By Eileen Moon
RED BANK – At a time when young people are struggling with mental health issues at unprecedented rates, a state plan to eliminate school-based mental health services and replace them with regional alternatives is eliciting outrage from educators, students and elected officials locally and around the state.
For the past 23 years, students at Red Bank Regional High School have been able to find immediate help and support for any issue affecting their mental health on-site during the normal school day. Through a program called The Source, students can connect with professional counselors for any problem they’re experiencing, in school or out, from stress about homework, college choice or grades to deeper struggles such as family crises, depression or suicidal thoughts.
According to Louis Moore, Ph.D., Red Bank Regional superintendent, more than a third of the 1,300 students enrolled at Red Bank Regional go to The Source for personal help each year, and every student at the high school benefits from the many other services the organization provides to the general student population each year.
But if the proposal announced Oct. 3 by Gov. Phil Murphy goes forward as planned, those onsite services will disappear, replaced by a regional “hub and spoke” initiative that would designate Freehold as an area “hub” for student mental health services, which would be provided by outside social services agencies under contract with the state.
Moore was notified Sept. 29 that funding for The Source will end June 20, 2023.
“This new mental health support model will allow us to reach more students and offer the evidence-based resources they need,” Murphy stated in a press release. “My Administration will continue to prioritize the well-being of New Jersey’s youth as we seek to support their mental health.”
While the stated intent of the proposed “re-engineering of school-based youth services” is to broaden availability of mental health services to students throughout New Jersey, its implementation would have a devastating impact on the mental health and well-being of students at RBR, Moore said.
“The sudden implementation of a one-size-fits-all approach to advancing access to mental health services without stakeholder input at the local level is disingenuous. Eliminating the Source with no regard for the impact this will have on students, families and the greater community at Red Bank Regional High School is unacceptable,” he added.
Suzanne Keller, supervisor of The Source, has worked in the program for 16 years and believes strongly that taking the program outside the school would be ill-advised.
The Source provides immediate help for kids in crisis and a nonthreatening environment when they need to talk, Keller said. Whatever the issue, help is always at hand. And while the student population is diverse, the need for support is universal.
“Mental health knows no socio-economic status and substance abuse knows no socio-economic status,” she noted.
Students feel comfortable seeking help from The Source because it is right at hand and available to everyone without question. “We have a huge LGBTQ program,” she said. “(Students) feel they have a safe space where they can talk to someone and they know they won’t be judged.”
The range of services offered by The Source includes support for incoming freshman, educational services, career development, health and wellness, social and emotional guidance, substance abuse education and activities such as the Ridge Road Run, a 5K for suicide prevention.
“We really touch every student in the school,” Keller said. The Source also brings in guest speakers with expertise on different aspects of mental health. Right now, they’re seeking someone to address the problems student-athletes may encounter. “Our athletes are struggling,” Keller said.
Through The Source Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, The Source raises the money that pays for guest speakers, food cards, transportation, medical and dental care and other needs that arise in students’ lives. In one instance, they were able to help a student’s family with rent during the pandemic after they lost their jobs during the lockdown.
“Whatever the need is, we try to meet it. We try to meet the students where they’re at,” she said. “We can do this because we know the families.”
The school receives some $277,000 in grant money for The Source from the state each year. That money is supplemented by funding from the school budget as well as support from the nonprofit foundation. The total annual budget for The Source is $550,000. “Without state funding, The Source and all of its free programming and services will simply be eliminated,” Moore said.
Red Bank Regional is one of 90 school districts in the state with inhouse mental health services. The programs were established under the Kean administration, expanded under the Florio administration, and continued under every Democratic and Republican administration that followed.
But two years ago, the state Department of Children and Families proposed eliminating the in-house programs. That proposal was dropped after an outcry from educators, elected officials and mental health professionals across the state.
“We fought to save this important program two years ago when the Murphy administration first threatened it, and we’ll fight again today because we know it works,” state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) stated in a joint press release with fellow Monmouth County Republicans, Assembly members Gerry Scharfenberger and Victoria Flynn. “Tens of thousands of kids, including my own daughter, have utilized and benefitted from the important resources provided by the School-Based Youth Services Program in their schools,” he continued. “The fact that it’s easily accessible in our schools is exactly why it works.”
O’Scanlon’s daughter, Elly, 17, a senior at RBR, shares her father’s support for The Source. “I think it’s extremely accessible,” she said. “Students can go anytime, which I think is very important. I go quite often to The Source and every single time, it’s been a positive experience.”
She frequently stops in at The Source when she’s feeling stressed, even if she just needs to see a friendly face, take a few minutes out of the routine, and sit quietly for a while. “The Source can help you with all sorts of problems,” she said.
Her friend, RBR senior Ricky Mercado, called having The Source on site “essential.”
“A lot of people I know use it as a weekly or bi-weekly thing,” Mercado said.
His mother, Marisol Mondaca, is a therapist with the program and he has witnessed its life changing impact over the years. “She’ll have students from 20 years ago walk up to thank her when we’re grocery shopping,” he said.
The fact that his mother is bilingual is especially important for students who may be struggling to communicate with parents who may not be fluent English speakers and may need help to understand what their teens are going through.
“There’s a large Spanish-speaking population at the school,” Mercado explained.
He is concerned that many students who need the kinds of support The Source offers won’t be able to get it. “It’s a shame. It’s a tragedy. And their lives won’t be changed” for the better, he said.
More information on the efforts to save The Source can be found online at thesourcerbrhs.org.
The article originally appeared in the November 3 – 9, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
