages in learning in-person.
For children who already had anxiety or depression, the isolation from others may have worsened those symptoms, she said.
Fralick said te a chers, administrators and parents can’t be forgotten in this. They’ve all gone through the same pandemic the children went through, plus they are dealing with children who are not as emotionally regulated as previous years.
“Being able to give teachers mental wellness support, I think is a really good way that the schools can help,” she said.
Fralick said parents can reach out to teachers to see what they need. To help stu- dents open up, giving them fun activities as a family and space to talk, she said.
But she said that parents have also been through the same trauma and not everyone is available.
“We have to have empa- thy for everybody through all of this and not judge people,” she said.
What schools are doing for students
Schools received federal money from bills passed in 2020 and 2021 as well as state funds available to spend on students’ mental health.
About 80% of Ohio schools that were eligible for wellness and mental health services funding took advantage last school year, and they spent a combined $289 million on that programming, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
Ohio dedicated $675 million toward the Student Well- ness and Success program for 2019-21 because that need was recognized before the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Many school districts said they would like to hire more therapists for their district, but can’t find qualified candidates.
Although there has been a state-wide shortage, Spring- field City Schools expanded its school psychology staff, and will add two full-time mental health specialists next school year.
The district has counselors at each school. The administration added more behavior specialists, social work- ers and case management, full-time contracted mental health counselors, partners with the Clark County Edu- cational Service Center (ESC) for an on-staff clinical psy- chologist as well as school psychologists. In addition, the district partners with local agencies to bring in individual and small group counseling services at all buildings that includes staff from the ESC and Mental Health Services.
“The district works very hard to make sure our students are equipped with all of the resources they need to be successful as it relates to their mental health through the Student Services Department,” said Communications Specialists Jenna Leinasars.
To help students deal with the past two years, Ohio schools are required to have social-emotional learning in classrooms. In addition, some schools have therapy staff available for students to talk to.
Tecumseh Local Schools used part of their funds to hire two additional guid- ance counselors, contract with Mental Health Services (MHS) of Clark and Madison Counties for full-time mental health therapists, and contract with the Clark County Education Service Center (ESC) for two fulltime nurses.
The district also added some programs to support students who have experienced self-injurious behaviors, suicidal ideolo- gies, thoughts, and suicidal attempts called the Hope Squad, which is at the mid- dle and high schools, according to Superintendent Paula Crew.
“When students have social, emotional, and men- tal health issues, these act as barriers to their academic learning. In order for us to accomplish our goal of teaching our students, we must offer assistance with these barriers to both support our students and maximize learn- ing,” Crew said.
Triad Local School District has three counselors and a School Navigator to help link students, staff and families to counseling and supports, and added an extra school counselor and social worker.
have expanded men- tal health services every year for the past three years,” Superintendent Vickie Hoff- man said. “Mental health has been a continued focus for the district for many years.”
How teachers feel
Students aren’t the only people affected by what’s going on in schools. Teachers and staff also struggled this year.
Springfield City Schools gives staff access to a program that provides them free support and offers health insurance that includes mental health services. They are also in the process of contracting with a private provider to offer therapeutic sessions for staff at no cost.
“The district (also) has a Crisis Response Team that provides direct support to students and staff in the event of a loss. This includes therapeutic support animals, private one-on-one counseling, group counseling and targeted support for those who are most impacted,” Leinasars said.
She added that the district has internal and contracted staff to support the needs of teachers and students through coaching and professional development opportunities, and they use a platform to monitor and measure wellness for staff and students on a quarterly basis.
Leinasars said support from the community is critical to the success of the district as opportunities to address mental health awareness and decrease the stigma is a community effort.
“As organizations and individuals working together, we can offer networked support and services during these challenging times. Showing patience, kindness and understanding goes a very long way in decreasing stressors experienced by students, staff and teachers,” she said.
At Triad, they have had several trainings with multiple agencies in the past six years to help teachers support students and families.