Doing the work

Stillman said another part of her current position is running and attending countless meetings and partaking in committees.

“They’re often not things that I do myself,” she said. “I’m just part of the planning for it.”

Even with this engagement, Stillman said that many people in the community or parents themselves, unless they have a special needs child, don’t know that their district has several school psychologists and what it is they do.

“People just don’t realize how much of a piece of the team the school psychologist is,” Stillman said.

Currently, she works with students from preschool to fourth grade, with the other school psychologist working with students fifth grade through 12th grade.

Overseeing students for that period of time at League Elementary School, Maplehurst Elementary School and Pleasant Elementary School, Stillman said she watches many of them grow up and can build relationships with them over time.

The same rings true for Stillman’s work with teachers that she can cultivate relationships with to best understand and meet the needs of students.

Those needs can change or remain over time as well, she said.

“I feel like since I started, there’s always been more of a need for psychologists than is able to be filled,” Stillman said. “It would be great for psychologists in general to just have more time to do things that they’re trained on and are great at.”

Mental health and counseling groups have become particularly important for students, according to Stillman.

Whether the need for those services changes by district or with time, the work psychologists do for school districts remains timely, she said.

“There’s always a need for school psychologists,” Stillman said.