During Tuesday night’s Leon County School Board meeting, Leon County Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Alan Cox discussed the mental health of Leon County students.
Dr. Cox explained that they have received an increase in referrals from students who feel they need help coping with depression and anxiety due to social isolation during the 2020 and 2021 school years.
In the first semester the new referral totals for elementary school children were 108, for middle school children the total was 188, and for high school students the total referrals for the first semester were 113.
Cox felt it was necessary to explain what the schools are offering to students and parents to aid in coping.
Cox noted that there is on-going professional development for teachers and parents related to warning signs of distressed students and using the Digital Academy to focus on identifying these signs during virtual teaching. Also, professionals, such as school-based mental health service providers, school social workers, school support staff, teachers, and community-based providers, are available for students.
In addition, Cox explained that multiple programs have been put in place for students to access coping methods. One such program is a 16-week course called New Horizons, which focuses on communication and decision-making skills. The program uses activities that incorporate information about positive self-esteem, personal responsibility, and the development of coping skills.
Another program offered in Leon schools is the DISC Village Youth Counseling Program. The program focuses on the behavior, mental health and physical well-being of students. It targets anxiety, depression, anger management, and self-esteem. The initiatives include creating a team of social workers and psychologists that put together activities for students as well as lessons for teachers to access online.
Mental Health Referrals Up in Leon County Schools added by Lynsey Kirk on
View all posts by Lynsey Kirk →
@ Pat Lena used COUNTY Numbers, 300 and 30,000. Not sure where you got the 3 Million Number from.
What more do we expect from our Child Abusing Capital District Scruel Superintendent Hanna and Scruel Board. Their psychopathy has no bounds as they worship Covidism and want to spread the tenets of their filthy cult.
If DeSantis and Corcoran had any sense they would not come out with a weak letter politely requesting these child abusing Scruel Boards to consider making masking optional. They would nuke these filthy mask mandating scruel boards from orbit and order them to make masking optional, full stop. Better yet, BAN masking altogether.
They should also nuke ANY antisocial distancing requirements in public Scruels.
Just these two little things may go a long way in helping our kids from the scourge of depression among a host of other physical and mental health issues.
@ Lena do the math 300 deaths divided by a total population of 3 million is 0.0001 percent-nothing to worry about. Turn your attention to cigarette smokers…tobacco related deaths are approximately 27%. Second hand smoke is responsible for 1.0 % of deaths. I don’t care if you wear a hundreds masks, alone in your car driving through the Country. I am not wearing one!
@Lena,
How many of those deaths were from people who had other conditions that contributed and should have been classified under their other condition as the cause of death …and remember no flu deaths were reported.
A nation watched in horror yesterday that the FBI ignores a pedophile and worse who happens to be the son of the president of the United States yet goes after his whistleblower instead. Who is the crazy now?
This is a very good article focusing on mental health concerns that have been increasing in recent years, as exhibited by the rate of suicides. With a high of 45 in 2012, Tallahassee-Leon County suicides gradually decreased to 26 in 2016, however, has seen an upward trend in recent years back to 41 in 2020 per the Florida Department of Health’s FLCharts.org. There have been 6 already in 2021. Although the City’s TEAM initiation as a RESPONSE unit has been well publicized more emphasis on existing and excellent local PREVENTION programs is needed. This article helps in that regard and is a story that is in dire need of additional research and better publicized in articles, PSA’s, school programs, discussions in City and County Commission meetings, etc. For a summary chart since 2011 for local and statewide stats send an e-mail: terry@thetrakker.com
Chase whatever illusion you choose Lena… The very same clowns who profess that we should “follow the science” are the very same clowns who ignore the “science” of biological nature and life itself. You have every right to wear a face diaper and take your shots of sugar water and fertilizer runoff… just as I have every right not to.
My Body; My Choice… remember that?… it’s not just for killing innocent babies.
Wow, it looks like the Fox News crazies are out in force.
Over 30,000 people have gotten sick and 300 people have DIED of COVID in this county alone.
And STILL you people refuse to acknowledge the obvious.
Wear a mask. Have your kids wear a mask. All of our collective safety is far more important than your inconvenience or your crazy denials.
Parents; I you haven’t figured it out now, and done so already… you need to get your children OUT of the Public Indoctrination System ASAP!
The Damage these NaziCrats and Woke Supremist Wackos are doing to our children, and their ability to function in a civil society, is reprehensible.
These Students need actual person to person Interaction with other Students, NOT Zoom.
I can sorta see why you are wanting Kids to wear Masks in class. When I went to John G. Riley and to Cobb, the Windows in the Class Rooms would open up and most of the time they were open to allow fresh air and breezes to come in. When I went to Lincoln, I don’t think any of the Windows opened. Do ANY Schools still have Windows in the Classroom that open?
I think kids having to wear masks to school it’s detrimental to their health. And that’s why I’m not doing this anymore.
That’s why I am pulling my kids out of public school after this year and homeschooling them in the fall. My kids are happy as can be.
I can see why, Parents do not teach their children to fail, the whole Gender Dysphoria crap, lock downs, fake news, welfare pays better than work, unemployment pays better than work, Leon County Commissioners acting like a Little Napoleons, student loan debt and no job, President House Plant printing money like there isn’t a consequence, taxes go up and up and up while Welfare Queens make more money than a working person….easy to understand why kids are depressed. And then there are the hundreds of thousand illegal immigrants flooding the country bringing COVID, Drugs and who knows what else. It depresses me too.
One of he sad and unintentional (or perhaps intentional) consequences of the China Bio-Weapon Flu Scamdemic and the non-scientific power grabs by the NaziCrats and their CCP colluders. The damage these fools have caused our Nation, economy, and children will take a long time to repair.
May God forgive them their transgressions