Oyster River: school-based behavioral health counselor shows early signs of improved student engagement

Catherine Pollard, the district’s director of student support services, and Shane Karen, director of counseling at the high school, provided the school board with an update on a new school-based behavioral health counselor position funded in this year’s budget.

The position was established to offer Tier-3, individualized wraparound services: weekly school-based therapy, case management, coordination with outside providers, and reentry support. Board members were told the role is intended to boost social-emotional skills, attendance and academic engagement for students who require more intensive help than universal or short-term group interventions.

Presenters said the current counselor, identified in discussion as “Jill,” is scheduled three days at the high school and two days at the middle school but often serves students on other days when needs arise. The presentation said the counselor’s caseload is about 28 students and that the district is using pre/mid/post student surveys for those on the caseload to measure progress against student-set goals. Early midyear survey results showed several students reporting gains: presenters said four of six students who completed midyear surveys reported progress in four goal areas and two of six reported progress in three areas.

Catherine Pollard described faster connection to outside agencies as a key benefit of the in-district position, saying the counselor can often arrange releases and start coordination the same day a need is identified. The presentation listed partners that the counselor has coordinated with, including youth-and-family services, DBT programs, juvenile parole/probation and DCYF. Counselors and the district’s board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) are noted as collaborators in a team-based approach.

Shane Karen described the referral pathway into the counselor’s caseload: student referrals typically come through the district’s MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) student study team (SST) after universal and Tier-2 strategies are tried. The team looks at attendance, class access and grades when deciding whether to refer a student for Tier-3 services, and parental consent is required for some services and data collection.

Presenters acknowledged capacity constraints: the counselor’s current split schedule and a growing caseload create scheduling and response-time trade-offs. The district said next steps include finishing post-exit surveys, reviewing outcome data to inform program decisions and evaluating whether additional capacity is needed based on demand and MTSS data. One board member framed the position as a first-year pilot that will be studied before recommending expansion.

Board members praised the immediacy of the in-house role and said the position has allowed school counselors to focus more on universal and Tier-2 work (advisory lessons and classroom social-emotional curriculum) because the higher-intensity cases can be handled by the school-based counselor.