Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Ep 87: From Awareness to Action: Helping Teens Navigate Mental Health Challenges
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders affect 31 percent of adolescents while depression affects 13% of our children. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, providing a time to recognize the importance of mental health, the stigma that surrounds it, and highlighting the resources available to those who need support right here in Canyons District. On this episode of Connect Canyons, we hear from school psychologist for Midvale Middle School, Heather Bainbridge. We also hear from Shad Roundy, licensed clinical social worker at Alta High School. They provide guidance on understanding mental health and the resources provided throughout the District.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyons School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, stephanie Christensen. Did you know that, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders affect 31% of our adolescents, while depression impacts around 13 percent? May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it provides a dedicated time to recognize the importance of mental health, break the stigma surrounding mental health issues and highlight the resources available to those who need support. So today we're talking with Heather Bainbridge, a school psychologist at Midvale Middle, and Shad Roundy, a licensed clinical social worker at Alta High School. Thank you for joining us, thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 2:Let's get started with what is available at our schools for children that need a little mental health support.
Speaker 4:There's a range of services. I think it depends on kind of the impact and how severe or how much support the student needs. But we have services for even parents as well and students. So it could be as simple as a check and connect. Sometimes we have behavior interventionists that will meet with kids in the morning, kind of set goals, check in on them. They might just need an adult to check in with them and make them feel kind of welcome and valued.
Speaker 4:We also have school counselors that can see kids for if it's kind of more shorter-term issues, kind of just getting over something, maybe an event that has brought some difficulties on, and then we have kind of another layer that would be our school social workers that can do longer services in groups and a little more intensive services, and then school psychologists. So we have groups, individual sessions that we'll see kids. Also, I push into classes a lot and so we'll do classroom lessons and we have district supports as well. So we have classes and counseling that we offer at the family center that's available and we do mental health screeners. This was something I think that's only been happening for the last couple of years, so parents can come in in the evening in a school. They schedule it just to kind of get a gauge on. Is this normal behavior or should I be worried? Is there a follow-up that needs to happen? So we offer kind of a range from like district level down to kind of individual level.
Speaker 2:I think it's funny because I've worked at the district for about eight years and I didn't know until recently what was available because, as a parent, I kind of thought I just had to deal with things on my own. I was just kind of working things out like, oh okay, I was searching on my own and it wasn't until I was talking to a coworker who said, hey, why aren't you talking to your school counselor? And I was like, well, it's not a great thing and I had no idea all the wonderful things that were available. How does a parent go about receiving help at school?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's a good question and honestly, I think calling the school counselors is a great way to start, because we have so many different layers and our schools are quite large.
Speaker 3:I mean, like I'm from Alta High School and they have we have 2,400 students, right.
Speaker 3:The social worker or the school psych can't serve all those students, and so a counselor is a great place to start and we try to triage for services and we meet with them on trying to figure out the best way if we need to help families find resources outside of school through different programs or agencies, or if it's something that we can kind of work with in the school, if they can join a group or they need more individualized check-ins. So honestly, yeah, I think checking out your school website's counseling page is a good place to start to really find out, hey, what services are available, by also recognizing, like we have, there's a lot of students, a lot of kids can struggle as well. So it doesn't necessarily mean we can, you know, support that student immediately or with something that specific, but if we know we can at least help and figure out what we need to do next, whether that is help you find some resources outside of school or if it's something that we can provide in school to kind of support the student.
Speaker 2:It seems in the last few years there's a definite increase in anxiety amongst young kids. Well, humanity in general seems like we're had a shift to a higher level. Are you seeing that in the schools, or is that just my perception?
Speaker 4:Oh, definitely, definitely the last four years, I think since COVID, it's been increasingly, I think, worse as far as what we're seeing in the classrooms and how it's what's happening in homes and the stress that families are under from increased poverty and stress and mobility Definitely see a lot more aggression.
Speaker 4:And also it feels I don't know what you think about this, chad, but a lot of times the students have like physically matured but developmentally they haven't.
