Sedgwick County mental health program to partner with Derby school

DERBY, Kan. (KSNW) — Sedgwick County commissioners will vote Wednesday on the final plan to add Derby High School to the Mental Health Intervention Program. It allows kids to have therapy at school, not having to miss class and breaking down barriers.

“To be expanding, it really shows the needs and what’s going on in our community that people really value and want to support mental health services, and so this is definitely one way to do that,” Shantel Westbrook, Comcare director of clinical and rehab services, said.

The program has served over 800 kids in 36 schools each year in the Wichita district alone.

“A lot of these kids would not have received services, being that we go into the school we serve in the school, it really is able to reach more kids,” Westbrook said. “They don’t have to leave school to get services. Their parents don’t have to take off work. They can have easier access.”

With this program, the time missed from school is reduced significantly.

“Protects instructional time as well,” Luan Sparks, Derby director of alternative learning, said. “If we want our students to have high academic achievement, they have to be in school, they need to be in school. And so if we can cut down and facilitate those services, I just think we’re going to have a tremendous outcome all the way around.”

Also, school leaders have found it is not always easy for parents to get their kids to an appointment.

“A lot of our families are working, and it’s hard to work in the Wichita area, take off work, come get their child, take them into town, bring them back,” Sparks said. “This also supports families getting the help that their child needs.”

The program takes mental health professionals and brings them to many kids’ safe place – school.

“In this day and age, we have diverse student needs, and our families have diverse needs,” Sparks said. “And the mental health intervention team program is a program that really allows us to think outside the box and collaborate with our community stakeholders and our partners to get our students to those mental health professionals.”

They will get 24/7 care, even during school breaks.

“Across our nation, this isn’t unique to Derby or even the state of Kansas, we are seeing a lot of needs with our students,” Sparks said. “I think we have to step outside that box a little bit to think about what those needs are and what are the best ways to meet those needs. This program is a vehicle that will allow us to really add that extra layer that we don’t have. We don’t have mental health services on site.”

Valley Center, Maize and Wichita districts already have the program at their schools. The program started in 2017, and this is Valley Center’s fifth year.

“They can come into the school, they can go throughout their day, they can have a therapy session and just see what it’s like because a lot of these kids would not get that opportunity otherwise,” Jessica Van Tassell, Valley Center mental health liaison and social worker, said. “So it makes me very happy as an introduction for them at a young age that it’s okay to get help. And that’s the best thing we can do for our mental health.”

Valley Center started with the program at the high school but expanded to the middle schools and elementary schools.

“I have seen that turn kids lives around,” Van Tassell said. “We just want to wrap services around these kids. I’ve seen kids go from being suicidal to becoming mental health advocates. And so that shows me that this program is working, and it needs to continue working because I mean, the reality is not all parents can get their kids to therapy. It’s a tough thing. So if we can help them at school, then that’s what we’re going to do.”

Along with therapy, the intervention team also does skill building with students.