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Episode 13: Fill the Gaps with a Resource Map!
176 Plays11 months ago
Today we are joined by Libby Strunz, School Mental Health Consultant with WI Department of Public Instruction, to discuss the final component of the Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework: Needs Assessment and Resource Mapping. Kathy Markeland, Coalition Board member and Executive Director of WI Assn of Family & Children’s Agencies inquires about why a Resource Map is a vital part of comprehensive school mental health and how school staff can create one by leveraging the knowledge of students, family and community partners. The process of creating (and updating) a resource map can feel overwhelming at first, but in the long-term it can help make the right resources available to students at the right time. Finally, Libby guides us to consider social influencers of mental health to ensure resource maps and school mental health services remain equity-centered and trauma-informed.
Show Notes
Coalition for Expanding School-Based Mental Health in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction - Comprehensive School Mental Health
Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework
Collaboration Guide for Schools and Community Mental Health Providers
Example School MH Professionals Resource Map
SHAPE Quality Guide Needs Assessment and Resource Mapping
NCSMH Resource Map Example and Template
Check out our other episodes, including:
- Episode 3: Collaboration - Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
- Episode 4: It’s Elementary - Constructing a Continuum of Mental Health Supports
- Episode 9: Navigating the Road Together - Mental Health Referral Pathways
- Episode 12: Step out of the Shadows and Collaborate!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction by Kathy Markland
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome to School Mental Health Works. So good to be with you. This is Kathy Markland. I'm the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Association of Family and Children's Agencies, and more importantly, for today's conversation, a member of the Coalition Board for the Coalition for Expanding School-Based Mental Health in Wisconsin.
Introduction to Comprehensive School Mental Health
00:00:35
Speaker
I'm very excited to be joined today by Libby Struns, who is a school mental health consultant with the Department of Public Instruction here in Wisconsin. Today, Libby is joining me to talk a little bit about our comprehensive model of school mental health in Wisconsin and specifically resource mapping. Welcome, Libby. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Role and Experience of Libby Struns
00:00:58
Speaker
Thank you, Kathy. I'm happy to be here with you today and with our listeners.
00:01:03
Speaker
My role at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is a school mental health consultant. I am on the student services prevention and wellness team. And on that team, I support work related to comprehensive school mental health systems, trauma-sensitive schools, and bullying prevention. And prior to my time at DPI, I was a school counselor. And prior to that, I was a classroom teacher. So I've been in the K-12 world for a number of years.
00:01:33
Speaker
And I'm excited to support K-12 schools at the state level now. That is such a breadth of experience that you bring to this work already Libby. And I love to thank you for sharing that because it's so good to know.
00:01:47
Speaker
that people have had that direct field experience to be out there in the classroom and so that you can relate directly when our teachers are having challenges, that you have some direct touch on what that looks like. And then also from that school counselor perspective and sort of thinking about it more broadly from the school's lens,
00:02:07
Speaker
having sat in that chair makes you incredibly relatable to many of our listeners here today who are in those chairs currently. And I'm just looking forward to this conversation.
Understanding Resource Mapping
00:02:19
Speaker
So I'll just jump right in and ask you kind of frankly, if you could just like start with what is a resource map? I think it's one of those terms of art that we use when we start talking about building out comprehensive school mental health. So what's a resource map?
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think it is important to start with a clear definition. So when we're talking about the process of resource mapping, we are talking about identifying, visually representing, and sharing information about both internal and external mental health supports and services. So our resource map is going to include resources across the continuum of supports. And our goal in doing that is to better address the needs of our students, that whole child approach,
00:03:04
Speaker
and also to help our school mental health teams inform effective use of resources. So when we think about that resource map, oftentimes school mental health teams will create internal resource maps for the mental health supports that are available within the school system, as well as external resource maps for community-based supports. A lot of times these resource maps are in
00:03:28
Speaker
a directory type format, but they can also include a map or another type of visual representation. There's lots of different ways that we can organize a resource map. And one of those is by levels of support. So we can organize supports and services that are part of our tier one supports that universal tier of mental health promotion that benefit all students and staff.
