Warden’s new student assistance professional addresses mental health

WARDEN — The Warden School District welcomed a new staff member earlier this month. Araceli Flores joined Warden High School as its new student assistance professional, a position intended to help students’ behavioral and mental health.

Warden High School Principal Katie Phipps said the position is fully funded by a grant through the North Central Educational Service District. Warden joins other schools in Grant County, including Soap Lake, Quincy and Moses Lake, that have hired a student assistance professional.

“This is grant-funded, which is nice for us because our resources are fairly limited, of course,” Phipps said. “So the ESD wrote a grant and then that allowed for a salaried position to bring in somebody that has more of a background in mental health, because that's definitely a need that we have, and it's a harder one to fill. It's especially a harder one to fill when you don't have the funding for it.”

Flores explained her duties at the school.

“I'm responsible for meeting with students individually or, as I’m building a caseload, creating group sessions,” Flores said. “The individual services can just be anything around like substance use, mental health, academics or even attendance too.”

Flores said she worked at Grant County behavioral health provider Renew for about 10 months before working at Adams County Integrated Health Care Services, where she stayed for almost two years. At both agencies, Flores was part of the Wraparound with Intensive Services program.

WISe is a Washington State Health Care Authority program implemented in community organizations and is an approach to helping children, youth and their families with intensive mental health care, according to the WSHCA website.

Flores said a small part of her focus is also on prevention, which may include presentations and classroom visits in the future. 

In an email to the Columbia Basin Herald, Flores explained why she became a behavioral health professional.

“It is clear that many young people today face significant challenges, often in silence, contributing to increased mental health problems and substance use,” she said. “This realization is what drives my passion for working with youth. I am committed to providing support to students to let them know they are not alone in their struggles.”

Phipps said Flores is a good counterpart to the rest of the staff. While they work on students’ skills and get them academically prepared, Flores can focus on needs that a traditional guidance counselor or staff member may not be equipped to deal with.

“This has been needed for a while, and just having that funding opportunity really allowed for it,” Phipps said. “Kids have changed and their needs have changed, and as educators, we're not always the most equipped in mental health backgrounds to be able to really effectively help, so bringing in that specialist is absolutely critical.”

Flores said the position, which she started after several weeks of training from the NCESD, has been going well, and she has been very supported by Phipps and other school employees. 

“Right now, I do have a caseload and it's going very well,” Flores said. “Being in a school setting is very different than just working through an agency, but it's a good feeling. I get to see students every day and slowly they're starting to just interact with me.”

Flores said it is still too early to say she has been seeing results with particular students.

“I think right now I'm just trying to build that rapport with students,” Flores said. “For them to know what I'm here for and how I can help them and getting them comfortable … It's getting them started on ‘okay, this is what I'm gonna work on’ and getting their feedback too. So it'll look different for those that maybe are just referred for (specific) concerns.”

Phipps explained why the new position is important.

“I just really want to hammer in just how critical this kind of a role is because it's really that missing piece for us,” she said. “We talk in education a lot about the whole child, which is true, but it's really hard to educate the whole child when you are lacking in that mental health support. So she's critical in fulfilling that.”

Phipps said that since the school is smaller, staff and faculty can see issues with students more frequently and refer those students to Flores if need be. Phipps said students can also ask to see her, but that it is very uncommon. All the referrals are confidential.

“What's unique about (the position) is that I can work with these kids basically on anything,” Flores said. “It could just be that we know that this kid is struggling but they're not ready to talk to someone, and I don't have to get started right away on working on something, I can first build that rapport with them, get to know them, and then slowly get them to open up and maybe work on something. So I like that flexibility. I don't have to necessarily get started on something, I can meet them where they're at.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.