One-on-one therapy sessions for students is suspended

UNION CITY — Dozens of students in Union City schools won’t get one-on-one therapy sessions on campus in the next school year.

The New Haven Unified School District temporarily suspended an interns program that allows university graduates in social work to counsel district students who have mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, often stemming from traumatic experiences.

Sandy Vaughn, the district’s social worker and head of the program, said that in the 2015-16 school year, mental health interns provided roughly 85 students with individual hourlong therapy sessions about once a week. She said around the same number of students are getting help from six interns this year and the services are crucial to their academic success.

Vaughn said the program — now in its seventh year — caters to students who can’t get such help elsewhere because of language barriers, lack of transportation, insurance issues or just the social stigma associated with mental therapy.

“They’re not going to go to the mental health clinic down the street, they’re just comfortable in a school setting,” she said.

Vaughn said the program’s suspension was abrupt and she worries abut how students may cope.

“A year is a long time to wait,” she said. “I don’t know what to tell these kids what’s going to happen next year, and where their support is going to come from. So they just won’t get it, that’s my big concern,” she added.

“I fear that their symptoms will get worse, that they’ll be less successful in school. Some of them really need the support in order to stay on track.”

But John Mattos, the district’s head of pupil services, said students who need help will still get it.

“Those kids who are in crisis are going to be supported, for sure,” he said. “I feel extremely confident about that. That is the most serious concern that we have, that students in crisis get the support they need.”

Mattos said the decision to suspend the program wasn’t made lightly and was prompted by concerns about its procedures and effectiveness.

In some serious disciplinary cases, for example, it was discovered that interns were diagnosing students with mental health disorders but not sharing information with key staffers who help assess students for custom education plans.

School districts are required by federal law to identify students with disabilities that could interfere with their learning and create education plans that help them succeed. Mattos said not having all the relevant information about a student’s well being puts the district “in an interesting position in terms of liability.”

He said the district consulted with Alameda County Health Care Services, which supports mental health at many school districts in the county, and officials there recommended suspending the program and turning the responsibility for an intern program over to the agency.

Mattos and head of special education Sarah Kappler agreed with the recommendation and the district’s co-superintendents signed off on it.

The county will send five interns to New Haven schools to serve students, though they’ll offer other kinds of support besides oneon-one therapy.

Mattos said the district, with the county’s help, is working to create an overarching health and wellness assessment.

“And at the end of that we will be able to have a really good, solid idea and plan for what we want our intern program to look like moving forward,” he said, adding that the district plans to bring back the intern program for the following school year.

Vaughn said she had hoped to get eight interns by next year, along with two from the county, for a total of 10. Having only five from the county will drastically shortchange students who need intensive help, she added.

Mattos insisted the support will be there.

“I want to make clear that if a student comes in and says ’I’m losing it, I’m so stressed out, I don’t know what to do, I’m panicking, I think I might hurt myself,’ there will be people in the building who can help.

“But we’re also going to say ’If you need intensive, one-on-one support, we’re going to work to connect you with professionals.’ ”

Some students in the one-on-one program, as well as a teacher and an intern, showed up at an April 18 school board meeting to voice their support for the program. One student said the program helped him focus and get into college. An English teacher at James Logan High School said the program “is invaluable to help me do my job better.”

One student, speaking through an intern named Rebeca Cazarez who translated for her, said “Thanks to this program I have been able to move forward and not let my problems drown me.

“There was a point that I wanted to end my life. Thanks to Rebeca I am able to continue to get up and move forward.”