For more information contact Marge Tripp
The East Williamson County School Based Mental Health Project provides school based social workers whose primary goal it is to engage and re-engage students in the classroom. Social workers provide counseling, therapy and case management to children struggling with family issues, peer conflicts, emotional concerns, disruptive behavior, low grades or poor attendance. School based social workers provide consulting, training, and crisis management services to teachers, school counselors and administrators. Social workers are based on Taylor ISD campuses and travel once a week to Granger ISD and Coupland ISD Campuses. The School Based Mental Health Project staff work with teachers, counselors, parents, special education departments and other agencies to provide systemic interventions. A team approach to school counseling has been put in place to provide services to students by creating an integrated system of mental health support readily available on each campus. By striving to provide a continuum of services for students based on their individual needs the School Based Mental Health Project is building capacity to provide, improve and expand counseling services to the students and families of the target campuses. This funding supports relevant training to teachers, administrators, counselors, parents and mental health providers. Trainings includes, but are not limited to: best practices in school-based mental health, identification and early intervention techniques, classroom management, mentor program design, resiliency and protective factors, supporting mentally ill students in the classroom and at home, and cultural diversity. The School Based Mental Health Project has targeted campuses whose students face economic and transportation barriers to mental health treatment and whose students are at risk for academic failure or dropping out of school.
Many of the families in East Williamson County have multiple challenges that include economic, personal and social issues. The free and reduced lunch count verifies the depressed economic state: Taylor ISD: 61%; Granger ISD: 53%;
Coupland ISD: 29%. There is no access to School Social Workers or community programs that provide social work services to children without insurance and there are only mental health programs one afternoon a week and or providers in Taylor, Granger, or Coupland. While the East Williamson County Special Education Cooperative provides School Psychologists for special education students, these services are not available to regular education students. The MHMR system in Texas no longer provides psychotherapy and counseling to emotionally disturbed students and there are no bilingual therapists or Medicaid providers (social workers, psychiatrists, therapists). No hospital in this rural area has a psychiatrist either on staff or on call and there is no inpatient mental health facility in the county.
Many of the families in East Williamson County have multiple challenges that include economic, personal and social issues. The free and reduced lunch count verifies the depressed economic state: Taylor ISD: 61%; Granger ISD: 53%;
Coupland ISD: 29%. There is no access to School Social Workers or community programs that provide social work services to children without insurance and there are only mental health programs one afternoon a week and or providers in Taylor, Granger, or Coupland. While the East Williamson County Special Education Cooperative provides School Psychologists for special education students, these services are not available to regular education students. The MHMR system in Texas no longer provides psychotherapy and counseling to emotionally disturbed students and there are no bilingual therapists or Medicaid providers (social workers, psychiatrists, therapists). No hospital in this rural area has a psychiatrist either on staff or on call and there is no inpatient mental health facility in the county.
St. David’s Community Health Foundation funds School Based Mental Health Services in East Williamson County
