News Photo by Darby Hinkley Tracy Romel of the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District participates in a video chat meeting. The AMA ESD offers behavioral health services to students throughout their service area, from elementary to high school seniors.

ALPENA — Students in the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District have access to free, confidential behavioral health support, and more of them having been using it since the pandemic started, officials say.

State funding through a 31n grant allows for expanded programming, which has proven to be helpful for students, especially those undergoing hardship or trauma.

“We know there are a lot of needs out there, especially with COVID, and, just, different kinds of struggles that families are facing as a result,” explained Stacy Moors, one of the special education supervisors from AMA ESD. “So, luckily, we have a lot of therapists throughout the LEAs (Local Education Agencies) to meet those needs.”

She said the 31n grant is part of the school aid funding.

“It comes from the state,” Moors said. “It’s a fairly new grant. The purpose of the grant is to support mild and moderate mental health needs for our students across the schools.”

Mild and moderate mental health needs can encompass students who are struggling emotionally or behaviorally, but not to a degree that they need to be in a separate education group from the general population.

“With this funding, we are able to provide services to students with more mild to moderate needs, who are general education students,” Moors said. “And the hope is that these supports early will really help get them to a good place.”

She explained that the behavioral health services are not considered long-term mental health services for those with disabilities, such as a special education plan or IEP, which stands for Individualized Education Plan.

“It’s just really about supporting the kids,” Moors said. “It could be anxiety, it could be some trauma, it could be a child who lost a grandparent, or any kind of thing like that that warrants a little bit of help to get through.”

Moors explained how the grant works.

“We really are working closely with our local districts, and the districts are identifying the needs in each of their schools throughout their districts,” Moors said. “And they put together a proposal and submitted it to us, the ESD, and we were able to award reimbursement for their proposal.”

She said districts in Alpena and Alcona counties are contracting with Alcona Health Center, and Hillman is contracting with Thunder Bay Community Health Services.

“Atlanta did have an opportunity to submit a proposal,” Moors said. “With their size, they already had a therapist out there that was able to meet their needs.”

She explained that each district has different needs.

“We are in a unique position where we have to look at things equitably, not necessarily equally, because each of our districts have different needs and they’re different sizes, and we want to make sure that everybody gets the equitable share, and that they’re all supported.”

She added that with the amount of funding they received, they were able to grant all the requests.

AMA ESD hired Tracy Romel in May to become the community/school engagement specialist. A licensed master social worker, Romel has eight years of experience in mental health services, including work as a behavioral health therapist through Alcona Health Center.

“When we see kiddos struggling with, maybe, some anxiety or depression, or there was a loss in their family, or they’re going through a crisis, or their house burnt down, anything you can think of,” a teacher, parent, principal or other concerned adult will refer them to the program, Romel said. “We reach out to the parents, and we talk to them about what kinds of services we could offer to help them. And they don’t have to follow through with it, but they can. A lot of parents are pretty willing to get help in the school. It’s more accommodating for them, especially if they’re working full-time.”

She added that a lot of people don’t realize the counseling is free.

“Your insurance is not going to be billed,” Moors added. “It’s fully funded by the grant.”

Romel said that eliminates a barrier for many people.

“That was sometimes a barrier, and I don’t think that all parents know that there is no cost to them this year,” Romel noted.

In addition, AMA ESD hired Kaitlyn Kowalski as a bachelor’s level social worker to assist with services.

“She’s also available to support our schools,” Moors said of Kowalski.

Romel added that students in all grades, K-12, have been using the services.

“I’d say that we’re busy at every school,” Romel said. “I think, with COVID, our numbers have definitely increased. We’re seeing a lot of anxiety with kids coming back. A lot of school-related anxiety. It could be some trauma, too, because they were at home for so long, and we don’t know what was going on at home … So, our numbers are definitely increasing.”

She said online telehealth services are available in addition to in-person counseling.

“We try to be there for everybody,” Romel said.

If you have further questions about 31n services, reach out to Romel at 989-354-3101, ext. 103.

She said parents can contact her and she can connect them with the therapist at their respective school.

“I’m happy to do that, as well,” Romel said.