Students from Oak Hill High School’s (OHHS) Oakheal Outreach Team hosted a Student Mental Health Conference Wednesday to help other schools and counties establish student-led mental health supports.
Students from Oak Hill High School’s (OHHS) Oakheal Outreach Team hosted a Student Mental Health Conference Wednesday to help other schools and counties establish student-led mental health supports.
Cassie Ganeau, a social worker at Oak Hill, said her role started in the transitional period coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. With mental health declining, she and her colleagues determined more needed to be done.
“We did what’s called a needs assessment in social work,” Ganeau said. “We just kind of developed our team and added students, and we found it was super important to include their perspective as well.”
Lily Zukowski is an Oak Hill senior and the president of the Oakheal Outreach Team. Students like her act as a bridge between school social workers and mental health resources, and also put on events focused on mental health.
Zukowski said she noticed a positive change in the student body since the outreach team’s creation two years ago.
“We’ve had a lot more engagement within the student body and people talking to each other,” she said. “We’ve had a lot more different events and just fun things to do to get out of the house and do other things. I’ve seen the uplifting environment that it’s created in our school.”
Students, counselors, educators and administrators from 17 counties attended the conference at the Fayette County school. Organizers say they hope the attendees will establish their own teams back home.
“It’s definitely something that a lot more schools are wanting to implement,” Ganeau said. “We have elementary schools here, we have K through 12, high schools as well. It’s really interesting to see that in those schools as well, they need a team of their own.”
Outdoor education opportunities making a difference in kids’ lives.
By Maddie Swecker
The audio above originally aired in the Jan. 2, 2024 episode of West Virginia Morning. WVPB reporter Chris Schulz spoke with student Maddie Swecker to discuss this story.
When Ali Jeney first saw a 6th grader transform from quiet and shy to the star of his class, she knew something was working. Jeney is the director of Science Adventure School (SAS), and she says she sees this happen every week.
SAS is a week-long science adventure camp at the Summit Bechtel Reserve between Fayetteville and Beckley. It is designed for West Virginia’s 6th graders, and Jeney said students come to camp introverted and lonely and leave feeling like they belong with their classmates and at home in West Virginia.
This feeling is not created solely through time in the outdoors, but through a carefully planned and executed outdoor curriculum involving learning and playing.
“People call us ‘the camp’ a lot,” Jeney said. “And although we’re outdoors, I wish people could see more than a year that went into designing up to the pilot. This is such a carefully designed program.”
SAS hits on two major areas that improve learning for children: a new environment and a feeling of belonging. Instructors guide students through various adventure activities such as mountain biking and archery, then teach them the science behind the sports. The camp is mainly funded by private donors.
These activities are lots of fun for the students, and the playful aspect of this curriculum is by no means an accident according to Jeney.
“Play is very purposeful,” she said. “You play to energize, to introduce and break down barriers. You play for a lot of reasons that are critical to experiential and outdoor education.”
Anna Herchl, environmental educator at SAS, said she has seen firsthand how kids fall in love with learning.
“One of my favorite memories from camp is when we took them out and taught them about the PH level of water.” she said. “Later on in the week, I had a little girl ask me while we were canoeing, ‘What do you think the PH level of this water is Anna?’ and honestly, hearing that just makes me so excited that they are taking away a new appreciation for science.”
Getting kids outside in the Mountain State not only is a great way to experience growth and learning, but also creates a sense of belonging and connection to the natural world that surrounds them.
Kirk Mitchell, outdoor education guide at SAS, has seen kids come to camp wishing to live somewhere else and leave being excited about their home in West Virginia.
“A lot of kids in this state feel like they want to leave when they graduate because they don’t want to do the same things as their parents,” he said. “By showing them how cool this state is through adventure sports and science, we can help them to realize that they have all that right in their backyard. They can be scientists in this state and not have to follow the blue collar work that many West Virginians have traditionally worked in.”
Two sixth graders load arrows for archery during the Science Adventure School at the WVU Outdoor Education Center near Coopers Rock State Forest on Oct. 24, 2023.