Speaker 4:You, you think about this, chad, but a lot of times the students have like physically matured but developmentally they haven't. You know, they're kind of stunted a couple of years from not socializing and from socializing looking very different. So they have kind of like their bodies are, like how they are physically, but they've missed some developmental growth and so I think that mismatch is causing a lot of stress. So kids don't know kind of they didn't go through those stages like normally we would have gone through those stages as kids, as they grow. And so now we're just seeing this mismatch and it's causing anxiety, it's causing a lot of frustration and mental health issues and I think we're all kind of seeing it and just kind of like trying to figure it out and as more research is done. We kind of learn how we can support them. But I think it's going to take a bit of time to kind of close some of that.
Speaker 3:I think it's a complicated issue really as well. I mean, covid is a perfect example, but I mean, if we just look at our communities, we have a lot more political upheaval than we've had in quite some time. Working with teenagers, they're pretty in tune with what's going on in the world, and not only in tune. They're really trying to figure out okay, how do I maybe have an impact on world issues? And we've got climate change struggles. We have wars currently going on in our communities Not specifically here, obviously, but I think people are just responding to kind of a wild world that they're living in, and anxiety or like symptoms of anxiety seem to be somewhat accurate with what we're just experiencing amongst ourselves in the world. So it is a cool experience to be working in a school, because we have great access to individuals and students. We can work through those things.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I would say there definitely has been an increase. But to pin it down on one thing I think is pretty much impossible. But I do think it's just such a complicated issue and those are some of the things that I think are impacting it as well. As you know, a lot of time spent through social media also has had an impact as well, but there's also some benefits that come from that too. So I think it's just it's complicated, but yeah, I definitely think there's been an increase and that's why there are so many resources in schools now, why we have so many social workers and school psychs and other resources to try and help families, why we have so many social workers and school psychs and other resources to try and help families.
Speaker 2:My son was asking me if I ever would want to go back to a time pre-internet and I was like, heck, yeah, you have no idea how good I had it and I love that I have the internet and I can look things up on Google and I can find, because I always got lost before and so I can use my phone and I can find things. But it was so nice not to constantly have the comparisons of what other people are doing in their lives and it was so nice to not have a record of what I did as a youth, because I could do things and make mistakes and not have that documented for everyone to see. And he was baffled by the idea that, like I'd be okay without the internet.
Speaker 2:I think that kids, because of all the things, all the social upheaval and everything, we used to be able to just see it on the nightly news, but now with social media you're seeing it all the time. Everything's affected. It almost feels like it's 24-7 of everything good and bad in the world at you all the time. How do you help your children manage that? What are some tips and tricks to help manage just what's truly overwhelming. Because I feel overwhelmed by. I have to give myself time out, I have to go touch grass, I have to take those deep breaths, because it is overwhelming.
Speaker 3:I think a great place to start, as adults who are helping teenagers and young kids, is model appropriate behavior and relationships with technology, even though teenagers are in the stage of kind of trying to figure out who they are, disconnecting a little bit from parents and finding a lot of who they are through their peer interactions and other adults. But they are looking at us and, I think, modeling balance. I mean, if I could say anything in regards to internet, social media, it's really just have a better balance in life, which we don't have. Often it's a lot of time spent on technology. I do think it's important to just find better balance and model that.
Speaker 3:I actually did read a pretty cool article by Yale Medicine and it's just social media and teen mental health, a parent's guide, and if you just Googled that you would come to it and it gives some really good tips. It gives the benefits of social media but also the risks that can be with it, but really gives tips for parents to look through and go okay, maybe these are some things that we can implement at home. I do think it's good for parents to just really educate themselves on the different ideas that they can have to help especially teenagers with their social media use, because it's not all bad. Right, they can connect with other people, especially if you know they're a part of a minority group. They can find other people out there that help encourage them to find who they are and, you know, connect with their culture. So it's not all bad.
Speaker 3:I think there's a lot of good things. And they can connect with their friends. I know that that's hard for us, because maybe most of us connected to our friends in person or over the telephone, but they still do connect with people. Of course, we would like them to connect a little bit more in person, which is something we should encourage, and modeling is a big piece, but also creating some, I think, like technology-free zones where we're really connecting with each other on a more personal level, like in the home, and definitely don't let your kids have phones in their room, I mean, that's something I've just so many kids say I'm so tired.