00:03:54
Speaker
We can also highlight supports that are part of tier two, that early intervention for students who may have emerging mental health needs. And we also have supports that are part of our tier three category of supports, treatment and crisis services for our students who might need a higher level of support. So we can organize this resource map by level of support across that continuum.
00:04:17
Speaker
We can also organize it by internal versus external resources or the category or type of support. So there's really not a wrong way to organize a resource map as long as it's useful to that mental health team and the students, caregivers, and staff members who are using it. So we've already referenced some sort of terminology around tier one, tier two, tier three, and thinking about our
00:04:44
Speaker
our mental health systems within our schools. And it really takes me back to thinking about where that resource map fits within the broader framework. So can you help us sort of situate the value of the resource map within our comprehensive school mental health framework?
Significance of Resource Mapping in School Mental Health
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. So sometimes we think of resource mapping as one of the more concrete components of our school mental health framework, but it really is essential to that systemic work. And it's really integrated with the other components.
00:05:14
Speaker
So we most often talk about resource mapping in conjunction with needs assessment. And in fact, those two processes together make up a single component of our framework. So when they're used in conjunction, needs assessment and resource mapping can help us to identify gaps in services and supports and really to allocate resources to best meet the needs of our students. And they can also
00:05:41
Speaker
help school mental health teams to identify programs that might need to be reduced or eliminated because they're not meeting the needs of our students or our school community. So in addition to being really closely intertwined with needs assessment, resource mapping is also essential to the success of the referral pathway process. So in order for students to properly be connected to and referred to services, caregivers and educators
00:06:09
Speaker
need to be aware of what those services are. The resource maps are really important part in making sure that kids actually get connected to the supports and services as part of that referral pathway. Then finally, the component that actually most strongly comes to mind for integration with resource mapping is collaboration. Because when we're doing resource mapping, it requires collaboration with
00:06:38
Speaker
our whole school community with students and caregivers with a variety of community partners. So it's really an opportunity to engage in some deep level collaboration and to help enhance and sustain that future collaboration. Because in the process of engaging in resource mapping, you may form closer relationships and partnerships with some of those external stakeholders who are really passionate about this work.
00:07:04
Speaker
And that can help to build some momentum in sustaining that comprehensive school mental health work too.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, and just as you're saying collaboration and I'm flashing back to my last conversation with Monica Caldwell a little bit and our conversation around like how we're pulling those collaborators together. And I'm so glad you emphasize sort of the opportunity that that resource mapping creates as we work together and are pulling through what resources are gonna be valuable. I actually, and I really appreciate too that you identified
00:07:38
Speaker
that there may be things that we see that we have that we've been focusing on as resources that we're not going to continue on with. Some of those things that we're identifying, that may not be as valuable or that it really just helps to get us all on the same page.
00:08:00
Speaker
The next thing I wanted to jump to, though, was as we're talking about these different levels of supports and what things we're going to bring forward, what kinds of things? Can you make that a little more concrete for us about what kinds of things start to show up on these resource maps? What can we put on there and what have you seen people include on their maps?
Components of Resource Maps
00:08:22
Speaker
Absolutely. When you're building a resource map, I'm going to encourage you to think expansively.
00:08:28
Speaker
because there's a lot of opportunities to really showcase and connect people to resources and supports. So I recommend to school districts if they're new to this process or maybe even doing some updating of current resource maps to start internally and start with the at school supports that are available to support student wellness and mental health.
00:08:49
Speaker
So one thing that I sometimes see school districts leave off of resource maps that I do think it's important to include are those universal supports, those tier one supports. So your resource map can include things like the social emotional learning curriculum that you use or the suicide prevention program that exists in your schools. And again, sometimes people leave those off because they say, well, we don't really need to connect people to those resources because all kids are participating in that.
00:09:19
Speaker
but it's a great opportunity to document what you're doing. And also again, to engage with caregivers or engage with community providers who might have questions and might want to connect with someone to get some more in-depth knowledge on that. So when we look at those tier two internal resources, we can also catalog things like our small group counseling services, mentoring programs that exist at the school,
00:09:48
Speaker
And then of course, we also want to be cataloging our tier three, our treatment services and crisis response services. So maybe if we have AODA intervention services at the school and of course our school-based mental health providers and services. And one thing that I really encourage folks to put on internal resource maps are clubs and activities, even if they're not specific to mental health or wellness.
