SUCCESS in the time of COVID: A Taos Behavioral Health story
‘When I start my training with our Community Coordinated Social Services staff, I always say, ‘You may not be able to change the world, but in this program, you can change the world for these kids’,” said Magdalena Miera, the CCSS supervisor at Taos Behavioral Health.
When the middle school/high school therapeutic program had to change its structure for the fourth time since the start of the virus, Miera sat down to conference with Brian Salazar, the program director. “What does our community really need?” they asked themselves. Increasingly they were following state directives to reduce time and size of groups in face-toface settings. And increasingly it became apparent that the school thought they were doing academics and blamed them when students were not performing well.
New clarity
“We are clinicians working with students whose behavioral health assessments reveal the need for close support and specific therapeutic goals,” they realized. “We are not tutors and we needed to communicate more clearly with the schools about our role.”
Out of that discussion grew new clear guidelines and a program name to communicate with others: SUCCESS which stands for Students Using Confidence and Courage and Emotional Support for Success. The special expertise of TBH staff is to build skills, confidence and courage in students who need emotional support to become successful in all their roles.
“Our clients are usually falling between the cracks” said Salazar, noting too, they often do not have adequate connectivity and are not able to participate successfully in virtual education. Family members have often lost their employment and are deeply stressed about the next utility bill, the next meal.
New intensity
The SUCCESS staff, consisting of four clinicians and five CCSS workers zeroed-in on meeting the social emotional needs of their clients so that they could begin to achieve some successes. The program works on five functional areas of their life: living situation, education, work, social experiences and recreation.
CCSS workers check in with their clients every morning and night via phone, text or Zoom. They ask them if they are able to get online, do they know the passwords for their classes, what are their goals for the day. It is an intensively caring interaction covering the five functions with age-appropriate questions. At the end of the day, they ask how things went — what support do they need for the next day — what are their goals. Casually they ask them what they had for dinner — assessing whether there is adequate food in the home. All the relevant information is shared with each client’s clinician — who see them at least once a week — face to face or via Facetime or Zoom.
About 20 youth whose behavioral assessments reveal mental health needs serious enough to require face to face time and ongoing intensive support are being seen in small pods in the Academy building rented by TBH. In that setting, there is consistent structure, interactive group therapy, individual therapy and support to access their education. The same five functional areas are stressed.
Strong in-service training
With the increased needs of our clients, the agency has been providing special Reflective Supervision to all its CCSS staff. Led by TBH Board member Dr. Amy McConnell Franklin, the staff reflect on the most difficult challenges presented by their clients and share creative ways to respond. With a combination of science-based intervention knowledge and a trusted group in which to share the special stress of behavioral health work in these times, the CCSS staff has commented that they feel great support and increased skills.
Outcomes
The SUCCESS staff is now seeing a dramatic improvement in the collaborative participation of clients, their families and the school personnel. Stay tuned for further discussion of creative ways staff are using virtual tools and new learnings for us all.
TBH has the largest licensed and credentialed behavioral health staff in Northern New Mexico. We can be reached at TaosBehavioralHealth.org, (575) 758-4297 or at 105 Bertha Street for scheduled appointments.