OVERVIEW
The 2021-2022 school year began with a move-in to our new temporary office in building 19 alongside our other counseling and administrative colleagues. Personal Counseling due to the nature of our triage component i.e. immediate support services for students in need had to be on site above the 25% required by the district. Our staff was eager to support our students in any and every way and so we returned five days a week. We ushered in two additional intern therapists through our intern program and collaboration with St. Mary’s College and one licensed bilingual/bicultural therapist.
One of the messages that I received loud and clear from trainings and other colleagues throughout the State of California was that not only were we facing an unprecedented mental health crisis but that we were facing a mental health provider crisis. In a recent survey conducted of newly entering therapists to the field, high rates of burnout were already reported. This information informed my program management of our intern program to ensure a rich and balanced experience for our interns and incoming licensed staff.
During the Fall semester the referrals we received were considered higher risk/higher acuity cases which means the measurement of intensity of therapeutic care needed by a student was greater. This was not particularly surprising given the impact of Covid, compounded losses, uncertainty and increased anxiety about the future particularly in transitional age youth. We saw a number of sexual assault survivors and student’s grappling with the declining mental health of loved ones and friends. We saw student’s experiencing what they described as Long Covid and provided referrals and support with this unique presentation of symptoms.
Due to the higher acuity I developed a new system of screening and trained our intern staff to assist with this. This was a way to provide immediate and more thorough assessment to students and provide valuable training to our interns on assessment, triage and intake. This proved quite beneficial for both our students and staff as we were able to more readily assist students who needed an immediate referral to outside care.
Due to our collaboration with Timely Care our after hours and weekend support many of our students utilized this valuable resource after hours. A large number of our Asian American, Pacific Islander Students (AAPI) students utilized the after hours support and a greater number of our male identified students. This collaboration has ensured that our students have round the clock support.
In the Spring semester we identified lower acuity needs but a high rate of referrals. Our department experienced record number of referrals and due to the increase in staff we never had a wait list which is quite remarkable.
We also developed a collaboration with the Women’s Mentorship and Leadership Academy (WMLA) to provide direct liaison to our counseling services and specific psychoeducational classes on a variety of topics such as Domestic Violence, Self-Care and Mindfulness. We ensured that the WMLA students were aware of all our services and knew how to readily access these services. Due to the success of this collaboration we have developed another collaboration with our International Students Program as we saw a large number of students from this demographic.
Teaching self-care is one of our standard classes that we provide but we tried to also ensure that we practiced what we preached and did team building through creative lunches, Dia de los Muertos celebration, a celebratory dinner for our new graduates and a baby shower for our new parent.
I made it a goal to be readily available for our staff and to regularly check in on how people were doing and managing our transition back.
Overall, the school year was very successful and we are continuing this incredible work this school year with returning staff and added one new therapist from St. Mary’s college, Jenna Hornbuckle. She comes to us with experience as an International student and teaching experience both in the U.S. and abroad. She will be working alongside me and our other therapist Tessa Kwan in the collaboration with the International Student Program.
We have launched the 2022-2023 academic year with the International Student’s Welcoming Event, the WMLA kick off, Mid-term Stress Less Week Activities, multiple personal counseling services presentations, a more defined relationship with our Middle College program and our ongoing direct services and triage support.
I am excited for this school year and mindful of all we have endured together. I am grateful to continue to serve alongside an amazing team and honored to work with such exceptional students.