00:10:14
Speaker
So we know that being involved in extracurriculars is actually associated with better mental health outcomes and a stronger sense of belonging. So when we look at our most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 2021, we see that kids who are in extracurricular activities are 1.5 times more likely to report that they feel a sense of belonging and connection at school.
00:10:37
Speaker
And they're less likely to report feeling depressed or anxious. Now, we certainly cannot say that that is a casual relationship, but we can say that there's a correlation there. And clubs and activities can also be so important to building a sense of belonging for students that might be part of marginalized groups. So for example, for our LGBTQ plus youth,
00:10:59
Speaker
knowing about and having information about how to join a GSA, a Gender and Sexuality Alliance that helps to create a safe space for them at school can absolutely be a positive benefit to their mental health and sense of school belonging. So don't be afraid to include supports at school that might be outside of what we strictly think of as mental health supports, but contribute to student wellness and inclusion at school. And then I also encourage schools to consider
00:11:26
Speaker
making a student-friendly version of that resource map. If you're working with high schoolers, they might be able to engage with a resource map that's pretty similar to what their families or educators are using. But my background is in working with middle school students. And I know that it can be really helpful to provide a middle school version of that resource map so that kids can look at it and say, you know, if I'm having this problem,
00:11:53
Speaker
here's the person I reach out to, whether that's my homeroom teacher or my school counselor or social worker or psychologist or my principal or associate principal. So giving kids the empowerment and tools to use a resource map to can be really important.
00:12:08
Speaker
Okay. So I'm super glad you shared that Libby. And I think the other thing that I'm wondering is we've really talked about what's going on inside the school and how we break that down. Really important to remember that that's a big part of our resource map, but what about outside of the school and in the community? Great question. And I always encourage schools as they have the capacity to then expand to making that resource map inclusive of external community resources.
00:12:34
Speaker
So when we think about things that we might want to put on an external resource map, we of course want to include things that are directly related to mental health support. So we might include things like mental health providers in our community, information about day treatment or inpatient mental health services and programs. We might include contact information for mental health agencies like NAMI or mental health navigation services.
00:13:00
Speaker
We want to include both local and national hotlines like 211 and 988 for folks who are in need of emergency supports or in crisis supports. And then it's also important to note that we can include supports that benefit the wellness of the entire family system. So in that resource map, we can include information about
00:13:23
Speaker
supports if someone is experiencing intimate partner violence or support groups for grief or people who are struggling with substance abuse challenges. And those might be resources our students access directly, but they also might be resources that other family members access. And we know that adult mental health can absolutely impact student mental health. So again, we want to focus on that family system as a whole. And we also want to include resources that can support the wellness
00:13:53
Speaker
of people as a whole and relate to social influencers of mental health. So we can include information about economic supports, emergency housing, or food pantries. We can include things related to physical healthcare. Another area that I love to see on resource maps are cultural groups and agencies. So if there's a multicultural center in your community or an immigration advocacy center,
00:14:20
Speaker
a Hmong Community Center, a center that's focused on providing services for LGBTQ plus youth and adults. So any of those cultural groups and agencies can be really important to include. And then the other area of resources and supports that I always recommend including are things that help to promote protective factors. So sometimes when we're building a resource map,
00:14:47
Speaker
We understandably know that people might be accessing that in a time of crisis or a time of challenge, and we want to provide those resources for them. But resource maps can also include things that promote resiliency and protective factors. So our libraries, our recreational programming, volunteer organizations and opportunities, these are all things that we can put on a resource map too.
00:15:08
Speaker
It starts to get a little overwhelming, I have to say, when you start to think about the array of things that might be brought in.
00:15:18
Speaker
I do want to talk a little bit more about how we wrap our arms around that, how we kind of right size that task so it doesn't become overwhelming for thinking about sustaining that map and what that looks like. But I first wanted to just give you a chance to talk a little bit about why these can be such important tools when we're thinking about implementing and working through our comprehensive model.