Speaker 3:Well, they were just like hanging out on the internet all night and there's a lot of good feedback from that, so they stay on it, but I just think it's a bad idea.
Speaker 4:I agree with you. I think if there was one thing I could work on and have an impact would be students having their access to technology at night. You know, we have kind of like in my own house I have a couple of kids and we have a rule of no tech after eight and so they have to, you know. But then we take their stuff because kids sneak and they'll tell me kids. The students will come in and say my mom took my phone, but I got in and got it from her.
Speaker 4:Or I just took my mom's phone, or I have a tablet she doesn't know about, or I borrowed my friend's phone, like kids that don't have phones, are on phones at school, and so I think if we could, you know, as a parent, and there's ways you can, you know, with the Wi-Fi password you can take. You know, and some parents haven't felt like they can do that. They haven't felt like, well, that's their phone, like, that's their personal thing. I don't want to take that from them, but then they're up all night watching videos and then they're sleeping in class. And so I think, having that disruption and, like you said, chad, like have a balance of like, how much time are you spending and are you doing other things? Is that like the one thing you're doing all the time? Are you also touching grass and going outside building a fort? Well, I have younger kids so they build forts. I don't know if kids at Alta High School build forts, but just like having a variety of activities that you like to do.
Speaker 4:And when you mentioned modeling, I think, too, like how we respond, like if we are on our phones because I admit I enjoy watching, like funny cat videos on Instagram and my husband will comment about like, oh, someone said the dumbest thing on Facebook and I was going to comment, but I knew it was going to start a fight and that wouldn't do any good. So I kept it to myself. You'd be so proud. And our kids hear that and they clap for him and say good job, daddy, for not causing an argument on Facebook with someone you don't even know, that you don't even care about.
Speaker 4:And so I think, having those conversations out loud, you know, not just modeling to like show them what you're doing, but like working through it, like, well, if I do that, what might happen? Well, I'm not going to change anyone's mind. They're just going to come at me and I'm going to spend an hour fuming about it and wasting time disengaging from my family. What good is that going to do me? And so we're very explicit about working through that so our kids can hear like why we're doing it that way. And so I think being like really open about if you do struggle with it, like yeah, I maybe spend too much time, I'm going to limit myself and having kids see how we as adults kind of deal with that is and we try to do it in a healthy way.
Speaker 2:How do you know when is the appropriate time to seek outside help for your kids? Because there's a certain level of angst that's just normal for teenagers. But how do you know when it's a time when you should get outside help and that it's not just hormonal and it's a time what are the signs?
Speaker 3:I like that question because I think it is important to recognize that teenagers are going through so many changes. So when we you know, if you just Google like the risk factors or warning signs with students struggling with mental health, if you look at them you go, oh my gosh, every teenager's struggling then but that's just not the case. And I think, before jumping into some of the warning signs which I think are important to go over, it's really important to just have open communication with your kids, especially teenagers. I think when teenagers feel like they're involved in coming up with solutions to their struggles or their decisions, well, first and foremost, you're going to have some buy-in so they're willing to do it. A second, you're teaching them how to kind of problem solve and that they don't have to struggle at it alone. They're hard conversations to have, so it's good to. Also, again, we're going back to like this modeling idea. Even though this is hard and it brings up probably a lot of emotions and maybe even some fear, we're still going to have these hard conversations so that we can find help or that we can talk about difficult things, so that they're like oh okay, well, my parents aren't afraid to talk about this and they're not going to overreact if I say that, yeah, I'm struggling with this, or which teenagers do? I did something that I kind of either regret or there's some big consequences that are going to come with it. Well, hey, man, that's life, especially with teenagers, and they should be allowed to take risks and fall on their face and learn that it's not the end of the world, but you do have to face some of those consequences. So I think it's important to recognize that.
Speaker 3:But some warning signs is, you know, I just kind of think of is especially when kids start disengaging from things they used to enjoy, when they start isolating themselves, when their sleep and appetite or diet is really changing. If they're again, this is a hard one. But if it's like a ton of moodiness and you're not really sure who's going to show up each day, I think all of those, among with other things, are definitely warning signs. Really, if they start utilizing substances, of course that's very risky, but there's probably, potentially, maybe, a deeper-seated thing in there. Kids are going to explore deeper seated thing and they're, you know, exploring.