Sixth graders are transitioning from elementary school into middle school, and programs like SAS help them to process that change. But, there are plenty of schools around West Virginia that are aiming to get the same effects on younger children.
The Monongalia Forest School is an outdoor school aimed at children aged 3-7 and their families. With meetings two times a week, their goal is to get children out into nature to gain confidence and fall in love with the outdoors while learning practical skills. The sessions are never canceled due to cold weather, only dangerous weather stops these kids.
Katie Switzer teaches 3–7-year-olds at the Monongalia Forest School. She believes that getting children outdoors is not only beneficial for them but also for their parents. By getting parents involved in education, they can then have the ability to help their children to continue to grow and learn outside of the classroom in non-traditional settings, like a hiking trail.
“When I first started going outdoors with my kids, it felt overwhelming because I didn’t know where to go and I didn’t know what activities to do,” Switzer said. “I tried to incorporate that into the program by making these hikes, trail maps, giving trail maps for the hikes and getting them (the families) comfortable so that they feel like, ‘Hey we can go out here on our own and we’re able to do it.’”
Outdoor education is not a new concept in West Virginia. Outward Bound (OB) is an international organization that has offered outdoor education programs in the Dolly Sods Wilderness since 1986 through its Chesapeake Bay School. Former Outward Bound instructor Jacob Rex has seen first-hand the positive impact that can come from outdoor learning.
“Outward Bound employs a curriculum that, at its core, has remained unchanged for almost a century,” he said. “It builds character in young people that fundamentally changes their lives. I know dozens of stories of people, who are now in their 60s, recounting their OB trip as one of the best experiences they’ve had in their life. The medium the wilderness provides to the human brain is unequivocal in catalyzing growth in mind, body, and spirit.”
More and more outdoor schools are popping up around the state and nation each year. This could be attributed to promising research done on the topic.
Researchers for a 2019 article in Frontiers in Psychology conducted a meta-analysis of dozens of peer reviewed articles and studies about learning outside and concluded that nature-based learning worked better for disadvantaged students, inspired interest in students who were not engaged and provided a more open atmosphere for learning and forming social ties.
Not only is outdoor education getting kids excited about learning, but it is also combating the mental health crisis that young people have been facing.
The mental health crisis in the state of West Virginia was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 3000 kids went to WVU Medicine emergency rooms in 2022 seeking mental health care, a 62 percent increase from previous years. At SAS, Jeney said kids go from being lonely to being connected to their classmates. “They’re so happy because sometimes they don’t even know other students know their name, then they leave Science Adventure School with a cohort of 15 people who know about them and love them and care about them and they know it.”
Educators like Jeney and Switzer believe the answer to some of the problems kids today are facing, like the mental health crisis, may lie in outdoor education.
SAS puts a lot of effort into making sure that every group creates a welcoming environment that is conducive to learning and having fun. Just having this support and being in a new environment can boost the confidence of students and push them to become more curious and rediscover a love for learning.
One of the largest criticisms of outdoor education is that there is not enough research showing the long-term effects that it has on children who go through it. Jeney is a huge advocate that every 6th grader in West Virginia should get to experience outdoor education regardless.
“One of my favorites (memories) is a student who was the ‘mathlete’ if you will, one might call a ‘nerd’ and who absolutely smoked the big cool basketball team member and became a legend to his teammates. For the first time, (he was) feeling appreciated and loved and like people were looking up to him. He helped his whole team get to the top of the climbing wall,” she said. “It’s moments like that that are like, there is no question. I don’t need the research. I don’t need to see 10 years of data to see that this program is changing these kids. It’s changing them in the best ways in four days and you just would never believe it unless you could see it.”
A 6th grade student at SAS poses proudly next to the arrows he just shot into a target at the WVU Outdoor Education Center on Oct. 19, 2023. All of his fellow classmates cheered him on as he almost shot a bullseye.
School mental health professionals from across the state will have a chance to train in Charleston this week.
