CC EXCLUSIVE: Downey High School Takes Student Mental Health Seriously
by Sara Graves
Downey, California-area schools have taken a multipronged approach to improving the mental health of its students. In fact, Wellness Centers have been opened at the four Downey Unified School District middle schools and three high schools. During school hours, students have access to counseling, clinical therapy, community resources and more.
“Because of the pandemic, the way we face various tragedies, traumas and even celebrations has changed. In our technology-driven, social media-centered world, our youth face challenges like never before and our goal is to have a place where students and families can find resources and support. Although we have always had numerous supports in place, with the opening of on-campus Wellness Centers at each of our middle and high schools, we can proudly say Downey Unified is on its way to creating a model districtwide program that will proactively provide students with the much-needed support this upcoming school year and beyond.”
Moreover, at Downey High School, the 4,100 students have full-time access to the school’s two-year-old Wellness Center that provides group and individual mental health sessions.
When seeking help, students first speak with an on-site, licensed counselor, who assesses the level of care needed, says Thomas Cortez, intermediate clerical assistant at Downey High School. Then, if the student doesn’t require higher, more-individualized care, the student will spend an average of 15-20 minutes in cool-down, so they can “deescalate and self-regulate.”
But if it is determined that a student needs higher care, there are several levels of assistance available to students including Interim Counseling Services (ICS), Educationally Related Intensive Counseling Services (ERICS), or group counseling led by third- or fourth-year college interns. The interns are hired by the district and monitored by licensed counselors on campus. The interns typically spend two, eight-hour days a week on campus as needed from September through May leading group sessions on topics including anger management, anxiety, and grief and loss. This year, there were three interns on campus.
“We are definitely seeing a need,” he says, adding that they are seeing more students coping with relationship-related issues, anxiety and depression, and students who lack “social acumen and are delayed” as a result of the extended at-home stay during the pandemic.
Cortez says students might also be referred to one of the partner agencies that provide additional individualized higher care for students on or off campus, such as Pacific Clinics, Santa Fe Springs, Ca.; Community Family Guidance Center (CFGC), Cerritos, Ca., or the Jewish Family and Children’s Service, Long Beach, Ca. Students are referred to the appropriate agency according to their need and insurance coverage. As needed, these agencies might also provide mental health education and support for families.
At CFGC, for instance, students up to 19 years of age who are on MediCal insurance participate in weekly, one-hour, therapy sessions at the school when school is in session, or off campus at CFGC as needed. Students can also participate in telehelp sessions with their therapists.
In addition, how students receive care through these agencies is changing.
Previously, for a student with MediCal or no insurance to receive individualized mental health care through a state-approved agency, a diagnosis had to first be made. Now, according to Suzette Covarrubias, program director for Pacific Clinics, the state is changing this so that a diagnosis is no longer needed. Instead, a student would be eligible for higher care if a licensed therapist determines the care is needed as a result of a loss, relational issue, or other mental health concern. Covarrubias adds it will take time to implement this change, but it will ultimately be easier for students to access care.
And for Downey students who are already receiving care through Los Angeles County, but who no longer need as much focused care, they will be transitioned to another mental health provider who can provide a lower level of care. The transition will be discussed with parents and agreed upon together prior to the transition. And although Pacific Clinics has two full-time clinicians on Downey High School’s campus with a limited caseload, Covarrubias says they have not yet transitioned any students to lower care.
“We take this serious,” adds Cortez, who thinks previous generations didn’t consider mental health as important as physical health. He says that early mental health support enables students to “take the shackles off and reach their full potential. Our message to parents is help them as early as possible so they can progress.”
One Downey High School senior, S.G., agrees, adding, “Accessing resources for mental health is important because otherwise students won’t reach out and have their problems addressed.”
Another student, J.T., a former Downey High School student, who is now attending college at nearby Cerritos College, Cerritos, Ca., knows firsthand the toll that untreated mental health has on students, having experienced the loss of two friends to suicide, one in 2019 and one in 2020.
“(Mental health) affects all parts of your life including your social life, working, and day-to-day. It causes dormancy and affects relationships,” says J.T., who has worn a rubber bracelet commemorating his friend’s life since 2019, and who one day hopes to get a tattoo honoring his friends.
J.T. adds that having experienced the deaths of two close friends, who neither expressed they were struggling with suicidal thoughts at the time, has caused him to become more compassionate and aware of others suffering from mental health issues. “I look for others and let them know they can talk to me.”