Speaker 3:Kids are going to explore, um, but I think that some of those things are important to look at, you know, sexualized behavior, over-sexualized behavior also is is kind of like a, a warning sign that there's something more going on. Um, but again it's not something that we should be really looking at like punishing. It's really like hey, what, what's maybe the deeper seated issue or the deeper seated struggle? I know there's some warning signs, but other I imagine you have some more.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, those, those are great. And I think, um, especially where it's a change, you know, for the kid, like if you have kind of an introverted, kind of shy kid and but if you notice like an impact, like they used to at least want to go, you know, to the park on Saturday and now they don't, so kind of like a change in how they used to be. I think sometimes even teachers have, or parents have reached out to teachers and kind of like what are they like in the classroom? And teachers have been able to say like oh, they're super engaged, they chat, they have friends or they're like you know, I'm worried about them, like they've been a little bit detached. So even you know, if you're wondering if it's kind of typical, a teacher has a really great gauge on like what is typical right now in that classroom and what they're seeing kind of over time with your student. Like I thought. I thought my daughter was like a social butterfly and I called her teacher, thinking she's maybe she's got ADHD, and the teacher's like, no, she's great, she's following rules and has friends and playing, and I was like, oh, that's wonderful, so maybe it's home. So sometimes just reaching out and like getting a gauge on. Is this typical behavior for this age group?
Speaker 4:And sometimes parents have said, you know, like the conversations are tough when you've maybe never had a lot of conversation with your child about other things. So if all of your conversations are around those hard things, you know, maybe sometimes have conversations about what they, like you know, ask them about the video game, ask them about stuff. That's not always going to lead to this like hard conversation. I think having them feel heard is the first step. When my son does something you know we've learned, the best thing to do is kind of like reflective listening and having them feel like validated and heard. So with my son I have to start with like that sounds really hard, like you're, that's a lot, like that's a lot to have to have happen. And and then he kind of like once they feel like you're on their side, like you're, you're here to listen, you're not just going to dictate, like you know, shake your finger at them and punish them. But you're like wow, that must be really hard for you. Like what do you think might be going on? Or what can we do? Like how can I help you, and kind of like get a conversation going.
Speaker 4:But yeah, I think, like any significant change and how much that is impacting them. Because if your kid's just sort of like sassy and whatever, but they'll still come to dinner, they still, like you know, go, they still do stuff. Maybe they just have an attitude. I think that's a little bit more normal. But if all of a sudden, like they don't want to do the stuff that they used to, and especially substance abuse, I think that's a big one and often parents don't know for quite a while you while, that's a really tough one to figure out. So I think finding out like sometimes teachers are a good gauge, and even what are they doing at school when you're not there, to kind of give you some idea.
Speaker 2:If you do notice that your child does have anxiety, what are some things that you can help them to work through those moments? Because sometimes, like going to school, having tests, having just the stress of all the things that are expected of them can be overwhelming. How can you work through that with them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, anxiety is a tough one. We all experience anxiety, every single person, and anxiety isn't necessarily a bad thing. It helps keep us on top of doing our activities. I felt a little bit of anxiety coming in here. I've never done anything like this before.
Speaker 3:It's important to help students have the necessary skills, but they have to approach the thing that makes them anxious. If we avoid, anxiety will stay like no doubt about it. Not only will it stay, it will only get worse. We have to approach the beast, the things that's scaring us the most. But anxiety is very much like a very physical experience, and so I think it's good to help and work with kids, students, your own kids on like what does it feel like to experience anxiety? Like, where are you actually feeling it? Is it butterflies in your stomach or you're sweating? Is your head throbbing? Like what is that physical experience? So they can connect with that.
Speaker 3:And there are strategies that we can do to help calm us down. You know, deep breathing exercises is just telling our brain there's nothing really that's going to harm us, nothing to be fully afraid of, though I still experience a bit of fear, but now my physical symptoms have gone down so I can approach. The thing that scares me and related to school, it's yeah, I'm anxious about giving a presentation. Okay, so let's practice the presentation, because that is going to build that confidence like, okay, I'm prepared.
