Clay Schools Adding Mental Health Liaison For District

The Clay County School System expects to have its behavioral health liaison in place by November 10.

Supervisor of Instruction Misty Strong said the full-time position is being provided by the state. Strong said behavioral health liason will help train staff to reach the districts identified goal of becoming a trauma-informed school.

“Just those childhood experiences that impact their stress management, their mental health issues,” Strong said. “Just self-care for any student, teacher or employee.”

Strong said adding the position will help families overcome the two biggest barriers to mental health treatment. Strong said this would not be an employee of the school system, saying they are being provided through Volunteer Behavioral Health as a third-party.

“Number one is transportation because they’re going to travel 30 minutes to an hour to have access to service,” Strong said. “Secondly is the insurance and payment barrier. Because providers only accept certain types of insurance, the amounts of the co-pay being required. So I think this will be a great step in the right direction to overcome those two barriers.”

Strong said that the liaison will be able to provide outside referrals for further service when needed. She said the focus will be on providing service to the district’s two elementary schools, but will also be able to support students at Clay County High School.