Image of a CASA Classroom space in Edmonton, designed to feel welcoming and soothing for students receiving care.--Submitted photo
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Seeing great success since it first became operational in early February, the new CASA Classroom for Prairie Rose Public Schools blends the school environment with the mental health support these students need.
The new classroom is located in Redcliff within Link School, and aims to meet the needs of the “forgotten middle,” says clinical director Lori Roe with CASA Mental Health Classrooms. These patients are those who are not necessarily experiencing severe enough struggles to require inpatient care or hospitalization, but are not getting the results they need from standard support.
Those attending the CASA Classroom receive intensive and ideally medically integrated support. The program is considered a health service, which includes physician consultation and psychiatry consultation as well as therapy, social emotional learning and some academic coaching.
Through this, patients will be able to receive the more direct support they need directly in a location built into their regular lives, without caregivers needing to take time off work or schedule appointments.
“We’re really excited. This partnership allows us to bring mental health services directly to where kids live and learn,” said PRPS superintendent Reagan Weeks. “We’re thrilled to have this opportunity open and provide students with a safe space to heal and develop their academic skills, along with increasing supports and services for mental health.”
The program will be open to students within the region who fit the criteria, through consultation with caregivers, teachers and the CASA program itself, which will be able to determine if the program will be a good fit for the student in question.
This is in addition to PRPS’s existing student wellness counsellors in all of its schools, providing a new level of support for students, said Weeks.
” CASA Classroom has had, historically, a great deal of success, with 90 per cent of students reporting an increase in their own mental health following enrolment in a CASA Classroom, and 100 per cent of caregivers reporting an increase in mental health for students,” said Reagan. “We’re just incredibly grateful that we now in prairie rose have access to this level of support, especially because we are serving such rural communities, and that can be tricky.”
She says PRPS is committed to ensuring rural students have the same opportunities as their urban peers.
Students have also seen academic improvement, said Weeks.
The goal of the program is for students to attend CASA Classroom for one semester, before transitioning back to a regular school environment with their new skills and regulation tools, says Roe.
However, the support they receive during their time in the CASA Classroom does not disappear, as they remain connected with former patients as they continue their school careers.
“We’re also ensuring schools receive the tools they need to support students to thrive – not only the students returning from CASA Classrooms, but all students who walk through their doors,” said Roe.
This is the second CASA classroom within the region, as Medicine Hat Public School District offers one at the elementary level, and the first in the region offered at the junior high level, a key development period for students’ mental wellbeing. The classroom serves students in Grades 6-9, largely those who have not responded to previous therapy.
CASA and PRPS first started planning to offer the program in the spring last year, and after extensive planning and collaboration, both Weeks and Roe expressed excitement to have the space operational and seeing their first group of youth attending class and receiving care.
“We all have physical health and we all have mental health. Sometimes our physical health isn’t doing especially well, and we go and see our doctors, or we change our diet or we exercise more. It’s the same with our mental health,” said Roe.
Roe adds she has been hearing positive feedback already from patients in the Redcliff classroom, including that they feel they have “found their people” and peers they can truly connect with.
“At Prairie Rose Public Schools, we believe that student wellbeing is the absolute foundation for academic success and personal growth,” said Weeks. “The opening of our CASA Classroom supports students with complex mental health needs in a familiar school environment, helping them stay connected to their learning while receiving the care they need.”
