Iowa Advisory Committee Briefing on Access to Mental and Behavioral Health Care – Panel 1
1820 2024 it is 3:15 p.m central time welcome to the first web briefing of the Iowa Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights my name my name is Juan Garcia and I serve as chair of the committee i will now conduct roll call of members present uh for the committee members since you’re joining by phone please press star six to unmute yourself and then star six again to place yourself back in mute um Vice Chair Henry Hamilton hello yep he was gonna Okay perfect you’re here berguson here paul Fesler Katie Fiala Adam Freed Cynthia Coler Stephanie Munman Alan Ostrren here and Donald Rod okay we have a quorum and we’ll pro proceed with the meeting also present are Anna Victoria Forers who is our designated federal official uh Karen Sanders our support specialist and Kyla McIntyre an intern at the commission uh the US Commission on Civil Rights is an independent bipartisan agency of the federal government charged with studying discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws because of race color religion sex age disability or national origin or in the administration of justice in each of the 50 states in the District of Columbia and more recently established the American territories an advisory committee to the commission has been established and they’re made up of bipartisan persons who serve without compensation to advise the commission on relevant information concerning their respective state today is the first in a series of web hearings examining access to mental and behavioral health for K12 students these meetings will help the committee understand the current issues in accessing mental health care for K12 students and the civil right implications if any based on information collected through testimony the committee will draft a report that will include findings and recommendations that will be shared with the US Commission on Civil Rights the commission will will then forward those recommendations to the appropriate federal and state entities um I’d like to share that at uh at the outset this meeting is being recorded for the public record and the web hearing recording will be available on our public database please contact Anna at uh a [Music] forisfusccr.gov if you will uh like to obtain those records or if you would like to receive notifications of future meetings in a moment I will invite our speakers to present for 15 minutes after advisory committee members will have an opportunity to ask questions this Q&A is reserved for committee members only after the committee Q&A there will be a public comment period where members of the public will be given an opportunity to uh to share their perspective and opinions on the topic if you’re not able to share your full remarks today please email your remarks to [Music] annaisccr.gov again that is afusccr.go [Music] go for inclusion in the committee proceedings uh after public comment the committee will then move into conducting committee business related to planning future briefings if you’re a panelist or member of the public you might have you may leave or choose to stay on the call as you wish as all of the advisory committee meetings are open to the public before we move into the presentation I want to remind everyone again that this meeting is being recorded and will be transcribed for the public record i ask that you please state your name when speaking to assist with the transcription closed caption is also being provided for today’s meeting to view closed captions click the CC icon on the lower left corner of your screen though some of the statements made today might vary from personal perspectives we want to ensure that all invited guests feel welcome and do not defame or degrade any person or any organization as the chair of today’s meeting I reserve the privilege to cut short any statements that defame degrade or do not pertain to the issue at hand any persons or organizations that feel defamed or degraded by statements made by these proceedings may respond and submit written statements for inclusion in the proceedings i urge all persons to making presentations one second uh to be judicious of their statements and remain on topic the Iowa Advisory Committee uh appreciates the willingness of all participants to share their views and experiences with the committee today we will hear from speakers uh involving a school counseling services and administration through Iowa throughout Iowa presenters please aim to stay within your allotted speaking time and reserve additional talking points for the Q&A portion in case you’re not able to address them within that time anna will be sending your uh messages through the chat box to let you know when you’re near the end of your speaking time okay with that said let’s begin today’s meeting we will hear from representatives from the Iowa School Counselors Association Corny Cook and Aaron Lane Alan Eckleman a school counselor at Begman Catholic Catholic High School Jacob Reese from the Scanland Center for School Mental Health at this time I’d like to invite Cornney Cook and Erin Lane to begin thank you we want to thank the members of the committee and the public for joining us in discussing this very important topic we appreciate the attention given to the youth mental health concerns we see in Iowa and value being a part of the conversation my name is Courtney Cook i’m currently the president of the Iowa School Counselor Association and have served on the board for the past three years i’m a licensed Iowa school counselor and administrator and I’m currently serving in the role of PK-12 principal and supervisor of school counseling in Iowa i have a masters in school counseling and a masters in educational leadership and policy studies and my name is Dr aaron Lane i am currently the Iowa School Counselor Association vice president representing counselor educators and school counseling preparation programs around the state i have held this role for the past 5 years i am a former Iowa school counselor and current counselor educator in Iowa i have a PhD in counselor education and supervision conduct research on school counselor practice and identity and serve on the policy and position committee for the American School Counselor Association the Iowa School Counselor Association is a state organization that supports and advocates for school counselors we are affiliated with the American School Counselor Association iska supports around 700 members throughout the year by advocating for the profession at the local and state level providing ongoing professional development through the means of webinars and an annual conference and hosting an email list serve available to both members and non-members before we discuss why school counselors may be concerned about youth mental health it is important to make sure everyone has a shared understanding of what a school counselor is trained to do first I invite you to think back to your interactions with one of your school counselors for some of you you may have thought of interactions that consisted only of high school schedule changes and career conversations if that those counselors you remembered were likely working as guidance