Tomorrow River SEL coordinator outlines growth of school-based therapy and plans to expand supports

Leah Mays, the district's social and emotional learning coordinator, told the board the district's school-based therapy program began after school counselors applied for and received Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) mental-health grants in December 2018 and again in 2019. "They were awarded a 1 year grant, and that's how the school based therapy was established," Mays said, describing how initial grant funding paid for therapy services and navigation to outside resources.

Why it matters: The presentation outlined how a grant-driven pilot evolved into a district-supported program that now provides both universal SEL instruction and small-group clinical supports. Board members heard that sustaining and expanding mental-health supports will require ongoing local funding and staffing decisions.

Mays described a stepwise rollout: DPI delivered three trainings; counselors and some administrators were trained before the COVID-19 disruption; the district then mapped two free curricula across K'12 so teachers could access slide decks and recorded story readings during remote learning. "From the beginning, we knew we had to make it easy for the teachers to use," she said.

She said the district used screening tools, PBIS data and teacher recommendations to select students for tiered supports. In one recent year 11 first-graders received small-group Tier 2 sessions (Mays said she saw groups of six and five for 15 minutes daily). Eighth-graders received longer Tier 2 sessions, and some high-school students were served in small groups. Last school year, Mays reported, 86 students were seen in 795 therapy sessions; five clinicians and one skills-development staff person provided services. "In the first 2 and a half months of this school year, we have already had 54 different students who have received school-based therapy, totaling 234 sessions," she said, adding that a brief wait list appeared but had been eliminated before the school year and was expected to be cleared again in January when a clinician increased hours.

Mays highlighted curricular innovations now in use, including Ready Bodies Learning Minds (a movement-based program introduced in grades 1 and 2) and a Falcon Support class for ninth-graders co-taught by Mays and a colleague. She credited a local partner, Central Wisconsin Mental Health Associates, with helping recruit and train clinicians. "They're bringing in new therapists and training new therapists and they're a really good partner to us," Mays said.

Looking forward, Mays said the district needs to maintain universal Tier 1 instruction to preserve capacity for Tier 2 services and develop eligibility criteria and staffing for Tier 2 at the high-school level. She also said the district currently cannot provide Tier 3 clinical services and would like to build that level of support districtwide. "First of all, it's imperative that we maintain the SEL and the mental health programming that we have," she said.

The presentation closed with Mays directing the board to a narrative and slide packet for more detail and thanking members for ongoing support.

Next steps: The board did not vote on program changes at the meeting; the presentation served as status update and a request for continued support and professional development to sustain and extend services.