Milford counselor Shannon Groenau named Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year

The Delaware Department of Education named Milford School District counselor Shannon Groenau the 2024 Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year at a ceremony livestreamed on the department's YouTube and Facebook channels.

The annual award recognizes school-based mental health staff — including counselors, social workers, psychologists, nurses and licensed clinical social workers — for outstanding service improving students' mental health. Each district or charter honoree receives a $2,000 grant; the state recipient receives an additional $3,000 from the state plus $5,000 in state funds to be used for students' educational benefit, the department said.

Dana Carey, the 2023 state honoree, urged continued advocacy for students' mental health in brief remarks. "What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation," Carey said, calling on educators and lawmakers to support candid discussion and stronger mental-health supports in schools.

Several colleagues and administrators were cited during the presentations for Groenau and other nominees for their day-to-day work in crisis intervention, mentoring, individualized behavioral plans and family engagement. The ceremony featured nominees from districts and charter networks across the state, including representatives from Appoquinimink, Brandywine, Caesar Rodney, Cape Henlopen, Capital, Christina, Colonial, Delmar, Indian River, Lake Forest, Milford, New Castle County Vocational-Technical, Polytech, Red Clay Consolidated, Seaford, Smyrna and Sussex Technical schools.

In her acceptance speech, Groenau said she was "overwhelmed and humbled" and thanked her district team, family and students for support across her 12-year career. She described behavioral health professionals as "first in the line of defense for our children's well-being, mental health and emotional support." The department invited the honorees to have photographs taken after their segments and praised the judging panel and production staff who organized the event.

The department noted that judges' names are listed in the back of the event program. The ceremony concluded with congratulations for all honorees and instructions to collect framed photographs and grant paperwork following the event.

Note on transcript spelling: the ceremony transcript includes a spelling variant "Shannon Grodon" at the announcement; the department had earlier introduced the Milford nominee as "Shannon Groenau." This article uses Groenau to match the nominee listing in the ceremony program and presenter remarks earlier in the event.