A nonprofit program that links elementary and middle school students with mental health counseling plans to expand into more Omaha and Bellevue schools in the upcoming school year.
Project Harmony’s Connections program, which began in 2015, continues to grow as more schools ask for help in dealing with kids struggling to make sense of divorce, abuse, bullying or violence in their homes and neighborhoods.
And the program isn’t tied to the school calendar. About 365 kids are undergoing therapy this summer, and 33 others are participating in small group sessions at area schools and summer camps.
Kids can spill private details to therapists in one-on-one sessions. In groups of six to eight they might learn strategies for coping with anxiety or fear.
Connections operates in Omaha Public Schools and the Papillion-La Vista and Millard districts. Since January 2015, about 1,200 kids have participated.
People are also reading…
For the 2016-17 school year it will be open to students in three Bellevue schools.
Project Harmony is seeking funding and extra providers to accommodate a request from Omaha Public Schools to add 10 to 12 additional elementary schools and all of the district’s alternative programs to Connections. This would be in addition to the 26 OPS schools being served.
The program is geared toward K-8 students and their families. Pediatricians, school counselors and social workers can refer students who are exhibiting signs of mental health problems, such as being frequently absent, withdrawn or angry, or having trouble focusing.
With parental permission, Connections staff will match kids with a therapist — either a private provider or a counselor employed by an organization such as the Charles Drew Health Center. Some therapists work directly in the schools.
Key to the program is breaking down barriers to treatment by helping families find transportation to counseling appointments, smoothing over insurance issues and even paying for treatment if a family can’t afford it.
“These are parents that are willing, and they want help for their kids,” said Barbara Jessing, clinical director for the Connections program. “When they can’t get them to an after-hours appointment at an agency or clinic it’s because they can’t, not because they don’t want to. That’s a barrier we remove structurally, by bringing the services into schools.”
That holistic approach appears to be paying off. Connections has a “show rate” — how many patients actually show up to therapy appointments — of 85 percent.
“We don’t expect to resolve some of the really intractable problems,” said Connections program director Deb Anderson. “It’s not like we’re expecting mom and dad to get back together if they’re divorced. But what are the things we can do to help this child do better, or this family do better?”
Counselors can help families and school staff learn ways to react to kids who are having problems at home or in school.
“If a child is afraid to go to school, you could say ‘I’m going to take away privileges,’ ” Jessing said. “But if they’re scared of something, you can get to the root of that. So it’s helping both parents and teachers see the connection between something stressful in the child’s life and behavior, and then respond accordingly.
“What our experience says — and this is school mental health across the country — is student mental health problems are a barrier to academic success.”
Project Harmony works with about 60 mental health providers across the Omaha area, paying them to reserve time each week to work with kids. Connections has dealt with a provider shortage by turning to group sessions, so more kids can be seen at once.
But more providers are needed, especially African-American and Spanish-speaking therapists, Anderson said.
So organizations are trying to grow their own. Private funding will pay for 10 Project Harmony and Nebraska Families Collaborative employees to get their master’s degrees in social work from the University of Nebraska at Omaha over the next several years.
Project Harmony also conducts training with providers and in schools on how to work with kids who have been exposed to traumatic experiences, such as abuse, parent incarceration or a death in the family.
The Connections program also will focus more this year on studying outcomes, to see which pieces of the program are working and whether kids’ symptoms are improving with therapy.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1210, erin.duffy@owh.com