counselors they were trained or held to others expectations to support a small number of students mainly those who were collegebound the change from the title of guidance to school counselor in the early 2000s has come with a significant shift in their preparation role and intended function within the school the school counselors of today are prepared to support all K12 students holistically with academic post-secondary social and emotional development and issues they learn to be collaborators leaders student advocates and systemic change agents school counselors are now data-driven evidence-based counselors who work on prevention and intervention within the school setting in almost all of Iowa’s preparation programs school counselors are prepared alongside clinical mental health and rehabilitation counselors most programs require their school counseling students to have 60 graduate credit hours in education counseling and child development courses in addition to at least 700 clinical hours in schools prior to obtaining their initial school counseling license when a school counselor is working as they were prepared their role can be compared to that of a primary care provider with professional and ethical standards so take a moment and think about what you would go to or take your child to a primary care provider for for your physical health ideally you would see that provider regularly for preventative care as a school counselor preventative care looks like teaching social emotional academic and post-secondary knowledge and skills you may also go to a primary care provider when you’re having some concerning symptoms or they may call you in if they see something that needs follow-up from your preventative visit the primary care provider would give you strategies and interventions and talk to you about possible options for making changes to alleviate your symptoms as a school counselor when students come to see us or data shows that they need additional support we teach targeted skills and counsel them through evidence-based interventions finally if interventions from your primary care provider are not successful it’s their ethical and professional responsibility to refer to a more specialized provider as professional school counselors this means that we reach out to mental health counselors social workers and/or psychologists depending on the primary cause of the academic social or emotional challenge as the primary mental health provider in schools school counselors are on the front line of the youth mental health crisis in this state we are with students for at least seven hours every day and are often the only ones in the schools with comprehensive mental health training like the primary care provider school counselors are often called upon to support students in the first moments of a mental health challenge this can be even before the student realizes that they’re struggling with their mental health parents or guardians teachers peers or even the students themselves can all reach out to school counselors for this early intervention in a recent survey of 145 school counselors in Iowa 95.2% report social and emotional health services on most days of their of their practice this makes sense given all the data we know about youth mental health according to the most recent data from the Iowa youth survey 27% of sixth graders 29% of eighth graders and 36% of 11th graders reported feeling so sad or homeless hopeless almost every every day for two weeks and or more in a row that they stopped their usual activities data also indicate that almost 11% of youth in Iowa ages 3 to 17 have anxiety concerns even more striking is the data around youth suicide in Iowa sharing that 24% almost a quarter of 11th graders in Iowa have considered dying by suicide in the past 12 months data from eighth graders and sixth graders is also alarming while this data helps us understand the scope of the problem school counselors don’t need to see that data to know that there are significant numbers of youth struggling with their mental health in Iowa they see those students in their offices weekly and sometimes daily they’re working with educators school administrators parents guardians community liaison and classmates to provide comprehensive interventions and preventative services but they can only do so much we see four main barriers to youth obtaining mental health services in this state first school counselors are often not allowed to work to the highest level of their counseling license school counselors are uniquely trained to meet the social and emotional needs of all students in schools but in reality they are also often tasked with supervising study halls monitoring recess or the lunchroom creating student schedules overseeing the administration of standardized tests and manually checking graduation requirements therefore one of the most significant barriers we see to providing youth mental health prevention and intervention services in schools is that M’s level school counselors are regularly asked to take on substitute teaching and administrative assistant duties rather than the role they are uniquely prepared to do iowa schools are not using their school counselors to the highest level of their license as one school counselor has quoted in a 2024 survey “At this point I do not feel like a valued M’s level counselor i feel like a glorified administrative assistant the second barrier is the lack of school counselors and mental health providers specializing in child and adolescent development even if school counselors could work exactly as prepared we must acknowledge that we still have a shortage of all types of counselors and mental health care providers in the state as one survey respondent stated there are not enough private providers for needs that are ever increasing the words you see on the screen right now represent the qualitative data gathered in that research survey when counselors were asked about the barriers to mental health in the state you can clearly see the words lack mental health providers and services are most frequently mentioned as barriers for context school counselors in Iowa have case loads on average of one counselor to every 353 students this is 100 students over the American School Counselor Association recommended ratio of 1 to 250 and if the school counselor needs to refer students to a specialized mental health provider they often cannot find anyone to refer them to the Iowa Department of Public Health has designated 92 of its 99 counties as mental health share care shortage areas and the number of providers is further limited when looking for individuals who specialize in youth services threearters of school counselors believe mental health care is difficult to access in the state the third barrier to youth mental health in Iowa is logistical access to mental health providers school counselors report that even when specialized mental mental health counseling services are available additional barriers exist such as significant weight lists and lack of or inadequate insurance coverage addition additionally school counselors report having to address adult stigma against mental health concerns when talking to parents about their child needing additional services