Wellness centers being added to all Montgomery Co. high schools

Montgomery County trying to add wellness centers at every high school

Montgomery County has over 20 high schools. However, there are only a handful of school-based wellness centers up and running, including one at Wheaton High School. The county says a sixth wellness center is under construction.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - School fighting, teen suicides, and the national youth mental health epidemic born out of the pandemic are all concerns parents are now thinking about.

This week, the Montgomery County Council responded by approving $8 million in special appropriations to put wellness centers, and other resources, in every county high school.

A Senior at Wheaton HS told FOX 5 he uses the one at his school.

"Majority of times, I feel like at school I’m just overworked. It was probably my freshman or sophomore year, I took like four APs and it felt like instead of going home and dealing with the hectic family life … I felt there was a better place to do it at school," the student said.

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"It’s important to have the clinical services that we can provide in the wellness center but also the non-clinical emotional support that we can provide by having that caring adult," said Carolyn Camacho, program director with the non-profit called, Identity. "By having a safe space, where they can feel listened to, where they can connect with their peers, where they can engage in positive activities we are able to intervene early when we see, you know, conflicts arise between students. Those are key components of our programs."

Identity operates in four of the five Montgomery County Public School-based wellness centers.

The wellness centers are physical spaces where students can go to get a myriad of services like counseling or dental screening. They also organize after-school youth groups and have case managers to assist with family matters.

Councilwoman Nancy Navarro spearheaded the effort that led to the Montgomery County Council passing three special appropriations totaling $8 million this week.

This is the same county council that also passed special funding to hire 50 mental health counselors for this school year. However, in January, when the Magruder High School shooting happened, FOX 5 confirmed with MCPS that only two of those 50 positions had actually been filled.

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"There is no doubt that we have had so many discussions about the difficulty of hiring mental health professionals, especially right now," Councilwoman Navarro told FOX 5. "And when you add the layer of needing to have mental health professionals who are culturally and linguistically proficient, then it becomes harder. But the beauty of wellness centers is that you can begin to strengthen those services in many ways."

Navarro said instead of getting "hung-up" on those obstacles, she’s talked with the county’s health department and school leaders about hiring more "positive youth development specialists" while the county’s health department works to build up the wellness centers. The "Street Outreach Network" program uses these workers. The program currently focuses on at-risk students and gang prevention.

Navarro suggested renaming the program to the "School Outreach Network."

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"One of the things I hear time and time again from our young people is that to be honest, sometimes they don’t even feel comfortable approaching a counselor. Many times they just need to go and talk to someone who actually understands their lived experiences," Navarro said.

The $8 million is for MCPS to start hiring and planning right away, Navarro added. She said Interim Superintendent Dr. McKnight has assured her MCPS would be able to have a wellness center in every school by August 2022.

We asked Camacho how Identity gages success. The program director said part of that includes tracking whether there’s an increase in students using the wellness center. They also conduct a survey or student review.

FOX 5 checked back in with MCPS to see where those 50 mental health counselor positions stand. MCPS Spokesperson Chris Cram told FOX 5 it’s his understanding that 50 figure was "scaled back to allow for the hiring of supervisors for that class."

Here are the positions MCPS now has vacancies for:

23 School Psychologists
2 Social Workers
41 School Counselors (19 full-time, 15 part-time & 7 leadership school counselors)