One Kid At A Time
There are more than 172,717 residents in Boone County. Within the 172,717 residents, 35,580 of those are under the age of 18. Of that 35,580, nearly 25,000 are K-12 students attending school in Boone County. The number of children suffering from mental health issues is skyrocketing and the schools noticed a gap. The Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition was created to bridge that gap, and they’ve implemented a program that’s geared toward creating an aware community that can work alongside schools, counselors, parents and teachers. Early detection of mental health problems can lead to prevention of drug abuse, criminal activity and addiction down the road. And that road really isn’t as long as we think it is.
Determining Risk
In the state of Missouri, the Department of Social Services, Division of Youth Services, keeps track of juvenile court referrals. Back in 2007, 3,161 law violation referrals were made due to drugs. In Columbia, the threat of youth involved in drug activity is silent, but deadly. Prescription drug abuse has become an increasing concern, not just in Columbia, but the entire state of Missouri. These drugs include Alprazolam (Xanax), Oxycodone (Oxycontin), and Amphetamines (Adderall and Dexedrine). Kids can get ahold of these drugs without even seeing their doctor: forged prescriptions, theft, “doctor shopping,” and online purchasing are among the options. Sometimes, though, these addictions start by accident. Like a legal prescription for pain incurred from a horrible car accident.
The solution comes down to early detection — but how? Addiction doesn’t pick a gender, race, age or economic status.
“Twenty percent of children are at risk for mental health issues, and of that 20 percent, three to five percent of kids experience serious mental health issues that lead to more significant problems later, such as addiction,” said Aaron Thompson, Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri, School of Social Work, and representative from the Boone County Health Coalition.
There was a gap in early detection, and a group of individuals, right here in Columbia, knew there had to be a solution to this problem. It came in the form of the Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition, which was formed by a passed six million dollar tax proposal back in 2012. Representatives like Thompson went door to door, asking Boone County residents to invest in kids. After the tax was passed, LouAnn Tanner-Jones was placed as the Director for this program, bridging the Coalition and all six school districts in Boone County. Her role is to implement and oversee Coalition programs. She works closely with the superintendents in each Boone County school district to figure out exactly where that tax money needs to go.
This program exists to help children succeed, in and out of the classroom, from their first day of kindergarten until they walk across the stage at graduation. It creates child-centered and family-based wraparound service plans for in-risk youth like the ones mentioned above. But what does that mean? How does the organization determine what who the “in-risk” youth are?
“The use of the tax money is broad. We’re using it as a way to help kids in the end. The question posed to us with this money was, “How can we manage and reduce the serious mental health issues our children suffer from in Boone County? Our answer was to start at a higher level,” said Christine King, Columbia Board of Education Member.
King was first elected in 2009 as re-elected in 2012 and 2015. She served as president from 2013 to 2015.
“In the end, we want to make sure that the results show that we’ve helped parents and families get their needs met when it comes to helping their kids.”
The Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition is a multidisciplinary collaborative program among the six Boone County independent school districts, the University of Missouri College of Education, Department of Educational School and Counseling Psychology and School Counseling, the Missouri Prevention Center and the School of Social Work. Their mission statement reads:
“ To promote a coordinated, multidisciplinary, collaborative initiative through: (a) implementation of a scientifically-based model of prevention and intervention, (b) reduce contextual risk factors and promote existing protective factors, and (b) provide access for in-risk youth and their families to comprehensive mental health assessment and wrap around case management services.”
The schools in Boone County have been divided into 5 regions.
