Hempfield contracts with Care Solace to expand access to counselors

The Hempfield Area School District is expanding mental health services for students and others in the community.

Board members unanimously approved a $23,190 contract with Care Solace, a California-based firm that helps link people to mental health professionals.

“The primary purpose of Care Solace is to connect families to outside resources,” Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said via email. “With the limited availability of mental health services in our community, I believe Care Solace will be a welcomed resource to families seeking support in this regard.”

Lisa Maloney, supervisor of pupil services, compared Care Solace to a concierge service that quickly gets a person aligned with mental health services in the area.

According to Maloney, there are two sides to the program. The first side will connect students to members of the Care Solace team following a school referral, which requires parent permission. The other side allows family members to reach out anonymously to be connected with the type of support needed.

“(Care Solace) actually follows up after and just checks and see how it went, if the person likes the provider,” Maloney said during last week’s board meeting. “If they don’t, then they help them get hooked up with another provider. So it really sort of alleviates a lot of barriers.”

According to the Care Solace website, the organization serves 3 million students, 150,000 school staff members and 12 million parents and family members.

Across the nation, student mental health has become a priority, especially during the pandemic.

In 2019, more than 1 in 3 high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, a 40% increase since 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2020, when covid first began spreading across the nation, mental health-related emergency department visits among children ages 12 to 17 increased 31% from 2019, the CDC found.

The agreement with Hempfield Area begins April 1 and runs through June 30, 2023. It is being paid for with Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund monies.

According to Wolicki, once the program is up and running, it will be used alongside Student Assistance Program liaisons, which have been available to district students for years.

Through the SAP, a team made up of the building principal, school counselor, school nurse and behavioral health liaison contracted through Excela Health will process referrals and recommend in-school or community services. The goal is to identify issues such as drugs, alcohol, mental health and behavioral concerns posing barriers to a student’s success.

As of term three, there were 361 SAP referrals this year, Maloney said. That’s compared with 399 referrals during the 2019-20 school year and 370 during the 2020-21 school year.

“We’re already on target for the entire year … and we’re not even at the end of term three,” Maloney said. “So we’re seeing a decent uptick in the amount of students and families who are being referred to the SAP program. It’s a lot for that particular system.”

In addition, she noted that “they are capped, which means we cannot make any more referrals to school-based mental health this year because we have too many students.”

According to Maloney, other barriers associated with SAP are related to equity of access.

Once parents and children are connected to services, they become part of a bigger process related to mental health, which can make it difficult to get the time and services needed.

In addition, SAP is student-focused, meaning the program does not offer services for family members in need.

Maloney suggested Care Solace, which recently contracted with the Fox Chapel Area School District, as a possible solution to help remove those barriers.

“Removing those barriers to me is the most important pieces of establishing mental health,” Maloney said. “And to be able to do that for whole families instead of just our students seated, I think, would be very beneficial.”

Burrell School District last year started a Pupil Services program, which during the 2021-22 school year has had about 100 students in referral — about twice as many as with traditional referrals for services outside the school district.

The Pupil Services team includes the school psychologist, a new social worker and a behavior specialist, all licensed through the state Department of Education, as well as a contracted counseling interventionist who provides help with classroom behavior for students.