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Alabama education leaders celebrate success, seek expansion of mental health services

Montgomery Advertiser - 1/27/2021

Despite the challenges thrown at the Alabama Department of Education since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, leaders celebrated a successful first year for the Mental Health Service Coordinator program while stressing the program's need to grow.

In a press conference Wednesday, state superintendent Eric Mackey looked back at the department's work toward first ensuring schools were safe and the added focus that began last year in ensuring schools were also supportive.

Since the Legislature approved funding the inaugural mental health program in 2019 with about $4.5 million, 102 coordinators have been hired to serve school systems throughout the state.

"We are surrogate parents away from the home," assistant state superintendent Terry Roller said of teachers and counselors within schools. Given the increasing demands of counselors, the coordinators serve as supporters in ensuring needs that prevent academic success are being met.

More: Alabama public schools seek $459M increase for teacher retention, support services

Their job, Roller explained, is similar to an air traffic controller. The mental health service coordinators receive the information regarding the myriad of issues students, staff and families are experiencing and they help to connect each with the best resource available.

"So as the situations come in, we sort it, we filter it and we send it along to the right person," Roller said of the coordinators.

Many districts, like Montgomery Public Schools, have had partnerships with agencies in the community to serve the mental health needs of students — including school based counselors from the Montgomery Area Mental Health Authority and the Family Sunshine Center.

More: MPS wants to expand school based mental health program district wide

Across the state, there are about 75 agencies partnering with school systems in a similar manner. The coordinators job is to work with those agencies, as well as to expand partnerships.

Now, Mackey is requesting state legislators agree to further fund the program to ensure all 142 school systems have their own coordinator, and each coordinator is able to access more tools and services.

During his address to members of the state's legislative budget committees Tuesday, Mackey requested an about $2.2 million increase to the program compared to last year, bringing it to about $6.7 million.

Roller stressed the importance of the additional funding given the increase of mental health issues amid the pandemic.

"Mental health issues have always been present but in the past," he said. "But now, especially during COVID, it has become a universal issue because students that weren't in a vulnerable population suddenly became vulnerable. So now, we are having to support all students with all issues and we need to be able to expand to build capacity."

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com<font color="#000000">.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama education leaders celebrate success, seek expansion of mental health services

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