and when parents are open to it they often have difficulty getting off work to take students to appointments to alleviate the transportation barrier some schools have contracted services with mental health providers in the area so students can see mental health counselors within their school setting either in person or via telealth however school counselors report that there’s a high turnover amongst these counselors and have found that continuity of care is not assured lastly the fourth barrier is that school counselors now report a lack of state and local support for counseling services in their schools over threearters of respondents in one research survey indicate that they feel the mental health services they provide are not as valued by the state as they were just a few years earlier the data conducted by ISA also indicated that over threearters of Iowa school counselors perceive their job as more difficult than it was prior to the passing of educational reforms in the 2023 Iowa legislative session the vague wording of the education reform bill and lack of state and district level guidance on interpretation and possible repercussions were noted as the most significant of these barriers to their job from one school counselor quote I am so afraid I’m going to do something wrong without meaning to and get in trouble either by the state or parents or my administration end quote school counselors entered this prof profession to help kids however as one respondent put it quote “We had a Google Zoom with our district’s attorney to discuss how the survey law affects our practice essentially we were told not to even ask how a student is feeling.” End quote from our conversations with Iowa legislators we know that they care about the mental health of youth in Iowa still in the perception of most Iowa school counselors their legislative actions do not seem to accurately or reflect that carrot concern while these barriers impact the mental health services for all students in Iowa the four barriers presented affect some students more than others the population specifically noted by Iowa school counselors as being significantly impacted included LGBTQ plus students students of color English language learners students from lowincome families and youth with significant mental health diagnoses these populations often overlap however each group individually has been noted through data as being at heightened risk for mental health challenges they also have unique social and cultural situations that must be considered to provide effective mental health interventions we are happy to provide those data and interventions as requested regional differences in Iowa also add to the disparities we see in mental health services while urban areas still lack youth service providers rural areas face significantly more shortages in mental health providers to address the natural disparity of the number of providers available in rural areas there has been a rise in teleaalth care made available unfortunately unreliable internet connectivity hampers effective teleaalth solutions and teleaalth solutions are only available to older children counselors also need more training in evidence-based practices for teleaalth compounding difficulties in delivering quality care furthermore there is a noted stigma in rural communities associated with mental health that prevents many from seeking help the stigma and a general disconnect in values between rural populations and urban-based counselors exasperates the gap even when in-person services are available transportation barriers often make these services inaccessible fortunately school counselors have programs and organizations around us that we can reach out to for support some of these organizations directly support students and others are meant to support school counselors in our work specifically we know that school counselors have utilized the Scanland Center for School Mental Health for up-to-date evidence-based mental health interventions that school counselors can use iskasa also partnered with them to provide full day inservice continuing education to our members we also highlight the Iowa area education agencies which provide significant post-graduation professional development to school counselors each AEA has at least one staff member who supports school counselors and can provide resources and interventions appropriate to the populations being served by their districts aeas also provide immediate crisis response team services which are essential after tragic events that impact school communities direct services come from more regional or local community assets resources and assets organizations such as the mobile crisis units assist school counselors when students are actively experiencing a mental health crisis and need additional assessment and transportation to facil to facilities where they can access immediate care currently these services are overseen by the mental health and disability services regions in the state because these are man managed re regionally the services dependent on the organization and providers in the area so what can the state and federal government do to alleviate youth mental health challenges the federal government can consider can continue SSER funding and earmark market specifically for mental health resources which can be used to hire additional school counselors and school-based mental health counselors both state and federal governments can also provide funding to prepare future school counselors and mental health providers which will be essential to improving access to youth mental health services the focus should be on recruiting and retaining counselors with diverse identities and experiences and those who want to work in rural settings both governmental entities can also focus on improving quality of life which has been shown to positively impact mental health outcomes regarding the state recommendations one step would be to require social emotional and mental health preventative skills to be taught K to 12 in schools additionally school counseling preparation programs should be required to include trauma crisis and mental health interventions specific to youth as part of their core curriculum lastly the state should consider repealing or amending Senate File 496 as counselors report sections of that bill have created unnecessary challenges for students to receive critical preventative care and initial short-term interventions in schools we thank you for your time and attention to addressing youth mental health challenges in Iowa and we welcome your questions so that we might work together to better support our students thank you thank you very much U Bernie and Erin um thank you thank you for everything you do um now we’re going and please save your questions for the Q&A uh portion of the meeting uh next we’re going to hear from Alan Eckleman a school counselor at Beckman Catholic High School good afternoon my name is Alan Elkman and I’m the school counselor at Beckman Catholic High School in truth Beth Beckman Catholic High School is a 712 school we serve uh grades 7 through 12 uh we have about we have 333 students about a hundred of those are in uh about a hundred of those are in the uh grades seven and