Speaker 3:We feel anxious when we feel really ill-prepared for things. So I think really in ourselves, let's practice. You know how do I manage my own anxiety? But if we just continue to run from the things that we're afraid of, it's never going to get better and it really will only get worse. And again, with anything else, you've got to make sure that you're sleeping well, you're eating well, you're exercising. I mean all those things physically have such a huge impact on the way that our mind just works. I'm a big believer in mindfulness as well. I think let's look at how we can change the relationship we have with our thoughts and not just one difficult thought comes along and we attach to it and we follow it and we let it dictate the rest of our life and then we can watch it just kind of pass through as the next, maybe somewhat odd or random thought comes into mind. We don't have to attach to these things which cause a lot of anxiety.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was doing a class lesson just last week on kind of automatic negative thoughts and kind of like how you know those sushi trains that go around and you sit and kind of look at the sushi and you can like grab one if you want or let it go, and kind of how our thoughts can be like that, like you might get a thought that goes around and one that maybe you get stuck on a little bit, you know, and kind of like you don't have to latch onto it, you can, you can notice it and and let it go, you don't have to kind of get hung up on it. But it is that sometimes we get those thoughts of just like I'm never going to get this, this is scary, this is hard, I can't do it. And so I think having kids recognize first like the physical symptoms, like where are you feeling it in your body, and that's where the aversion comes from Like I want to get rid of this feeling, and so if I stay home, that feeling instantly goes away. But that feeling is going to come back really soon and it's going to be with a vengeance and it's just going to keep being there, and so the best way to get rid of. It is like you said, to face it, face the beast, and then it will get better. And sometimes what I'll work with kids on is taking like just the little, the little, the next step forward. Um, there's a song in Frozen movie where Anna is in a pit. I don't know if you've seen that movie. She's in a pit of despair and like a physical pit and also a metaphorical pit, and she wants to get out, but she doesn't feel like she can and so she sings a song about what's the next right step. So just like putting one foot out, getting your clothes on, you know, getting your backpack, and just kind of step by step building through, because sometimes the idea of like sitting in class is just like that's too many steps away and that's, that's a worry. And also reframing some of those thoughts of like.
Speaker 4:I myself like struggled with anxiety in school. I didn't want to go to school in middle school. So one thing I didn't realize I was doing this, but I was telling myself time always passes, three o'clock always comes, because for some reason you get stuck in that and you're just like the clock isn't moving, I'm trapped, I'm never going to go home, and so I had to tell myself the clock is always moving, three o'clock always comes, and so just getting myself through each day is how I kind of made it. And then I hit high school and it was like smooth sailing. So sometimes it's just that like getting through that, that transition, um, but we definitely help kids with that all the time.
Speaker 4:Um, with some of those skills and like mindfulness, if I was going to say like mindful, like mindful activities for kids, kind of like noticing your thoughts and feelings, being present in the moment, not hanging onto the past, not getting stuck on the future, kind of like being present. And, honestly, if you could do yoga with your kids over the summer, that would be like the best thing, like better than anger management, better than any of that. Just like put on YouTube, google, like yoga for teens or yoga for kids, but do it with them. Like you, I have yoga mats in my classroom and kids will do yoga and some of the kids who think that they're, like you know, super tough and they can't do like a you know, bamboo, like tree pose, and they tip over, but, you know, really getting connected with your breath and your body, I think those things help. But, you know, do it with them because it's good for everybody.