Benefits of Resource Mapping
00:15:42
Speaker
Like how does this look on the ground when we have these tools in place now that we've built it out?
00:15:48
Speaker
So we know that resource mapping at its most basic level, it increases the likelihood that staff and students and families are aware of potential options when they're considering the best way to support a student. And when I think about making folks aware of resources and supports, I often think back to a conversation I had with a sixth grade student. I was meeting with him at the end of the year. I think it was May.
00:16:12
Speaker
And I'd gotten to know him through the social-emotional learning class that I taught, which he was in my fourth quarter class. So he started that class in April. And after I had met with him, he said to me, you know, Mrs. Strons, talking to you was really helpful. I wish I'd known who you were before now. And I said to him, hey, you know, I'm in the hall all the time. I'm always around the school. I even came into your homeroom and I did a presentation where I introduced myself and he was like,
00:16:40
Speaker
Well, I don't know. I guess I was gone that day or maybe I just wasn't paying attention. I don't know. And so that kind of stuck with me as I felt based on the fact that I had a never ending list of kids to check in with and meet with and support that surely every kid in the building must know who I am in the services that I provide. But that was a really good reminder for me that that's not always the case. And sometimes when we share something out once or give a singular presentation,
00:17:07
Speaker
we're going to miss folks, they need reminders and they need resources. So if that student or his family had been able to access a resource map, that was kind of a wake up call to me that I needed to work to create more opportunities like that. Because we can't always assume that people know who to connect with or how to connect with them. And another thing that's really important about resource maps is they help to ensure that people are utilizing the appropriate resources. So if we think about, for example,
00:17:36
Speaker
Let's say we've got a sixth grader. She is struggling with the transition to middle school. She's experiencing a lot of anxiety with that. And her mom is understandably really concerned about that. She sees her daughter struggling. She wants to get her support and help. And let's say the district doesn't have a resource map when she looks online. She doesn't really know who to connect with except the school counselor. And she knows that she's seen some information about the school-based mental health program. And she thinks, hey, there's a therapist at school. I need to get my daughter signed up.
00:18:06
Speaker
to see this therapist, so she reaches out, she says, my daughter's really experiencing anxiety, she needs to see the therapist at school, gets her connected with that service. Now, that might be the appropriate service for her, but it could be that a more appropriate service would have been for her to participate in a mentorship program that pairs her with an older student or a social-emotional learning group that's run by the school social worker or check-ins with the school counselor.
00:18:34
Speaker
And because the mom didn't know about all those supports, she immediately went to the support that she knew about that maybe wasn't actually the right fit for her daughter. And so not only then is that a mismatch between the daughter's needs and the services provided, but then that student is utilizing a spot in that therapist schedule that we know is probably hard to get into and might actually be more appropriate for a student whose needs are a good match for the services that therapist is providing.
00:19:04
Speaker
A resource map not only helps people be aware of what's out there, but it helps them to access resources appropriately, which is really important, not just for the wellness of our kids, but really the sustainability of our systems too. That takes me back really to our conversations around referral pathways to Libby as I think about this, that when we have
00:19:29
Speaker
kind of engage in that strong resource mapping that we're really empowering everybody along that referral pathway component to have the right off-ramps for supporting where those referrals should go, right? So that you think about that the journey it's not for each of our students will look different and that we're providing for alternatives along that way and empowering all of the people who are gonna come in contact along the way with some additional resources
00:19:58
Speaker
to provide alternatives.
Developing and Sustaining Resource Maps
00:20:01
Speaker
So I do think that this idea of so frequently, it feels like there are times when we've built certain things into the system in place. And in the absence of having that broader environmental scan, we might direct somebody to the resource that really isn't
00:20:21
Speaker
the best or most appropriate response given the scenario or the situation that that student is experiencing. So I really appreciate sort of how you're looping that value back into thinking about how it really creates an opportunity for us to better utilize the full array of opportunities that are out there for us to better meet students and families where they're at.