eight and 233 of those are in the high school we have a graduation rate of about nearly 100% with about 85% of our students graduates going on to some form of two or fouryear college the other 15% um a high proportion of which are boys generally go into the workforce some in farming and dairying which are uh consistent with the area that around us the remainder working in local manufacturing plants here in Dyerville or in Deuke especially uh postcoid students have experienced higher rates of absences during distress anxiety headaches and a general inability to graduate or function in school um there is our parents are and the community members are much more likely to accept physical causes for illness than uh say that we’re dealing with mental health reasons or uh psychological issues there remains a stigma about uh seeing needing or referring someone to a mental health therapist clinic or for assistance in identifying the needs of the kids um I would say that we have experienced a lot and uh have experienced and work a lot with students expressing high anxiety u depression is something that we deal more with on a on uh and understand and work with better uh those two are the ones that uh are probably the ones that we deal mostly with in school there are few mental health related resources in Dyville most of the mental health related providers are in Debuke which is 25 miles away um as stated in the earlier reports uh some of these are s are uh covered by insurance costs often the insurance costs are limited or they limit the number of hours or times that they would work with those uh Beckman’s been able to sign a contract with an agency in Debuke to provide a mental health related therapist who provides services on site at Beckman two days a week uh on the other days of the week she serves four other elementary schools we a we’ve been able to provide individual appointments some weekly some by bi-weekly to up to five students at a time in addition we’ve been able to provide three through three group counseling sessions to work with students on mental health issues and other related issues these groups are usually five to 10 members uh usually meeting for eight sessions and usually referred to as friend groups with with subjects such as stress in school relating to adults and the like through this arrangement we’ve been able to engage more students and when necessary make referrals to mental health clinics and specialists into BU uh that brief is the statement that I have uh I look forward to answering any questions and to participating in the the rest of this uh today’s um meeting thank you thank you thank you very much Alan thank you for for your comments and again thank you for everything you do for our students uh next we’re going to hear from Jacob Priest from the Scanland Center for School Mental Health jacob sorry I was muted good afternoon everyone i’m Jacob uh I apologize for being a little bit late i’m in the clinic today um uh I am kind of coming here I think especially in my affiliate role for the Scanland Center of School of Mental Health and within that role um I’ve really had the opportunity I would call it the privilege of being in schools all throughout Iowa to deliver um mental health training to teachers pareducators um all across the state right as um I missed the other one’s name but Aaron Lane Dr aaron Lane who is my colleague um we’re talking about the Aeas i’ve also been working with them over the past few years as well talking about this type of thing um but my remarks today I want to keep pretty brief but I want to share two stories that I think are fundamental to what I see and experience as I go to schools and and and talk to teachers and educators all across Iowa um the first it happened I think it was two weeks ago in TMA Iowa um so I was there I was training teachers on mental health care and um it just so happened that after I was all done the principal came up to me and we started having a conversation part of my role and that’s um where I am today is I work at UIHC and I direct the LGBTQ clinic well at least the counseling piece of that and he came up and said to me “I feel like our hands are tied.” And I said “About what?” He’s he’s like “You know I’ve been doing this a long time 30 years we’ve had trans and non-binary kids for years and we always want the parents to be involved in all the decisions and we feel like there’s nothing we can do we can’t even talk about kids identities or nicknames anymore because all of the sudden when we do that we have to potentially out them to their parents and for whatever reason they may not be ready to do that and we just don’t know what to do um and in thinking about that and in thinking about that conversation I go back to a story I tell almost all of the time um that I’m presenting to these teachers and parent educators um I talk to them to I tell them to imagine themselves that they’re right next to a river and they’re overlooking it i was in Clinton Iowa last week so I imagined it was the um Mississippi River i said “Is there is there a river that runs through the city?” And they’re like “Yeah there is.” Um and I said “Okay you’re looking over the Mississippi and all of a sudden you see a kid floating in the river what are you going to do?” And the response was “Well we’re going to get that kid out of the river if we have to jump in there if we have to call somebody we’re going to get that kid out of the river and make sure they’re safe.” I said “Yeah.” So imagine you do that you jump in the river you pull the kid out of the water and as soon as you get to shore you look there and there’s another kid and then another kid and then another kid and then another kid and all of a sudden what do we do well we start building all of these structures to rescue kids out of the river you know like we’ll probably get really creative and we’ll put you know you know towers up there with somebody on a swing who can just swing down and grab all the kids out of the river but nothing actually changes until somebody stops and says “Who keeps chucking those kids in the river?” Right and so when we’re talking about shifting mental health for youth in Iowa when providing teachers and educators with the resources to do that I think we have to be cognizant about the down river effects of the policies and and structures that we create um working with a lot of trans and non-binary kids um some who don’t even want access to medical intervention but seeing the amount of burden and pain them and their families received as during the last two legislative sessions there have been bills that have been put forth that directly target them um and to me those are the things that those types of patterns are what keep kids getting chucked in the river and unless and until we can start to think collectively of how we can build in the policies structures and supports to really help these kids what we’re going to do is the awesome work that these teachers these school counselors do every day right i know these school counselors are overwhelmed and often have more people on their case load than they know what to do with and then they have to bring in outside sources and and they are doing their best to keep these kids you know from drowning