Speaker 2:That's perfect. Yeah, now, shad, I wanted to bring up. You have a class that you do. It's like a little group that you do for students at. I happen to know about it because my son was a part of it and it ended recently and my son is not the most talkative, particularly about emotions, and I've learned that I let him come to me and then he'll tell me some and I'll talk to him a little bit and a little more will come, and he was very talkative about the end of this group. He was very sad that it was over and had said how much it had helped him. Can you tell us about what that group was and what you do in that group?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I've run a lot of different groups in my time at Alta and the other schools that I've been at. I really enjoy groups because it's a lot of opportunities for students to hear from each other, um, and their experiences, but like kind of participate and realize, oh, you know what, I'm not the only one who's struggling with this, like we're kind of struggling together but we're also problem solving together, so it's a lot of fun. Um, that group in particular was a group that I've actually run for quite a while, kind of with some of the same kids, and it initially started with some struggles with grief, but it was something that the kids were finding a lot of benefit in but really was finding like a community together, and so kids have just been placed in it. Throughout the last couple of years We've worked on a lot of things. But what's been really fun about this group because we've gone over a lot of things. But what's been really fun about this group because we've gone over a lot of that stuff and I felt like I was just going over it and over it again and again was we just kind of came up with a project that we were going to do and it was going to be student-led. So we have there's a bulletin board kind of near my office that we call like our mental health bulletin board. So they just took over and what they would do is they would put a question up and then they would get responses from the student body as they passed. So like one of the first ones they did is like hey, what would you say to your ninth grade self? And then we would go over those questions together as a group and we would create little, not like posters, but you know we would put those answers on large sheets of paper and then we would hang them up in the hall and then we come up with a new one for like a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3:But I think the kids found that it was fun to hear some of the comments that others would make, but it was fun to share what that was, and so it felt more like a student body experience that they were in charge of. I mean, I let them come up with everything. And I think it said like they just came up with this. There was a giant mustache on it and it said I must ask you a question which was just silly and funny. They made like these real crazy looking eyes.
Speaker 3:But it was fun because they were asking good questions. What would you say to a friend who was struggling? What is a song that makes you want to happy dance? And we created a Spotify playlist that people could then like copy. You know, teenagers are teenagers. So we did have to sift through some of them and go yeah, it's not necessarily school appropriate, so we're not going to share it, but it was still fun to like look at and be like, oh, yeah, that's. You know, that's good. But I liked having them really kind of be in charge and I feel like they enjoyed doing that because they all had a voice. Some would be like, hey, we're going to do the quote, like a group of them, so they would sit there and look through a quote and find something, but they were actively participating. So that was just a fun kind of experiment this year. I just went with it and some days were better than others, but yeah, that was just kind of a snapshot of that group.
Speaker 2:It's such an awesome way to get people connected too, in a time that they really do have a hard time connecting. I know my son does a lot. Most of his interactions with his friends are on online, and so for him to actually be out there talking with people, that's a win for me, and so for him to actually be out there talking with people, that's a win for me. So what would you want parents to know about? What's available in schools and what they could do to help support their students?
Speaker 4:I think it depends on the school, because different schools have different services and different programs. So some will have like a wellness room that maybe your student can access or they might have someone there who's doing groups or class lessons or things like that. So I think, just if you usually there is a website or a webpage kind of to see what's going on at your school from, if that's kind of maybe a first step to see if there's stuff going on and then reaching out to either you know, the counselor, depending on who's at your school, usually on that they'll have like a faculty webpage and you can just email someone and kind of like oh, I'm a little bit, you know, I'd like to know what you have. There's also the Canyons Family Center, which is located at Mount Jordan Middle and there's evening classes. They do counseling, intakes, classes for adults and for students. So if you call that number and I think it's 826-8190.
Speaker 4:Anyway, let's look it up on the website and you can go in and they'll do an intake, an interview, to kind of find out engage like what services or supports, and they'll feed back to the school. So you can do it that way. They also have classes. You could ask what classes they have and if you have a student with a disability you can always even access outside of school.
Speaker 4:You can look at the Utah Parent Center and they can help guide you to resources in the community or other groups like parent groups, school-based, and we'll talk to you about if maybe other resources might also be helpful because, like I said and like you mentioned Chad, we can't necessarily address everyone's needs as well as we can and sometimes our role at the school isn't to always address all of those things. So if there's more a severe issue that needs to maybe be addressed also with outside support, we can kind of have those conversations. But yeah, I think just looking on the district website under student wellness has a lot of parent resources and things that are available. But it does kind of depend on your school what might be there. Even some schools have little programs in their school for like friendship and ambassadors, and you know there's such a wide variety. I probably don't even know all the programs in my own school, so it would be good to talk to someone at the school level to kind of figure that out with you.
Speaker 3:I think I'd agree with that. Heather said it. We can't access all the students. It's a school and so people also have to recognize.
Speaker 3:For us to serve students there is something that they have to.
