According to a 2021 national survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of Indiana high schoolers felt persistently sad or hopeless — the highest rate in two decades of surveys.

The same survey found three out of every 10 Indiana students said they had considered suicide.

Schools statewide are increasingly becoming aware of the mental health needs of students and now are working to address those concerns.

Seymour Community School Corp. recently accepted a $150,000 grant from the Jackson County Health Department that will go toward a partnership with Centerstone, a nonprofit health system specializing in mental health and substance use disorder treatments for people of all ages, and other education material to help students with mental health needs and substance use issues.

“This partnership between community agencies is exactly what our community is about,” said Randy Fife, director of counselors at Seymour High School. “We are about helping each other, and this sets a very good example of that.”

Fife first heard about the grant opportunity when it was brought to his attention that the health department had received a grant from the state. He then wrote a proposal to the health department and explained how they would best use the grant money.

“We have a lot of needs in our building that aren’t typically addressed by teachers or counselors, which are mental health needs,” Fife said. “Vaping is also way too prevalent with our teenagers.”

After receiving board approval, the school corporation decided the best route would be to contract with an agency for mental health services. After some conversations with Centerstone, they were able to draft a memorandum of understanding allowing a licensed mental health clinician to start helping students at the beginning of January.

“The clinician will be in our building every day that school is in session,” Fife said. “We are very excited to have Lindsey Poole here full time.”

He said the counseling department has been discussing how the process of a student working with a mental health clinician will look like as well as what kind of problems the clinician could help with initially.

This clinician be onsite at Seymour High School and also will assist Seymour Middle School. This grant also will be used for education material on mental health, training on mental health and smoking and vaping cessation.

Kristen Shaw, manager of child and family services for Centerstone Jackson County, said they are very excited for the opportunity.

“A master’s-level clinician embedded full time in the school greatly benefits adolescents who need services,” she said. “This new partnership increases accessibility by having a clinician onsite, reducing insurance barriers and eliminating other barriers, like transportation and financial resources, that families may encounter to begin services.”

Besides mental health services, the school plans to work on the consistent issue of vaping and addiction that is prevalent amongst youth nowadays.

“When students are caught with vapes or a smoking device in school, they are suspended, and if they progress down that, they could eventually be expelled,” Fife said. “We need to look for a way to keep those kids in school and then help them kick that habit.”

Fife said as kids are caught, there could be an opportunity for them to go into a group or an individual therapy session with Poole, an alternative to expulsion.

“My hope is that with these services, the students will be able to focus more on what they can get out of school,” Fife said. “If those mental health issues get better for those kids, they can put more of their energy into their education and career goals.”

Fife said currently, the grant will allow the program to be in place at least three years, but they are currently looking into ways to continue to fund this program once the grant money runs out.

“We are going to track a lot of data over this period of time and prove that this will be beneficial,” he said.

Shaw said the impact this program will have on the community will be exponential.

“As we help clients accomplish personal healing, growth and change, we also help them break generational cycles of trauma, poverty and substance use,” she said. “We will be caring for the future generation and helping the community grow and thrive. We thank Seymour Community Schools and the Jackson County Health Department for allowing us to help these youth, who are the future of our wonderful home, Jackson County.”

Fife said overall, he hopes these services will not only eventually drive kids to focus on their education but also help them manage their day a little better.

“We aren’t the only school facing these issues,” he said. “There is a lot of conversation about schools doing more with mental health, and this grant is a great community partnership that shows that we all care about our youth. I thank our Seymour administration and local leadership for supporting initiatives like this.”