00:20:49
Speaker
I think I talked previously about thinking about that full array and saying, does this start to become overwhelming for people? The idea like this is always like I'm going to create this and then I'm going to have to keep it up. Can you just talk a little bit about what goes into that creation and that being planful about how to sustain it so that people are not overwhelmed? Absolutely.
00:21:17
Speaker
If you're listening to the podcast today and thinking, wow, Libby just listed 17 different things that I need to make sure I'm including in the resource map, I'd encourage you to pause and start small. So when I talk about thinking expansively and all these different types of resources to include, that can be a great thing to strive for and build over time, but we don't need to start there.
00:21:40
Speaker
So for folks who are just getting started with this process in order to do it in a way that feels right sized and feels manageable, I'd recommend starting with an internal resource map. And I'd also recommend not doing this work alone. So sometimes when we think about the task of a resource map, we think about a student services professional sitting in their office, Googling everything in their community and brainstorming and putting it all down.
00:22:09
Speaker
We say often on our team that school mental health is a team sport and resource mapping is a great way to put that into practice. So when we're building a resource map, it shouldn't be one person who's doing that on their own. We want to bring together a team of people and that can include school staff of all different types, students and families. If we're working on an external resource map, it can also include community leaders and agencies and mental health providers and
00:22:39
Speaker
Again, we don't have to bring all of these people into a giant meeting in the same space. We know that sometimes logistically that's not possible. So we can get feedback from people through surveys, through focus groups, through virtual meetings. There's lots of ways to engage people in a way that feels manageable. And actually when we engage other people, our workload sometimes becomes less because you might reach out to your library and they might say, you know what, we actually already have
00:23:07
Speaker
this handout that lists all of our emergency housing and food resources in the community we'd be happy to send you a copy of that file to include in your resource map or you might reach out to your county folks and they might say this is information we have about navigating some of our county and government programs so as you engage other people in this work
00:23:29
Speaker
you might find that you don't actually need to recreate the wheel or start from scratch with this. There might be a lot of community partners who have already done aspects of this work that you can draw from. So in order to keep this manageable, again, I encourage folks to start internally and then build as you have the capacity and engage with people who might be able to provide insight and resources. And then as you're building this resource map, you're going to want to consider who your audience is,
00:23:57
Speaker
what type of categories you're going to map and reference example maps too. Again, we want to think about a diverse array of things we can include in this resource map, but that doesn't have to be our starting point. And then as you actually draft that map, I'd encourage you again to start small. So in our team's work with schools, we utilize improvement science. We often assist schools with
00:24:25
Speaker
doing a plan do study act, a PDSA cycle, which essentially focuses on doing small tests of change. And I'd encourage folks to do that with a resource map too. So don't just draft the map and then put it on the website and send it out in the newsletters. Test it out first. So have a couple of parents or a small group of teachers or, you know, one group of students
00:24:51
Speaker
and ask them to use that resource map, get some feedback from them. So for educators, would this help you refer a student to a resource or support appropriately? With a parent, is this clear and easy to understand? What parts of it are confusing? What parts do you wish had more information? What stuff could we maybe take off that's not very helpful? So again, you don't have to do this huge large scale release right away. Do these little tests of change to get some feedback?
00:25:20
Speaker
before you send it out, make this a collaborative process so it's not just falling on one person or even one team. And then it's also really important to plan for sustainability. So having some time set aside to update the maps, to continue to promote them. Again, we don't want to promote this just once at the beginning of the year or put it on some dark, deep corner of our school website where folks may or may not stumble across it.
00:25:49
Speaker
It could be something that if your school sends out a newsletter, that this is always linked at the bottom of the newsletter so people can access it easily. So again, my advice is to start small, choose some supports, and scale up as you have the capacity. And again, don't do this work alone. Rely on a team of folks and partners to help.