School mental health professionals from across the state will have a chance to train in Charleston this week.
The West Virginia Department of Education is presenting the Student Support Conference Wednesday, Nov. 29 and Thursday, Nov. 30 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. The event will provide a forum for school counselors, school social workers and other community partners to strengthen information channels and resources within the statewide student mental health and well-being network.
Stephanie Hayes, coordinator for school counseling and student support for the West Virginia Department of Education, said professionals will have opportunities to talk about best practices and working together to meet the needs of students.
“We’ll have breakout sessions going to cover everything from trauma to behavior interventions, mental health support, things like bullying prevention, suicide prevention, body safety education, sessions on resources that are available to support students who are homeless, or to support student mental health needs,” she said.
Hayes said student mental health issues continue to rise because of the ongoing opioid epidemic in the state and recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“Being out of school, and then trying to return to school and get back to normal, we’re seeing a lot of students who are struggling with depression and anxiety, as well as some behavior issues,” she said. “We’re doing what we can to support our students.”
According to Hayes, students’ growing needs are complicated by a shortage of mental health professionals in the state.
“I think it’s just really important to provide the professional learning opportunity for those professionals that are working to support students because when you come to a conference, and you’re able to network and learn about new resources, it provides you with new energy to go back into the school,” she said. “Sometimes those professionals are just tired, and sometimes overwhelmed with the problems that they’re seeing our students face. We really just wanted to provide this as an opportunity to provide those resources and networking and just kind of a refresher refuel for our professionals that are in the schools day in and day out.”
Already underway in the Summers County community of Hinton, a prototype program is offering mental health support for pediatric patients with diagnoses including depression, anxiety and ADHD disorder.
A prototype program is offering mental health support for pediatric patients in the Summers County community of Hinton. Diagnosis and treatments include depression, anxiety and ADHD disorder.
The new program is a collaboration between Appalachian Regional Healthcare and Marshall Health Network. On appointment days, patients visit a rural health clinic, and are connected virtually to a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). In addition to conducting initial psychiatric evaluations and follow-up appointments, the PMHNP also prescribes and evaluates psychopharmacologic treatments alongside a collaborating psychiatrist.
Dr. Susan Flesher is the Department of Pediatrics Chair at Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. She said psychiatric care is the perfect place for rural telehealth.
“It’s a little bit hard for us sometimes to think about a child coming in to look in an ear or listen to a heart,” Flesher said. “Those things take more technology on telehealth. With the care that we’re talking about, it’s a matter of talking with the child, the family, figuring out what the issues are, what the concerns are, doing some screening tests, providing therapy, medications, whatever the case may be. It’s perfectly suited to telehealth.”
Flesher said the program offers access to specific medical professionals that otherwise would not be readily available.
“There is a real shortage of psychiatrists and mental health nurse practitioners in rural areas,” Flesher said. “This is a service that they otherwise would not be receiving, or would have to travel a long distance to receive.”
Flesher said the Hinton program is a first step of an anticipated child mental telehealth network.
“We are in talks with some other places to expand this,” she said. “We don’t have signed contracts in place yet so I’m not necessarily free to speak, but we are definitely trying to provide this service where it is so very much needed, and there seems to be a lot of interest.”
The program is accepting new patients by referral. For more information, contact the Summers County ARH Rural Health Clinic at 304-466-2918.
In a release, the DHHR outlined seven grant programs that will support various health initiatives across the state.
More than $33 million in federal funding was awarded to the Bureau for Behavioral Health (BBH) to enhance mental health and substance use prevention services for West Virginians.
Federal funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will support prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery services across the state.
“BBH and its partners are seizing every opportunity to meet our state’s behavioral health needs,” said Dawn Cottingham-Frohna, commissioner for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ (DHHR) Bureau for Behavioral Health. “With this funding, we are not only addressing the immediate needs of our communities but also investing in the long-term well-being of West Virginians.”