in the river they’re there to pull them out to give them the hand that they need um and they do such a great job and if we really want to support them and help them we really have to be cognizant and proactive about thinking how do these kids keep falling in the river so happy to be here thanks for the invitation and look forward to any questions thank you very much Jacob thank you thank you for for your work and the passion you bring to it uh we’re going to um move to the Q&A section um I like to Oh sorry one second i got a message here start my camera is acting up can everybody see me yep okay perfect uh so before we move into the Q&A um I’d like to remind members of the public that is you’re interested in offering public comment following the Q&A session uh please raise your hand by hovering your mouse near the name to uh to let the staff know you have you would like to to speak we will add you to the list and we’ll announce your name so we’re moving into the Q&A portion of the meeting uh this is for committee members first we will have a limited amount of time so please be succent on on your responses and uh same to the committee please indicate if you have a question for a specific speaker or if directed to all speakers if members have additional questions I’d like to ask you to use the raise hand button um and for members joining through the phone only you can press star six to raise your hand and unmute yourself again um now we are going to start with Jacob Priest first and and we’re changing the order because Jacob uh made the time to join us but he has another commitment so if anyone of the committee members has any questions for Jacob u uh please uh start now anna do you see any hands up i don’t from my end well I Oh Henrik go ahead yes yes yeah um Mr priest yeah we we we were talking about uh preventing uh kids from getting in the river uh in the first place and I really like that analogy and I may steal that from you by the way so but um getting more concrete what steps can be taken to um stop the kids from getting in the river and then have there been steps taken uh that that may have increased the number of kids falling in the river yeah so I’ll try to keep that as succinct as possible um I think I think two things right in meeting with teachers school counselors educators they build relationships with students in really cool ways unique ways and trusting them and those teachers to make those decisions to know and be responsive their their students I think is one thing right i also think about when we think about falling in the river we think about what I’d refer to as adverse childhood experiences and or lack of resources right if a kid is in a situation where they don’t have access to food or safe shelter the likelihood of them falling into the river is going to be much greater right if they’re in a place where they don’t have a safe adult they’re going to end up in the river everyone faces adversity everyone experiences anxiety and symptoms that are don’t make us feel good the difference is is what do we have around us and you know if we’re talking about a mental health diagnosis or crisis being in the river all of those things before that make the difference right and in my opinion right the policies that serve to remove those structures and supports or you know the guard rails around the ri the up part of the river are ones that remove the relational um communitybased you know access to food and shelter and good quality health care those are the things that are going to put kids at risk right those are the things that put families at risk and so often we think about it as um a very you know even the analogy of a river is a very linear process but I like to think about it as a system right and if we don’t think about all of the steps in the system which pulling kids out of the river is always going to be an important step but building those barriers providing that safety getting kids more knowledge about how they fall in the river and how to avoid that getting teachers and parents that knowledge too is so key just one quick story as you see I like stories and then I’ll then I’ll be quiet um uh after the murder of the teacher in Fairfield Iowa um I was a part of the response team that went and spent some time down in the high school there and one after you know one afternoon we kind of just had an open door policy after we had spoken to all the students and I think I don’t remember I think they had lunch but it was the whole junior class almost I felt like or or at least a good chunk of them that showed up and we had a conversation and all they wanted really was just to let someone know that they were scared that they were hurting and that they were grieving and then once they did that I said “Then what do you all need?” And they said,”We need better relationships with our administration we need them to trust us we need to be able to feel like we have space to explore and make mistakes and not have to you know be perfect all the time we need to know that we’re trying our best and it’s hard.” And so for me those types of conversations in addition to all these structural supports are really key to keeping kids out of the river and helping them get out of the river once they’re in it thank you thank Thank you Jacob thank you Henry um any other questions from committee members for um Jacob first because I know he has to step out paul I see your hands raised yes you mentioned the issues with the legislature and the bills that have gone through which clearly represent at least a substantial part of Iowa having certain concerns how do you get counselors to gain the trust of those types of parents who might feel counselors don’t share their worldview yeah so I sit with parents all the time who uh come to me because their kid has come out to them um typically in my work um it’s not so much as a kid coming out gay lesbian or bisexual but mostly trans or non-binary right and I was having this conversation up in Waterl last week right and part of me wants to say like well don’t you love your kid if you loved your kid you would support them what we don’t think about is how much those parents are really invested and love their kids right in some ways before they knew their kids at all they might have known the gender of the of the kid and when they create that um you know when when we don’t know you know before the baby’s born before it can talk and walk and all that we create a narrative of what their life is going to look like i have a 2-year-old daughter and I think about oh maybe one day I’ll walk her down the aisle right and if she comes to me later and says hey hey Dad I’m I’m actually this part of me is going to grieve and be sad and scared and worried about what’s going on there right so when I meet with parents I meet them where they’re at because it makes sense to me right they love their kid they’ve known their kid they’ve raised their kid and all of a sudden what they kind of had mapped out for their kid feels foreign and sometimes against what they believe and hold dear and most sacred and you know I know you know a lot of the the counselors that Aaron trains and they would respond to it in the same way as I get that i understand that i’m here for you