School Based Services
One in six children aged 2 to 8 years old, nationwide, has a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder. If left untreated, mental health issues can lead to higher rates of truancy, impaired academic performance, and the development of behavioral issues inside and outside of the classroom. During the 2018-2019 school year, nearly 80,000 Georgia students in sixth through 12th grade reported having seriously considered attempting suicide. In Georgia, two in five children have trouble accessing the mental health treatment they need.
Too often, school staff lack mental health support services, and without them, children suffering from serious trauma, depression, anxiety, conduct disorders, and/or attention deficit disorder are not identified and provided the assistance and support they need. Instead, they receive disciplinary measures that frequently make the situation worse. Current solutions include moving students to segregated alternative schools and/or to increasingly restricted environments, too often resulting in students ultimately encountering the juvenile justice system.
As a state, Georgia has declared that these solutions are inadequate and unacceptable, and reform has started to occur, with the assistance of state and federal funds, as well as the interest and investment from philanthropic foundations. It is evident that Georgia’s students could benefit from mental health support where they can easily access it — at school. School-based mental health programs provide a continuum of behavioral health care to students and their families, thereby mitigating transportation challenges, continuity-of-treatment issues, and, often, misbehavior within the school itself.
Tranquil Life Counseling Center, LLC and the Paulding County School District are committed to bringing qualified master’s level mental health clinicians into the schools to provide individual and family counseling. Due to individual needs, not all students may be a good fit for school based counseling so students may be referred to receive counseling within our Hiram or Acworth locations. Additionally, families have the opportunity to participate in family therapy in our offices outside of school hours.