00:26:14
Speaker
And I think that that, as you were talking about testing the map out, I was thinking about your sixth grader, too. And, you know, that again, maybe not in your first iteration, but I do like the idea of testing it with your students also around accessibility and to be thinking about is there a way to really help them become empowered
00:26:36
Speaker
to see that and see the array of resources. Now, of course, the iteration we might do for students, we might look a little bit different than the one that we have for parents and for our teachers. But I do think about that testing with the audience is such a great, great recommendation to do that on kind of first round iterations so that you're not
00:26:58
Speaker
looking to get to a kind of a full complete product and then release it out. It gives you that opportunity to kind of cull things out, but also pull some more things back in.
Incorporating Equity and Trauma-Informed Practices
00:27:10
Speaker
And as we're thinking about stakeholders and thinking about who we're going to test things out with, I think another one of the pieces that we're really interested in is thinking from this lens of how we really pull in resources and engage folks from this
00:27:27
Speaker
equity-centered, trauma-informed lens. When you focus in on being more equity-centered and changing, how does that change or how does that create opportunities for what that mapping process might look like? Kathy, I love that you've used the word empowerment a couple of times in our conversation because resource maps really are an opportunity for empowerment for our students and their families and
00:27:56
Speaker
our staff to be more involved in this process. And I absolutely think that making sure that we're centering equity and trauma sensitive practices in this is essential. So as I mentioned before, we really want to make sure that we are including supports that
00:28:15
Speaker
are accessible and help to support folks of diverse identities. So we can consider including resources that help to mitigate racism and other inequities, whether that is local organizations, like I mentioned, or things like including information about the American Civil Liberties Union, or faith-based organizations, or again, other local resources and supports that help to support people of diverse identities. And we also know
00:28:45
Speaker
that in our communities across Wisconsin, there are folks of certain identities who are placed at higher risk of experiencing trauma and adverse childhood experiences, as well as mental health concerns. So for example, we know that our LGBTQ plus students are placed at higher risk of experiencing negative mental health outcomes.
00:29:08
Speaker
We know that our Black and Indigenous people in Wisconsin are at higher risk of experiencing adverse childhood experiences. So as we do that resource mapping process, we can also be looking at results from our needs assessment that are disaggregated by different identity groups, our YRBS results, and really making sure that we're working to put supports into that resource map that benefit folks who might be at our highest risk populations.
00:29:38
Speaker
And of course, when we think about accessibility, we also want to think about, do we have the capacity to have our resource map available in more than one language? Are we using designed features that make it accessible to someone who might have visual impairments? And are we including things that really are centering our school's mission?
00:30:01
Speaker
So are we including resources that are healing centered, that focus on resiliency and protective factors that are culturally responsive and anti-racist? So I love all of this, Libby, and I think about how rich and diverse these maps could look.
00:30:21
Speaker
as we start to scan our school districts across the state. And I don't want to catch you off guard with this question, but do you all have some examples of some of these resource maps that are available through the DPI website or elsewhere that you would direct people to? I'd love to include that in the notes. That is a great question. We will include those in the show notes. We have some construction on our DPI website right now, but we do have some examples that we can include in the show notes that
00:30:48
Speaker
Showcase some examples of resource maps around our state both internal and external so we can Include some examples of those for folks on here. That's that's fantastic Because I do see that, you know, I I start to really get my head goes very visual on trying to picture what kinds of pieces people are pulling in and as you think about
00:31:11
Speaker
maybe that we might struggle a little bit more. And here's where I really think as you talked about going back to our parents, going back to our providers, going back to as we expand that reach, that should really help us get into that space where we're touching on some of those other, that array of resources that it'd be more culturally responsive to, that really those partners are all going to be to the degree that we're engaging
00:31:38
Speaker
of that broad array of stakeholders that that really helps us to create that opportunity for sharing forward those more culturally aware components of our services. So thank you for kind of exploring that space.
00:31:58
Speaker
I think today as we talked about wrapping up, one of the things I always like to ask people, which is, you know, it sounds like I will say it's a negative question with a positive flip on it.
Overcoming Barriers in Resource Mapping
00:32:08
Speaker
So as you've worked with schools and talked to them about this, what are some of the barriers and challenges that they experience in putting together their resource map? And your thoughts on how to kind of overcome or where you've seen examples of breaking through that? Well, I think with anything we try to implement in a school,
00:32:27
Speaker
time and money are two of our biggest barriers, no matter what that work is. And as I said before, if you are thinking about the amount of time that you have to devote to this project, start small. So your resource map may start as just a one or two page document where you've got information to refer folks to your student services professionals.