Speaker 3:You have to pay, you're missing class and in high school especially it's really hard because these are classes that they have to take for graduation requirements. So it's still important to utilize the resources we have and at the same time recognize what we can and can't do. But we're all mental health professionals and we know about community resources and we are more than willing to help families find those resources. If it's beyond what we can support, I don't think it should be used as a replacement, for if a student is needing more therapy or something of that degree, we can't really replace that. We just don't have the time and schools have so much going on, so it can be complicated. But we can be utilized as good resources to find outside or if it is something that we feel like we can, we're able to're able to say, oh yeah, we can manage this or we can approach this and if we find out there's more to it. We always call parents and kind of work as a team to kind of figure out the best thing for the student.
Speaker 2:Is there anything else that you would like parents to?
Speaker 4:know. Yeah, I think we also mentioned in some of the schools we have clinical therapists from like our school has some therapists from Hopeful Beginnings. I know there used to be.
Speaker 3:Valley Behavioral Health and we have Project Connection, yeah, so Project Connection and Hopeful Beginnings and those they have.
Speaker 4:You know locations, offices outside of school. They're not just school-based, but we do have some school-based therapists in our school and that's through referrals. They bill insurance therapists in our school, and that's through referrals, they bill insurance. So it's the same process as you'd go if you went outside the school and got a therapist, but they're located in the building. So we utilize their services for families who maybe don't have means to get their kid to therapy after school. Maybe there's transportation issues or other issues, and so because they are pulling kids from school and that's that's the tough part is, when we do pull kids for services, they are missing curriculum and so it has to be something that's as important as they're learning and as they're cause. There's also a little bit of pushback, you know with. Well, do we want them to miss 30 minutes of math to talk about mindfulness, or do we want them to be in learning math, and so kind of got to balance that a little bit too. But we do have those services in our buildings but again, like at the family center.
Speaker 4:One thing I think is helpful there I've taught some classes there and some of the kids and the parents after attending a class together. They've said the best part of the class was the car ride, so they would like get one-on-one time with their parent to drive over to the class and then they would have the class, and sometimes they remembered the stuff, sometimes they didn't, and then on the way back they'd stop at Sonic, get a drink, talk about it and just that, like time in the car was the most valuable time, and so I think showing your kid like you're important. I'm going to spend time with you and this is a big thing and I want to help you. That message was clearly sent to kids when they got that time with parents, so I think that's something to be said too.
Speaker 3:Maybe just go to Sonic and get a drink. I'm really glad that you said that, heather. I think that there's nothing that can replace connection with another individual, replace connection with another individual. And so from a parent to a student, especially to, you know, teenagers, who can be hard at times to connect with because they're just, you know, they're doing their thing or they're into things that as an adult, we're just like I don't even know what that is, I can't connect with that.
Speaker 3:You don't necessarily have to, but if you can just make people feel valued, appreciated, heard and seen, I just think that that connection piece really goes so much farther than we really really understand, even if it is something as simple as a car ride and a conversation and really trying to hear where they're coming from. I hear so much from teenagers that all I want my parents to do is just to listen. And as an adult it's very hard to do that, because we know that there are solutions to a lot of their problems. But they're not necessarily looking for solutions, they're just wanting you to understand like, hey, I'm having a hard time with this, or I'm feeling this way because of a breakup, or my friend did this, or this happened in school today or whatever. They're not asking for solutions. They'll figure out solutions on their own or over time. Things will just take care of themselves anyway. So they just want to be seen and heard, and that goes way farther than I think we understand.
Speaker 3:But then if you involve them in the okay well, what do you want to do with this? Well, they're intuitive, they know. Okay, well, I don't know. I want to approach it, I need help. That's the time to kind of solve problems, but it's not from the beginning, because then they're just like you're just taking over. Teenagers need to learn how to problem solve, how to approach difficult situations, how to communicate, because they're going into the real world, and the real world, I mean, unfortunately doesn't really care about you personally. And so you've got to be able to face like that difficulty and that pain a little bit and have some I don't know some skills. I don't really love using the word resiliency, but I don't know some resiliency, I guess, and gumption to go face it anyway.
Speaker 2:That's perfect. Thank you guys so much for joining us today. If you have any ideas for a future podcast, give us a line at communications at canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, facebook or Instagram at Canyons District or on our website, canyonsdistrictorg.
