http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/28986945/schools-struggling-with-psychologist-shortage
School's struggling with psychologist shortage
Posted: May 05, 2015 8:13 PM EDT
Updated: May 05, 2015 8:26 PM EDT
Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston
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MyFoxBoston.com) -- With continued concerns of school violence, the front line to preventing the next tragedy could be school psychologists, identifying serious issues and working with children before it's too late, but FOX25's Sorboni Banerjee investigated and found that schools in Massachusetts are not even close to having the recommended number of psychologists present.
Schools struggle to meet the mental health needs of students and heartbreaking scenes after school shootings often leave parents wondering how that could happen.
Andria Amador is assistant director of Behavioral Health Services for Boston Public Schools, and president of the Massachusetts School Psychologists Association. She says schools are "always struggling to meet the needs of students."
Massachusetts falling short
With a million Massachusetts students and approximately 900 school psychologists, there's only one psychologist per 1,100 students, which is well below the national guideline of one per 500- to 700 students.
"All districts are obligated to have special education services to meet the needs of students with specialized needs. That could range across academic, behavioral health motor needs so each district has those to care for the needs of those students," Amador said.
The numbers may be even worse depending on the district, in some cases, staff members are working in administrative roles and not giving direct care to kids. In addition to tight budgets, finding child psychiatrists isn't easy, there are only 7,000 in the entire country.
Dr. Ellen Braaten, who is the director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program at Mass. General said, "It's critical because one out of four people will have a lifetime prevalence of mental health issue and half of those cases start before the age of 14.”
She'll be the first to tell you that staffing at schools isn't the only issue.
or example, in the clinic I direct at Mass. General, it's a 6 to 12 month wait to get seen," she said.
A mother desperate for help
Jackie Johnson was desperate for help. Her son has a complex history of problems, which included uncontrollable anger from as young as the age of four, and it surged as soon as he woke up each day.
"It was stressful every aspect hour after hour after hour an explosion an insult fighting it was exhausting so sigh and it would start all over again the next day,” she said.
At school, she says he was just labeled a trouble maker and it took the family years to realize he needed professional help.
Experts say that's typical, a lack of education and resources adds up. And even when trouble's spotted, because of the long waits for clinical treatment, many families are forced to just go to the emergency room.
"It's kind of a patchwork system of going to the emergency room getting prescription short term help crisis management and then hoping to get in to see someone,” Braaten said.
Therefore, families are left dealing with psychotic episodes one meltdown at a time and their kids and potentially others are left in danger. But parents like Johnson are not ready to give up.
“The process was so painful, when you send your child to treatment, something in your DNA changes, it is so emotional and painful and scary and yet the overwhelming hope that there's a better day ahead," she said.
Schools are trying to get creative: Boston Public Schools tell FOX25 they have already created a framework in some districts using their partnerships with hospitals and mental health organizations to augment resources, so they may better address the needs of all students before a tragedy occurs
If you are a parent and would like more information on finding help for your child, visit:
www.Mghclaycenter.org