In a release, the DHHR outlined seven grant programs that will support various initiatives:
The Screening and Treatment for Maternal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders program will provide $750,000 annually for five years from the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand health care provider’s capacity to screen, assess, treat and refer pregnant and postpartum women for maternal mental health and Substance Use Disorder (SUD). BBH is partnering with the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership’s Drug Free Moms and Babies Project to implement the program.
The Children’s Mental Health Initiative will provide $3,000,000 annually for four years to provide resources to improve the mental health outcomes for children and youth up to age 21, who are at risk for, or have serious emotional disturbance or serious mental illness and their families with connection to mobile crisis response and stabilization teams and other community-based behavioral health services through the 24/7 Children’s Crisis and Referral Line (844-HELP4WV).
The First Responders – Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Grant will provide $800,000 annually for four years to build upon the Police and Peers program implemented by DHHR’s Office of Drug Control Policy. The activities will be administered by the Bluefield Police Department, Fayetteville Police Department, and the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center, Fayette County Health Department and Logan County Health Department.
The Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness grant will distribute $300,000 annually for two years to support the system of care for adults in West Virginia and promote access to permanent housing and referral to mental health, substance abuse treatment and health care services. Grantees are located in areas of the state with the most need, based on the population of individuals experiencing homelessness, including the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless, Prestera Center, Raleigh County Community Action, the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness and Westbrook Health Services.
The Promoting the Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care grant will provide $1,678,044 annually over five years to serve adults with serious mental illness who have co-occurring physical health conditions or chronic diseases and adults with SUD. Three provider partner agencies have been identified to work on this project including Seneca Health Services Inc., Southern Highlands Community Behavioral Health Center and United Summit Center, covering 16 counties in the state.
The Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Improve Local 988 Capacity will provide $1,251,440 annually for three years to enhance the capacity of West Virginia’s single 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline center, which is funded by BBH and operated by First Choice Services, to answer calls, chats and texts initiated in the state. In addition to this award, First Choice Services received $500,000 from Cooperative Agreements for 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Crisis Center Follow-Up Programs and a National Chat and Text Backup Center award from Vibrant Emotional Health to help answer overflow chats and texts from more than 200 local 988 centers nationwide.
The Behavioral Health Partnership for Early Diversion of Adults and Youth will provide $330,000 annually for five years to establish or expand programs that divert youth and young adults up to age 25 with mental illness or a co-occurring disorder from the criminal or juvenile justice system to community-based mental health and SUD services.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
A new psychiatric hospital focusing on children and adolescents opened Monday in the Northern Panhandle.
A new psychiatric hospital focusing on children and adolescents opened Monday in the Northern Panhandle.
Orchard Park Hospital in Wheeling is for youth ages 5 to 18 years who are in immediate need of acute psychiatric care.
The 30-bed hospital will provide acute mental health care for children and teens in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Cory Carr, hospital administrator, explained that, in the event of a psychiatric crisis, the facility can provide patients 24-hour services in order to stabilize them including group therapy, individual therapy and consultations with doctors.
“The key to all of that is to find stabilization,” he said. “We want to find if medication is what they need, if a new coping mechanism is what they need, the goal is to find what they need to stabilize them and reintroduce them into the community.”
Jacquelyn Knight, Orchard Park’s CEO, said there has been a gap in service in the region for several years, and children’s need for psychiatric services has only increased since the pandemic.
“Between the pandemic and the different things kids go through with cyberbullying and social media and just societal pressures, there’s a lot of stress to be a kid. It’s very, very hard,” she said. “There are times when they just need help dealing with some of those mental health crises. We’re really fortunate that we’re able to meet that need now.”
Knight said The Children’s Home of Wheeling took over the facility of another psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents, the Byrd Center, that closed in 2019, to create Orchard Park Hospital.
She said Orchard Park Hospital is actively hiring.
“We are still actively hiring mental health technicians, nurses and kitchen staff to work here at the hospital,” she said. “It’s a very rewarding career choice, you get to make a difference in the lives of kids that are really in need. We’d love to bring some more wonderful people on our team.”
