WHOLE Schools Partnership Reimagines Mental Health Supports in Durham Public Schools
The Durham Public Schools Foundation (DPSF) has launched a partnership with Duke University Health Systems (DUHS) and Durham Public Schools (DPS) to focus on urgent mental health needs of public school communities. The WHOLE Schools Campaign (Wellness | Healing | Opportunity | Learning | Equity) is creating new ways for the school environment to be a holistic, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive support system for everyone.
“The past two years have created unparalleled stress on our children, teachers and staff,” said DPS Superintendent Pascal Mubenga. “We can’t ignore how the pandemic accelerated the real mental health challenges our school communities are facing. It is essential for us to take action and try new approaches now to equip our schools to be places of healing and wellness; to be places where we recognize, value and care for the whole student.”
As DPSF launches the WHOLE Schools partnership to plan for sustained, comprehensive interventions, it is also responding to immediate needs. For the remainder of the 2022 school year, DPS Foundation is providing up to $40,000 to meet urgent needs in school communities. Funds will be distributed in the coming month.
The WHOLE Schools partnership is led by co-chairs Debra Clark Jones, Associate Vice President of Community Health, DUHS; Dr. LaVerne Mattocks-Perry, Senior Executive Director, Student Support Services, DPS; and Magan Gonzales-Smith, Executive Director, DPSF. Planning for implementation in the 2022-23 school year launched in late February with the first meeting of an Advisory Council co-chaired by Dr. Richard Chung (pediatrician and current DPS parent) and Tianna Judd (Durham Tech student). More than two dozen members representing a broad cross-section of the Durham community serve on the Council.
“This effort calls on our whole community rallying together, including students, caregivers, educators and community partners with expertise and lived experience in grappling with mental health challenges for young people,” said Magan Gonzales-Smith, Executive Director, DPSF. “Our approach starts with recognizing how systemic inequities have perpetuated harm for historically marginalized students and reimagines what it could look like for our public schools to have the resources they need to support Durham’s young people, teachers and staff who are all dealing with high levels of anxiety, stress, and trauma.”
Mental health among young people has been declared a national and state emergency. Reports of suicide and attempted suicide are on the rise; reports of anxiety are increasing; and student surveys show that students, especially middle and high schoolers, have low levels of a sense of belonging and connection to caring adults in school and other public spaces.
● Youth suicides in North Carolina increased by more than 50% from 2019 to 2020.[1]
● Calls into the Say Something crisis response system are up 77%.[2]
● Nearly 4,000 students in the state are coping with the death of a caregiver as a result of the pandemic.[3]
“DUHS practitioners are serving on advisory groups and as research and evaluation partners for identifying innovative, workable solutions and to understand what approaches work in a school setting,” said Debra Clark Jones. “Are there national models? What does a robust evaluation look like? How do we scale promising approaches over time? DPSF is a critical partner for us to foster the community engagement that is so important to achieving success and equity across DPS.”
“The mental and emotional wellbeing of our students and teachers is fundamental to all students being able to reach their full potential,” said Dr. LaVerne Mattocks-Perry, Senior Executive Director, Student Support Services, DPS. “The vision of the WHOLE Schools Campaign is to accelerate and build on what DPS is doing today to create replicable models for ensuring all students and adults have the resources they need for thriving mental and emotional health.”
Later this year, DPSF will launch a major campaign to fund WHOLE Schools pilot programs, starting at the middle and high school levels in the next school year. School-level grants to address urgent needs in all schools will continue in conjunction with the WHOLE Schools initiative.
The list of WHOLE Schools Advisory Council members includes DPS students, families, educators, and staff; district, county, and city representatives; and staff from Duke Community Health, Alliance Health, and Duke Center for Child & Family Health, and is on the WHOLE Schools website. For more information and to sign up for future communications, visit wholeschools.org.
[1] https://www.ednc.org/2021-12-06-youth-suicides-on-the-rise-in-n-c-child-fatality-task-force-reports/
[2] https://abc11.com/student-mental-health-public-schools-crisis-charter-teen-suicide/11335616/