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Beverly, OH: Districts sees "alarmingly widespread" behavior problems; 1/3 kids affected

Oct 6, 2018, Marietta (OH) Times: Mental health therapy making a difference in schools http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/local-news/2018/10/mental-health-therapy-making-a-difference-in-schools/ Beverly, OH Fort Frye Local Schools this year added a new resource for students, and six weeks into the new year it is making a difference. With an increasing number of the district’s students showing signs of trauma and troubled behavior, the district struck an agreement with Life & Purpose Services of Marietta to place a full-time mental health therapist in the district…. The need for those services that lie outside what is ordinarily viewed as education has become profound, she said. Starcher, who has been in school administration for 17 years, said earlier in her career in Washington and Noble counties, about one in five students would benefit from the kind of wrap-around services she described. Now, it’s more like one in three – or more. Lowell and Salem-Liberty elementary schools principal Krista Ross said it’s closer to one in two at her schools. “We’re working with students who are going through parents’ divorce, whose parents are in jail, whose parents have passed away, multiple families living together, families experiencing drug and alcohol problems,” she said. At the elementary school level, Starcher said, behaviors that were uncommon at one time are becoming alarmingly widespread. “The ability of 5- and 6-year-olds to self-regulate, we have cases now where there is very little of that,” she said. “We have outbursts that can impact an entire school, and a classroom setting is just not equipped to handle that.”… The teaching staff is receiving trauma-informed classroom training, she said, something that a few years ago was unheard-of in teacher training…. In-school therapy resources are becoming common across the county. L&P also has contracts with Marietta City Schools and Warren Local Schools. Starcher said Fort Frye also has arrangements with Hopewell Health Centers for services

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