BWell2Excel: Using “Wellness Screen” to address high school students’ emotional wellness

High school can be a stressful, yet exciting time for many students. From homework, 8+ hours with peers and teachers, exams, and extracurricular activities, there are many opportunities for students to feel overwhelmed or stressed with having to juggle so many things, not to mention trying to figure out who they are as individuals! This fall, re:TH!NK and the Winnebago County Health Department are excited to support Samaritan Counseling Center in their implementation of the Connected Community Wellness Screen in Oshkosh West and Oshkosh North high schools. In collaboration with re:TH!NK’s Healthy Lifestyles committee, the Connected Community Wellness Screen is a free and voluntary resource for students who want to have a mental health “check-in” and is a great program to ensure mental well-being for students.

How does the Connected Community Wellness Screen work? 

Parental Consent & Sign-Up

The Wellness Screen is targeted toward ninth grade students but is available to all high school students through referral and parental and student consent. Parents at Oshkosh West and North schools received information about the Wellness Screen in their registration packets and can sign a permission slip to have their student screened. Throughout fall 2014, two counselors from Samaritan Counseling Center will be at Oshkosh North and West one day a week to screen students whose parents have signed them up.

The Day of the Screening

Students are called down to the screening room and go through a consent process with a counselor. The student learns about what the screening is and can decide whether or not they’d like to participate. If the student declines the screening, the student is sent back to their class and the parent will be notified that their student did not participate. If the student assents to the screening, they begin a short 10-minute computerized questionnaire that asks about vision, hearing, and dental problems, symptoms of depression and anxiety, suicidal thinking and behavior, attentional problems and disruptive behavior, and any use of drugs and alcohol. After the questionnaire, the students meet one-on-one with a counselor to go over their responses and any concerns the student may have. If the student does not show any signs of needing help, they meet briefly with a counselor to debrief. If the student does show signs of needing help, they will meet with a trained mental health professional in private to determine if further evaluation would be helpful. 

Follow-Up

A case manager of the screening will only contact parents if further evaluation is recommended for their student and parents can decide if they want to obtain additional services. All results of the screening are confidential and will not be stored with students’ academic records. 

Hannah Episcopo, a counselor from Samaritan Counseling, speaking about Wellness Screen and stress and coping skills during a freshman health class at Oshkosh West High School.

Feedback from Students

So far, we’ve screened eight students at Oshkosh West and six at Oshkosh North high schools, though we have many more to do. From the students I’ve seen at Oshkosh West, the overall response has been really positive. Since I’m an AmeriCorps member with re:TH!NK and the Winnebago County Health Department, and not a licensed counselor, my role in the screening process has been to make sure it all goes smoothly. I make sure the students know where to go when they’re called down to the screening room and walk them through the consent process and answer any questions. A few students didn’t know that their parents signed them up for the screening, but after learning more about it and asking questions, they all seemed eager to take it and interested in the results. All of the students seemed comfortable talking to the counselors and students who brought up any struggles they were having seemed relieved after “venting”. The two counselors who are at Oshkosh West and North have been really great with the students and they always seem to get the students laughing and comfortable. The counselors really try to get to know the students and let them know that there is help available if they want it. From my perspective, the Wellness Screen seems like a great opportunity for students to talk about what they’re going through and relieve some of the pressure they feel.

Why is Wellness Screen so important in Winnebago County?

In a perfect world, everyone could get yearly (or more frequently) mental health “check-ups”, just as we should for the rest of our bodies. If the approach to physical health included mental health, I believe that we would live in a much healthier and happier community. Unfortunately, there often seems to be a disconnect in addressing what goes on in our brains compared to the rest of our bodies and many people’s mental illnesses go unchecked. That’s why I believe the Wellness Screen is so important in our schools. Students, with parental permission, can access a free, voluntary, and confidential mental health check-up just to make sure things are going ok for them in their transition to high school and adulthood. Teens encounter so many stressors and pressures throughout their days, and having Wellness Screen as a check-in can be so beneficial.

Without checking in on our mental health, many individuals may experience mental illness without ever seeking out treatment. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in four adults, about 61.5 million Americans, experience mental illness in a given year. However, only one-third of those adults with a mental illness will seek professional help (NIH & NIMH). While there can be multiple reasons behind not seeking out mental health care, from financial inability, lack of access, stigma, or denial, 2/3 of people with a diagnosable mental illness are not receiving care. Can you imagine if 2/3 of people diagnosed with cancer did not seek out care? Or 2/3 of people with broken bones did not receive care? I think it’s time we start seeing mental health as important to our overall health just as we do with our physical health.

The Wellness Screen also addresses a very real risk in teen’s lives: suicide. The Wellness Screen can identify early indicators of risk of suicide and can provide intervention to teens going through tough emotional times. And unfortunately, we are all too familiar with the toll suicide has on our communities. According to the Burden of Suicide in Wisconsin Report published in 2014, there were 106 deaths by suicide between 2007-2011 in Winnebago County, a rate of about 14.5%.  Specifically for teens, suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 15-24 in Wisconsin. Additionally, 90% of youth who died by suicide also suffered from a treatable mental illness. Our hope is that we can begin to support these teens who are dealing with a mental illness before they make a permanent life decision.

“No health without mental health” may be a catchy slogan, but it is so true. There are so many ways that our mental well-being affects our physical health and vice versa. If students are unable to deal with all the stress and pressure they have, it will begin to take a toll on their bodies. Our hope is that Wellness Screen will get students talking about their stresses and mental health struggles in order to get them on a path toward being healthy. By giving students a chance to “vent” and talk about their problems, we might be able to better address what their needs are. With Wellness Screen, we are one step closer toward being a community that believes that suicide is preventable and that overall health includes mental health.

For more information about the impact of stress and mental health issues on students' academic performance, see http://www.samaritan-counseling.com/pdf/Mental-Health-and-Academic-Achievement.pdf