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Danville Area SD officials say in-school mental health team reduced crisis calls to CMSU
Summary
District leaders at the April 9 board meeting said an in-school mental health initiative has led to fewer than five crisis calls to CMSU this year, which officials and regional partners credited to on-site staff and preventive interventions.
Danville Area School District officials told the board on April 9 that the district—s in-school mental health services have reduced crisis calls to the regional crisis provider, CMSU, to fewer than five for the school year.
Superintendent Doctor Neid and district mental health staff reported that the district—s model places mental-health personnel in each school building and emphasizes case management, early intervention and biweekly case reviews. The district—s mental-health staff said they presented the program and its results to regional superintendents and special-education directors at the intermediate unit meeting this month.
Kathy Cashner, identified in the meeting as the scribe intervention supervisor with CMSU, was noted in the discussion as a contact for cross-agency coordination. District staff said Cashner reported that, compared with many districts that have multiple CMSU crisis calls per week, Danville—s count of fewer than five calls for the year drew CMSU—s praise. A district speaker said: "by far, Danville has, much fewer, crisis, calls to CMSU," and another added the regional partners were "extremely impressed with the work that Artie and his team are doing." District staff also reported a slight uptick in emergency appointments in the month leading up to the board meeting but said overall crisis volume remained low.
Mental-health staff said professional development this month included case reviews related to "duty to warn" obligations and that they continue biweekly case management. The district also referenced discussions with GHP about billable coverage and argued that effective preventive services reduce the need for high-acuity, billable crisis care.
Board members and district leaders presented the results as evidence that placing clinicians in buildings and emphasizing relationship-based interventions keeps more students in class and reduces acute care demand. No formal board action was taken on mental-health services at the meeting; the discussion was part of the superintendent and department reports.
District leaders said they will continue interagency coordination and case-management practices; they asked staff to report back as appropriate at future board meetings.