Region A
- Harrisburg School District
- Midway Heights Elementary
- Smithton Middle School
- Paxton Keely Elementary
- Alpha Hart Elementary
- West Middle School
- Ridgeway Elementary
Region B
- Sturgeon School District
- Centralia School District
- Two Mile Prairie Elementary School
- Battle High School
- Derby Ridge Elementary
- Douglass High School
Region C
- Hallsville School District
- Oakland Middle School
- Lang Middle School
- West Elementary
- Parkade Elementary
- Blue Ridge Elementary
Region D
- Jefferson Junior High
- Grant Elementary
- Benton Elementary
- Lee Elementary
- Hickman High School
- Russell Elementary
- Fairview Elementary
Region E
- Southern Boone District
- Mill Creek Elementary
- Gentry Middle School
- New Haven Elementary
- Rock Bridge Elementary
- Rock Bridge High School
- Shepard Elementary
- Cedar Ridge Elementary
Tackling The Problem
If you are a parent, I’m sure there have been times where you pick your kids up from school and ask them how their day was. They probably say, “Oh, it was fine.” And then it’s silent in the car for a bit. You might ask, “What did you do at recess today?” You glance back at your child, waiting to hear something about swinging on the swing set, playing on the monkey bars or an intense game of four-square. But instead you hear, “Well, somebody pushed me today at recess and I don’t know why.” Some parents would tell them to “be bigger than that,” or “don’t let it bother you,” or even to just smile. And all of that is correct. But the truth is that depression in 7-year-olds looks a lot like being bullied.
In 2014, the BCSMHC performed a needs assessment among teachers and school administrations across the county. They found that the majority of the group didn’t know what to look for in regards to kids’ mental health. And on top of that, if they did know what to look for, they didn’t know where to go or what to do with that information.
Thompson also mentioned that teachers were noticing an increase in bullying and academic problems, loss of interest in school, teacher-student rejection, school failure, substance abuse through peer groups and a spike in criminal activity. These issues were ranging K-12. BCSMHC decided it was time to do something about these issues, so they submitted a grant to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) to seek federal funding to support school-based and community trainings in Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) in the amount of $373,000 over three years. The funding from this program would allow the coalition to form partnerships such as Creating an Aware Community with Youth Mental Health First Aid: A Partnership of Boone County Schools, Public Health, and Community Service Providers. Through this program, they would be able to train 2,000 teachers, parents and community service providers as First Aiders.
To put it simply: they would saturate this community with knowledgeable people who are aware and responsive to youth mental health concerns that could lead to more significant problems down the road, such as addiction.
Here To Help
In just six months, the Coalition trained 292 school personnel in Boone County.
They piloted the teacher version of the early identification system for 1,235 students grades K-12. A total of 62 teachers completed the online assessment to evaluate the functionality, feasibility and utility of the system. The purpose of the early identification system is to identify early signs of social and emotional problems among youth in a school building. This system will allow the BCSMHC to determine the level of risk at the student, classroom, school, district and county. The program also includes something called the Gate System: students who are identified “at-risk” by the early identification system will receive a second, more detailed assessment to determine more specific areas of concern. This is called the “second gate” and includes parent reports, as well as teacher and child reports of social and behavioral concern. In some cases, a family may be referred to an outside agency.
As part of training, the Coalition informed teachers, school administrators and community members about the local resources in Boone County.
For younger children who may need counseling and help with mental health issues, there are several resources right here in Columbia. Great Circle is an agency that provides a unique spectrum of behavioral health services to children and their families. Other great resources for children and adolescents are Compass Health and Pathways Community Health.
There are also several local resources for teens who are suffering from drug addiction or substance abuse.
It’s something that parents have a hard time talking about; they don’t know where to go, or who to talk to. There’s a fear that we may be judged, even by our closest friends. You won’t have all the answers when they ask, “Well what happened? They come from such a good, loving home.” You don’t have to have all the answers. Reach out to these local organizations that can help you, your teen, and your family heal. NAVIG8 Adolescent Treatment Program, The Crossroads Program, Great Circle, Valley Hope Addiction Treatment Center, Burrell Behavioral Health and CenterPointe Hospital are available to help.
The Coalition is aware of these resources and as part of their family wrap-around program will help guide parents and students to the light at the end of the tunnel. They are working hard to put an end to kids slipping through the cracks, silently suffering from mental health issues, drug addiction and substance abuse. Their goal is to help each and every in-risk student get back on track, so that their future can be bright and promising; they just have to take it one kid at a time.
