Yuba City Unified working to add more mental health services for students
YUBA CITY - After months of students advocating for on-campus mental health resources, the Yuba City Unified School District (YCUSD) announced this week it will work toward integrating behavioral health specialists at school sites.
This announcement came during Tuesday's board meeting, just a few days before the death of a student at Lindhurst High School.
Investigators said the teen took her own life.
That school is part of the Marysville Joint Unified School District. It canceled school at Lindhurst for Thursday and Friday.
"Grief affects all of us," said Yuba County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Francisco Reveles. "It is important that parents become aware of what their children are going through, what the community is going through and to speak to someone."
As officials work to support students there, neighboring Yuba City Unified School District is also working on how it can better meet students' needs.
"Before we can close that learning gap of academics, we also need to close that gap of their health and wellness," said Director of Student Engagement at YCUSD, Jennifer Cates.
From T-K to 12th grade, YCUSD already has 29 school counselors, 7 school social workers, 11 school psychologists and 6 mental health clinicians across its 16 sites.
"I can tell you all those providers on our campuses are extremely busy," said Cates.
Some Yuba City students have been advocating for on-campus behavioral health specialists, and the district says it is listening.
"It could be an additional clinician on site so perhaps another social worker," said Cates.
By next spring, every site will also have wellness centers.
"It is a space where counseling can occur, or students may go just to decompress," Cates said.
Cates also told CBS 13 that they may add more therapeutic or drop-in services. She said these mental health services have been a priority for the district.
"We have had elementary school counselors when other districts did not," said Cates. "We added school social workers seven years ago."
Cates said it has become an even bigger priority since the pandemic.
"It has been harder for them to reintegrate into society, to reengage with learning," said Cates.
"They were locked down, and they were not out playing baseball," said Yuba City parent Charles King. "They were not with their classmates. I think it kind of isolated them."
Cates said YCUSD also contracts with Care Solace, a third-party service, that helps navigate through the process of getting connected to a private mental health provider. Referrals can be made through students, staff or families.
"We hear their message we understand that there is a mental health crisis with our children today," Cates told CBS13.
YCUSD is actively recruiting to fill more mental health services on campus. It is using state COVID-19 funding for many of its projects.