The pandemic has caused several challenges and struggles for many people including the youth. Riverbank Unified School District (RUSD) has recognized that all students have been affected by the new normal and have mental health professionals in place to assist them in all grade levels throughout the district.
RUSD Mental Health Therapist and coordinator Bergen Filgas supervises the mental health services for the district and is a licensed marriage and family therapist. This is her third school year with RUSD supporting all students with social and emotional issues.
“Since COVID we have certainly seen an increase in students that need our support,” stated Filgas. “The number of requests for social and emotional services has pretty much doubled. There was an increase of 72 students from the last school year. I took a look at the data for the district as a whole and 7.3 percent of the student population was referred for social and emotional concerns the first semester. So that is pretty significant.”
Filgas explained that the students went through quite an adjustment with seeing people in person and interacting on a regular basis to the exact opposite with no contact at all. They had Telehealth online while they were not on campus and then when they returned to campus they had to adjust to the protocols like wearing masks.
She said, “We have masks which cover your face. It is hard to sometimes tell the facial expressions and the voice tone because the masks muffle it a little bit. So those are challenges as well.”
Filgas noted that the students may also have been exposed to more family issues while they were at home for long periods of time and did not have the break of going to school.
They use the MTSS process which is a Multi-Tiered System of Supports that uses data to help assess social-emotional behavior and instructional resources to fit the student’s needs.
Students, parents, or community members can access their services online or they can contact the school or district. Teachers can make referrals on a link that has a document called request for assistance. The community can access that form as well on the RUSD website. The forms are in English and Spanish.
The forms go to Filgas and then depending on the site there will be a multi-tiered system of support that can include a team of health professionals along with teachers, counselors, and administration.
“We go through and talk about each kid and we figure out what the need is and where to plug them in,” remarked Filgas. “There are so many things that can be impacted. I think we will see the ripple effects for some time.”
There are several outreach events that they do to inform students of the services and resources. Filgas is an advisor for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and has brought the NAMI club to Riverbank High School. Earlier this month Filgas had a table set up with information and a pledge that 25 students signed.
“We are still working on getting enough students signed up so we can begin having a NAMI club,” added Filgas. “The focus of the conversations at the table centered around their interest in the candy, but I was glad to at least have an opportunity to share information about the pledge.”
Her first year with the district, Filgas held a suicide prevention awareness event and someone from the American Federation for Suicide Prevention was there and they provided students information. Filgas created a comfort garden where kids noted something supportive then put it on a flag that was planted in the ground.
At the beginning of this school year they had wheel with prizes for students that were interested in the NAMI club and wanted to learn about mental health.
Returning to school has been good for the students’ mental health as Filgas noted that isolation and lack of social interaction is difficult for students. Being in school they have an outlet to do things with their friends, participate in sports, and get involved with learning.
“I think that is a very positive thing for them to do,” expressed Filgas on students returning to in-person learning. “I think it is so important for them to have that sense of normalcy so anytime we can give that to them is very beneficial. I think knowing your resources is very important. We are here to support the community. We have a lot of resources here and people who are genuinely invested in supporting each other.”