and let’s figure out a way where we can work together where we can figure this out where we can move together as a family as a community because oftent times it gets down to that all or nothing support or not support and that’s not how life works that’s not how relationships work but when we meet those parents where they’re at most of the parents I know right over time we have good conversations we talk about it they may not come to the exact same place I am but often we come to a place where their kid can be who they are and they can feel safe and connected in that thank you thank you Jacob u any other committee members before we move on and and just to to make sure that we’re staying within the scope of what the committee is and does right so how do we tie this to putting a civil a civil rights lens to it right so one of my question for Aaron Jacob Allan and um and oh my gosh how I forget her name um is from an access standpoint I think based on the data that that you have shared at the beginning right so where are we from an access standpoint to those services one um and then two is how early should we start right i mean how early and I mean are we are we talking elementary having counselors um you know getting closer deeper to provide that uh those those services and um please go ahead well just in in response to that to that second the second half of your question especially um yes having access as early as as kindergarten pre kindergarten helping kids name their feelings helping kids just be able to um to talk about emotions and things that are happening in their lives with a trusted adult with their families with their peers um normalizing that type of conversation is a really important part of what school counselors and schools should be doing um it it is it is uh a natural thing to want to talk about your emotion but especially with kids they don’t even know how to name emotions and when you can’t name an emotion oftentimes that’s when you have the temper tantrums so in schools right now we are seeing kindergarteners throwing chairs across the room we’re seeing alopement like running around the school with with first graders second graders um where you’re having to go into crisis management um uh response in order to help that kid not hurt themselves or others um and a lot of that behavior right behavior is communication and and a lot of that behavior is is telling the adults in the space I’m not okay and so how do we help that kid settle and regulate themselves and then share what emotions they are feeling um and and so I would say that yes it is essential that we have counselors within those spaces so that they can help students even before they get to that disregulated um space to be able to just sit with them and and talk i mean we have PBS and um Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger for a reason right um to be able to um to help kids talk about those feelings in a safe space of their home environment um and so that is essentially what school counselors and elementary schools are doing is is taking those same types of of lessons and turning that into the school so now you’re learning how to work not only with your family but also with in another structure with peers with other adults in your life that care about you um and and work through those conversations in that way um yeah I guess I’ll stop there and let some Thank thank you that the the passion comes through and and great thank you i love it mr hamilton you have a question yes along those same lines you know the first panel talked about um one of the access things might be uh starting to teach uh social and emotional skills as from K to 12 and I was just interested in um what’s going out there around the nation other states doing that um and where does Iowa uh rate in there absolutely okay well I’d say you know our school counseling profession is designed to deliver those age based developmentally appropriate social emotional skills lessons um where I think we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the recent years that might correlate with as we shared in the last few years school counselors have felt feeling less valued feeling less supported as it’s been an interesting shift and it seems like new barriers are being put up left and right um we are being limited on how we screen like we used to how we you know preassess to where there might be risks for mental health challenges or needs for additional support um there’s also constantly um a threat of limiting what social emotional lessons we can provide and what the language is as we provide those social emotional lessons that are so critical for um you know what Aaron was just describing that the significant behavior challenges we are experiencing particularly in the elementary the more we remove those proactive lessons the worse that becomes and then we’re we’re gabbies in the river um like Dr priest was sharing um so it’s been an interesting shift just in the recent years um and whether that’s you know fear-based a lack of trust or just uncertainty I’m not sure but instead of removing barriers it seems like we they just keep on coming up and up and as far as uh one followup if I may um as far as the provision within Iowa of those um that kind of uh a skilled training in Iowa K through 12 do you see any disparities between urban rural wealthy lower income or private school communities yes I would say for my own personal experiences I’ve I’ve served as a 612 school counselor i’ve served as a regional social emotional behavioral health coordinator at an Aea and now I’m in a PK-12 principal position in a rural school i think our biggest barrier is funding to have enough supports available and then um professionals to fill those those positions and so um you know our ratios might look okay as far as like number-wise of students we have smaller number of students in schools but one professional might be servicing multiple buildings like I believe um the other school counselor on the panel was suggesting some of the school counselors have to drive between different buildings or they’re halftime school counselors and so then you’re just del um you know dividing that work even further um so I would definitely say that’s probably one of the biggest barriers in in our rural communities is is delivering that and then there’s some you know just different cultural subsets of you know the knowledge of parents and maybe the um financial burdens that they’re experiencing at home home that might be exasperating the issue i’ll let some of the other panelists speak to that thank you Cernie and and and I think it’s a very important um uh recognition right to see what happens in urban Iowa versus what’s happening in rural Iowa and also as a minority myself I’m originally from Peru understanding the whole student what is happening at home before that student even comes to to the building right what have they experienced which is impacting their behavior and everything else so thank you thank you for the comments Allan any anything from you And Alan Echelman I would just say that like you were saying there uh we’ve all we’re all regardless of the type of school we’re in we’re all feeling the financial p pinches uh last year there were two of