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Haverhill expands counseling screenings and interventions; officials outline programs for substance use, wellness and college planning
Summary
District counseling leaders described screening results, intervention programs and outreach including SBIRT screening for 10th graders, Project Amp, I DECIDE, ROX small-group programming, youth mental health first aid training and expanded college-support activities.
District counseling leaders presented a multi-tier counseling update to the Haverhill School Committee detailing screening, intervention and prevention work across the district.
Gina Albano, the youth wellness coach with C4 Innovations working in partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital and Haverhill Public Schools, said the district completed a SBIRT screening of 10th graders in the fall and “we screened 80 percent of tenth graders, in the fall.” She said staff will follow up with a spring survey and are using interventions such as Project Amp, a flexible peer-mentoring intervention, and Jump Start for middle-school students.
Albano and school counselors described I DECIDE, a tier‑2 curriculum developed by the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital for students experimenting with substances. “I DECIDE ... helps educate students on topics including teen brain development, the neurobiology of addiction and industry tactics,” Albano said. Counselors told the committee the program will begin at the high school and that parents will be notified and have the right to opt their child out of participation.
Counselors described other efforts: a winter wellness fair at Haverhill High School to put counseling staff in front of students, ROX (Ruling Our Experiences), an evidence‑based girls’ empowerment small-group program to pilot at HHS and Constantino, and ongoing youth mental health first aid training for staff. School adjustment counselor Sherry Russo said district instructors have delivered youth mental health first aid workshops since 2020 and that, with in‑district instructors, the district has trained 189 adults and can offer six additional workshops this school year.
Postsecondary planning and FAFSA outreach were emphasized by Samantha Horn, lead counselor at the high school. Horn said counselors hold individual senior meetings, helped coordinate 60 student applications to a Whittier vocational summer program and are partnering with Northern Essex Community College to provide FAFSA support and campus access to families.
Several committee members pressed counselors on vaping, nicotine products and early substance exposure. Attorney Magliaccetti told the panel he is concerned about youth use, saying “vaping and marijuana consumption is rampant in all our schools. It is everywhere, and not just in our city, but in our state and in this country.” Counselors said I DECIDE and other programs are intended as early interventions; they acknowledged that cessation support for students already dependent on nicotine remains a gap.
Counselors also said the high school will reintroduce a student tip line and that Project Amp and I DECIDE referrals will be managed through student support team processes. The presentation included requests for future follow-up reporting on program outcomes, acceptance rates for the Whittier Vo‑Tech summer program and spring screening results.
No committee votes were taken on program funding or policy at this meeting; the presentation was informational and committee members asked for follow-up outcome reports.
