DESCRIPTION:

‍ ‍Our student population is rapidly evolving, and the level of need has seemingly increased over the last decade. This reality leaves rural leaders with a critical question: How do we adequately and appropriately address student mental health challenges while educating, supporting, and taking care of our adults and leveraging our resources?

‍ ‍Building directly upon the foundational framework shared with WiRSA attendees last year, the Montello School District has spent the past school year moving from a responsive posture to a sustainable, predictive model. Through creative funding and an outside community partnership, all Montello students, regardless of insurance or county status, remain eligible to receive therapy-based interventions. This year, we have fortified this system by successfully securing our licensed therapist for another critical year, directly protecting our staff from intervention burnout.

To expand our capacity without overtaxing our educators, we launched an intentional student mentorship program that leverages peer-to-peer connection as a tier-two intervention. Furthermore, we have evolved our daily practice by regularly deploying strategic student surveys to actively solicit student voice, ensuring our MLSS (Multi-Level System of Supports) framework is shaped by real-time student feedback rather than staff guesswork. This session will provide a practical, field-tested blueprint for creatively providing mental health access—an area long plagued by barriers and struggles—while protecting the capacity of the adults leading the classrooms.

Learning Objectives:

• Maximize Resource Leverage: Structure and sustain creative, outside-the-box partnerships with community organizations to secure and retain onsite clinical therapists.

• Protect & Support Staff Capacity: Implement a student mentorship program that creates effective peer-to-peer intervention tracks, successfully shifting the sole burden of emotional support off classroom teachers.

• Operationalize Student Voice: Design and deploy rapid student surveys within an MLSS structure, using real-time data to adjust tier-three mental health interventions dynamically.

A Sample of Presentation Content:

• Securing the Professionals (Taking Care of the Adults) We will detail the exact legal and financial mechanics used to extend our licensed therapist's contract. We will discuss how having a dedicated clinician on-site serves as a protective buffer for classroom teachers, allowing educators to focus on instruction while specialized needs are met by specialists.

• Activating the Student Body (Peer Mentorship) Participants will see the blueprint of our student mentorship framework. We will share how training students to support one another builds a culture of belonging, naturally diffuses minor behavioral challenges, and creates a sustainable tier-2 intervention that requires minimal staff oversight.

• Leading with Evidence (Student Voice Surveys) We will provide templates of the student surveys we routinely deploy. Attendees will learn how we translate qualitative student feedback into quantitative MLSS data, ensuring that district resources are poured into the exact areas students identify as current hurdles.