us working in this building and now there’s just me and so uh you know you have to take on uh meeting the needs of of the all of the kids rather than uh having some of the focused primarily on the middle school and ninth grade and me on the upper grades um and it just spreads thinner there some financial concerns and I know that’s true in the public schools too as it is in Beckman being a private school that uh uh finances are always an issue uh I do think one of the one of the things that’s a positive that we have that we experience here is we have a high level of parent engagement and parents uh uh engage with the school they attend conferences well they uh want to know they appreciate phone calls and things like that so I think that one benefit we have is that uh uh our parents are able to I know a lot of places because of work schedules and stuff parents can’t engage as much with the school and stuff but uh our parents here find a way to do that um the the critical thing I think though is just that in the rural areas like um and Dyerville is not as nearly as rural as other areas of Iowa but there are just few providers here so you really have to uh you have to work hard to find someone most insurance that families have it doesn’t cover uh a a complete treatment program so you have to u kind of pick and choose and see what you can and where you can provide things with those are the things that we kind of face and see the lack of uh you know mental health services in the local community is is a problem in I think in virtually every rural town thank you thank you Alan do we have any other questions from uh committee members okay hearing none Anna I’m going to uh move over to public comment do we have any members of the public i know I’m just giving a healthy pause for members of the public to um raise their hand if they’re interested in offering comment okay i just wanted to know whether we had people in or not thank you and thank you thank you to our panelists Erin Kernney Jacob Allan hey I can see everybody’s names now um for for your comments taking the time to join us and um and more importantly for what you do as the father of four daughters my goodness thank you thank you they’re grown and out of the house and out of college but um I remember those days and oh my goodness things are only getting harder and harder and um so thank you for everything you do um okay we don’t have any members of the uh public that uh would like to offer uh any comments so I am going to move on to the closing remarks um uh please know that we have more word hearings scheduled and welcome you to join us uh we plan and my screen just went away one second please um we plan to have our next one on Thursday May 23rd 2024 at 3 p.m from 3 p.m to 5:00 p.m central time uh in the in the chat staff will include information on how to register for for this upcoming web hearing uh thank you for joining us we appreciate your time and look forward to having you join our next few web hearings um the Iowa Advisory Committee please stay for a few minutes uh for our uh brief business meeting everyone else please uh enjoy the rest of your day and thank you thank you very much for joining us it’s great to see you thank you for inviting us yep thank you very much okay one thank you thank you i see I think we are just committee members now and yes okay do we stop the recording no this is still a business meeting it’s still a public meeting folks are are still able to join if or are welcome to stay if they they would like to okay perfect uh thanks everybody i think you went uh very well i appreciate their time and um and their passion for what they do i mean it it becomes a a hot topic uh especially with legislative changes and things that are coming that will take effect um you know later this year you’re muted i have two screens that I’m like looking at so it’s a little difficult to toggle back and forth um yeah this congratulations um on hosting your first uh web briefing on this uh project um we have a couple of announcements related to um your next couple of uh your next two web briefings um the first and I’m just going to uh pull up my let’s see here pull up monday.com for you all um or maybe it’s easier for us to view the um the committee’s web page on on on online um and Caitlyn if you can help support um if you can just fill in or let the committee know who’s scheduled for the March or May 23rd web briefing i just want to I need some time to figure this out yes give me one moment here um so I believe the May 23 web briefing is let me pull up my document here we had a speaker who was scheduled for today’s web briefing who um preferred to participate um on May 23rd her name is Tammy Valins um and so we’re we just we had to adjust the schedule yeah Tammy will actually be uh presenting on the 30th and um May 30th she is a um school counselor at Perry that I believe one uh had Yeah she’s a she’s a dear friend and I known him for years and um as a reminder Perry uh was impacted by a school shooting u in January so um I mean she will have firsthand uh knowledge and and still I mean they’re still dealing with that so how how they’re helping the students and and all of that so uh I I thought that she would bring a different perspective to the conversation so I’m excited to hear her comments ideas you know suggestions uh all of that um and then the two other confirmed panelists that we have for the May 23rd briefing are Renee Hardman who is the executive director of Lutheran Services in Iowa the committee had expressed interest in wanting um some of the religious-based service providers perspective so she will be presenting and then we also have um Karen Mackey who is the director of the Sous City Human Rights uh department and she was a direct recommendation from the committee as well yeah Lutheran services will have a again a different point of view as well with uh there they do a lot of work with migrants and immigrants I mean um um all over this uh the area so um another angle as to what they see yeah so with the May 23rd web briefing we have two speakers lined up um as uh Kylo was doing outreach um she Did you say May 23rd or May 30th for May 23rd we only have two speakers um uh Kyla had corrected me on uh the availability of Tammy Valin she’s actually available on the 30th so the 30th we have three speakers line lined up um the 23rd we only have two speakers lined up okay so we’re having two two meetings week to week okay just to make sure just to make sure that that we have the calendar invites for all the um all the participants all the committee members that way it goes on their calendar and whether they’re attending or not they will have it and there’s no excuse but to join yeah we’ll we’ll send it out i I we had a little bit of technical issues today and hopefully it’ll be ironed out by the next meeting no worries um as I was saying um while Kyla was doing outreach to speakers um a couple of them had actually recommended um or I believe two had recommended some names for the committee to consider um but before I go into that um we have some updates uh regarding two of the other um folks who we had reached out to one with the Department of Health and the other with the Department of Education um those