00:32:54
Speaker
or information about your school-based mental health program and a few universal supports. And you can expand and build from there. As you work to expand externally, maybe you start with just some hotlines in emergency services. And then again, expand into some of those areas that we've talked about. So I encourage districts as they receive state and grant funding to support mental health work to provide folks who are engaging in this work a stipend to do it,
00:33:24
Speaker
compensate people for their time and their effort in doing a large-scale project like this. It's not always realistic to expect someone to just fit this into their other job duties. It could actually be something that a committee of folks earns a stipend for doing. And another barrier that I sometimes see is not so much a barrier with creating the resource map, but a barrier once it's created. And that's, we create this resource map and then we notice that there's some gaps.
00:33:54
Speaker
And we compare our needs assessment data with what's on that resource map. And we say, we have got some needs in this district that right now we don't have services that meet those needs. And that can be disheartening and that can be overwhelming. And again, I would encourage you to start small. You're not going to do a needs assessment in a resource map and realize that you're going to be able to fill every gap instantly or even within a year.
00:34:23
Speaker
Again, we want to focus on that improvement science, those PDSA's to create small steps towards meaningful change. When we talk about implementation of a comprehensive school mental health system, we're not talking about a process that takes a couple of weeks or a couple of months. We're talking about a years long process to build and sustain that. So again, start small and scale up. And then I'd also encourage folks to creatively think about partners and resources.
Partnerships to Enhance Resource Maps
00:34:50
Speaker
And again, I think about my time as a school counselor,
00:34:53
Speaker
One of the partners that we worked closely with to provide co-facilitated small counseling groups for our students was a local agency that focused on preventing and responding to domestic violence. And they helped to provide us with social emotional learning groups that didn't even specifically focus on domestic violence, but focused on things like building self-esteem, responsible decision-making,
00:35:23
Speaker
healthy relationships and friendships. And because we had that partnership with them, we actually identified a need of many of our Latino students were experiencing negative mental health outcomes tied to some of their fears and anxieties about undocumented family members potentially being deported. And we recognized that this was an issue that a lot of our Latino students were facing and wanted to offer a small group support to them.
00:35:51
Speaker
And it was actually through one of our advocates at that domestic violence agency that she was bilingual. She had really close ties to our Latino community that she was actually able to partner with us to offer that support to our students. So that's something that when you look at it from the outside, it seems like that's really outside of maybe her role or her job description. But since we had that relationship with her and it was aligned with her agency's goal of a healthy and safe community,
00:36:19
Speaker
She was able to help us provide those co-facilitated spawn groups to a specific population of our students who were struggling. It's just one example of how when we build these community partnerships with all sorts of diverse stakeholders, they might be able to help contribute to our internal systems in ways that we didn't initially imagine. So there's lots of opportunity for growth and increasing that sustainability.
00:36:44
Speaker
I actually love leaving it there today, Libby, because I think that you're really showing how the mapping process itself actually becomes the piece that builds the collaboration going forward. And that even as the map starts to reveal where we have gaps, we're simultaneously building partnerships where we're giving people an opportunity
00:37:11
Speaker
to showcase their talents and step up and step in to spaces where maybe that's not a historical service line for them or even they hadn't even imagined that they might be able to fit in.
00:37:24
Speaker
somewhere as a support for our school community. So thank you so much for just bringing forward some really specific stories for us from your own experience that really helped to bring to life what this resource mapping process is.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:37:41
Speaker
It has been such a pleasure visiting with you today. I just thank you so much for joining us today for our School Mental Health Works podcast.
00:37:49
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me, Kathy. It's been great to connect with you and to everyone who's listening today. Looking forward to future episodes? Make sure to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice and leave us a rating so that others invested in better mental health for Wisconsin students can find us. We welcome your questions. You can reach us and find resources and learn more by checking out today's show notes and by visiting the coalition's website at schoolmentalhealthwisconsin.org. Until next time.