It was June 2. Nita Brooks and her daughter, Grace, were flying back to Kansas City
from Playa del Carmen, Mexico, where they had spent a week relaxing and celebrating Grace’s graduation from massage therapy school. What was already going to be a long day of travel turned into one of the longest days of their lives.
During their layover in Houston, Nita received two text messages that read, “Apparently Lucas has been asleep since 6 last night, “ and, “ he didn’t answer text last night.” After landing in Kansas City, sitting in the back of the plane, Nita and Grace received the news that Lucas had died.
When asked to talk about her son, Nita couldn’t define Lucas in one word.
“I don’t feel like Lucas is easily defined by one term. As a child he participated in many sports. After middle school his social life seemed to replace his sports participation. He loved hanging with his friends, and they frequently filled our house. Lucas also became very involved in our church youth group, and took two summer mission trips to Jamaica with the group,” Nita wrote to me.
Lucas was also a family guy. He loved his family and said multiple times that they were the most important thing to him. At the time of his death, he was living with Grace in an apartment here in Columbia. Nita reflects that Grace probably saw much more of Lucas’ addiction than she ever did.
Lucas was a heroin addict. Looking back, Nita admits that she was extremely naïve when it came to issues concerning addiction. She says that in the months leading up to his death, he looked high more often, had glassy eyes and frequently fell asleep or couldn’t hold a conversation. Lucas had admitted to his mother that he used Xanax and marijuana. He just never admitted to using heroin.
After that tough conversation, Nita and Lucas talked about a plan. But that plan was interrupted six days later, when he was arrested for shoplifting. After spending a few nights in jail, he went to Valley Hope Addiction Treatment Centerin Boonville.
“He was supposed to stay there for 28 days, but was released after 21 days, with only a four-hour notice to us. Just five days after he was released, Lucas died of accidental overdose.” Nita says.
Warning Signs
Nita reflects on the little signs that never really did scream “addiction” to her. He avoided family contact. Grace talked about the difficulties of living with Lucas. Lucas ran out of money, even though he was working 25-plus hours per week. These were subtle indicators that something might have been off with Lucas.
“The only biggest sign I see now, looking back, and having learned more about how heroin addiction starts in many cases, is that Lucas had a car accident in October and ended up in the emergency room. He left with a prescription for narcotic painkillers. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I learned that nearly two-thirds of heroin addiction starts with addiction to prescription pain killers.” Nita writes.
Recovery
Recovery from a heroin addiction is a lifetime process. A typical 28-day program barely skims the surface for what is needed in order to have a successful recovery. Insurance norm for addiction treatment is short-term inpatient. After that, the addict must find their own tools and resources in order to stay clean. With Lucas’s case, the 21 days in rehab detoxed his body, so his regular heroin dosage became lethal.
Reflecting
Nita remembers her son as being gentle, beautiful and joyful. She remembers that he loved nature; she pictures him tying up a hammock between two trees near the river and relaxing. She remembers a specific trip to the Lake of the Ozarks, where the whole family went tubing. She saw pure joy on Lucas’s face that day, sliding through the water, hitting wakes and smiling like nothing could go wrong.
On June 2, Nita felt shattered, suffocated and in shock. Losing a child is totally incomprehensible. In order to heal, she started writing, one word at a time. She has found that writing her thoughts and hitting “publish” is one of the ways she has found to deal with her grief. Today, she said she feels “functionally amputated.”
Nita says, “Losing Lucas was losing a part of me. Visually, I picture my four children as my arms and legs. Lucas’ death was like losing one of my limbs. A devastating, giant loss. But I am learning to navigate this world with three instead of four. It’s a slow, awkward and, at times, extremely painful process. I wish I didn’t have to, but I don’t have a choice. I’m a different me in many ways.”
To read more about Nita’s healing process, visit her blog at https://nitabrooks.wordpress.com.