two individuals uh Kelly Garcia who’s with the Department of Health and McKenzie Snow um those two were um their offices were unavailable due to um you know being involved with the legislative session and having to provide um either testimony or prepare reports for the legislature um so they were really caught up with a lot of that work so they’re unavailable to participate um and and we’re hoping perhaps um they would instead offer um written comment um I know that we had reached out to was it Alan Kyla who had a com who had a Yeah I was just going to say I can reach out to to HHS again okay should be winding up here any day now and I had a another matter that prevented me from making that contact but I can do that now it’s resolved okay yeah we figured the legislative session was taking up a lot of uh potential speakers time so um you know as they’re winding down hopefully their their schedule opens up i mean I don’t Do you know when the legislative legislative session wraps up i don’t think they know but uh I saw today the House uh voted to suspend the rules on notice in the debate calendar which is a sure sign that they’re getting to the end because it’ll come fast and furious so I think sendai will happen probably uh maybe tomorrow maybe Monday or Tuesday okay so potentially then they would if they were to accept a an invite again or if we approach them again they’ll have 20 days to prepare for a presentation about 20 um yeah that should be fine i mean you know right now they’re doing appropriations bills and so okay you know there’s a flurry of activity behind the scenes is they’re going to write about eight half billion dollars worth of checks so um there’s a lot of work in the background so hopefully when that’s all wrapped up that we can get somebody from HHS okay um do you happen to know anyone at the Department of Education anyone else know um I don’t know the director um Okay okay i can I’ll talk offline with Kyle a little bit or we can email and you tell me what you want i I can see what I can do okay sounds good thank you yeah I mean ideally if we could have one of these speakers one or two of these speakers present on the 23rd that would be that would be ideal because we have two open um spots um the an alternative uh as well would be to reach out to uh two speakers or two individuals who other speakers had recommended to us and those individuals Kyle if you can offer them to the committee um and I’ll scroll down here yeah it was um Okara Rice who um was the executive director of the Tanger Place which is providing uh mental health care services I believe to a specific population and I’m don’t want to misspeak but I believe it’s the LGBTQ community um and then Melissa Le Lear was uh recommended by Courtney Cook in um the initial outreach call and um she is one of the kind of contracted service providers um throughout the state and and I recommended uh Deb Carr from a consultant with the uh De Mo public schools has she given an indication when she might be available i have emailed her twice and have not heard back it could be my email address i know that it does throw some people off it is a general intern um address if you would be willing to ping her um that would be wonderful otherwise I can try emailing again okay I’ll um I’ll send her your email address how’s that okay great um I’m also happy to just forward the email uh to you so that you can see what the communication has looked like and we can we can go from there okay sounds good great so in terms of action items um for the committee to consider um would you like for us to approach these two um recommended these two individuals who were recommended by panelists um as as backups for the May 23rd um web briefing as backup speakers um in the event that the Department of Health and uh Department of Education are unavailable to participate because on that because that web briefing we only have two um speakers lined up i think we should Yeah I’m fine with that alan Kyle or Paul any any comments I’m fine with that okay okay we’ll go ahead and pursue them um as well as following up with the Department of Health and um the Department of Education um and in the event that we have a lot of speakers lined up um we could we could potentially offer May 30th as a date um so that we can have um four speakers four or five speakers um present at one of those at at that briefing okay any comments or questions nothing here okay we did it in record time look at this i credit you one truly record time um you know I one thing that I I just wanted to add is um you know this first web briefing um if you happen to think of any other questions that you would like for that you would like to ask the panelists feel free to shoot those questions over to me and I can pass them along to them um you know as you as you all are familiar uh following these web briefings I’ll provide a link um and as well as um an attachment to the transcript so as you’re reading through the transcript and possibly listening listening to the recording if anything strikes you if you think of questions you know um especially ones that are related to civil rights and recommendations um please feel free to email me um these this information is really helpful to drafting your report helping you helping to inform future speakers um if you decide at the at the after the third web briefing that you know there are some missing perspectives um all of that will be helpful uh as you work toward like the end of the your your final work product um would you be sending the PowerPoint that the first speakers have the Iowa school counselor association i think that would be great for the committee to have as well yeah so this link that we actually put in the chat um it’ll house all of the web briefing documents including you know transcript uh recording presentation slides written testimony um anything any supplementary information it’ll be in that that link of course yeah and we’ll send an email okay okay all right my friends well thank you for everything thanks everybody for making the time u hopefully we’ll get the rest of the team next time and so before we go I just got a text back from Kelly Garcia and she says that they can have somebody on the 23rd yay thank you so much to know Allan is to know everybody perfect can I put that on my website one yes okay thank you build a brand says hello even though she doesn’t know who I am but we She has a beautiful last name yes thank you my friend for doing that that was fast thank you sure wonderful all right good to see everybody thanks everybody have a great rest of the well Friday and a great weekend we’ll see you thank you thanks bye thank you everybody bye bye
The Iowa Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights convened a web briefing on 4/18/2024, examining if whether disparities exist in access to mental and behavioral health care for protected groups of K-12 students.
Panelists included: Jacob Priest, Associate Professor for the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health; Allan Eckelman, High School Counselor at Beckman Catholic High School; Courtney Cook, President for the Iowa School Counselor’s Association; and Erin Lane, PhD., Vice President at the Iowa School Counselor’s Association.