WEST SENECA, NY (WKBW) — Erie 1 BOCES in West Seneca hosted a SMART collaborative Tuesday. SMART stand for “Supporting Mental Health by Advocating for Resources Together".
@Erie1BOCES hosting a large work session on supporting mental health for students called SMART Collaborative. Representatives from 26 school districts & more than 23 different county and agency representatives are participating. @markpoloncarz @WKBW pic.twitter.com/XM8eeGnc6G
— Eileen Buckley (@eileenwkbw) November 2, 2022
Experts report nearly one in five children will develop a mental health condition.
The focus of the collaboration is to improve mental health services for students across Erie County.
“A lot of trauma for our students and for our families and for faculty and staff,” explained Dr. Michale Capuana, superintendent, Erie 1 BOCES.
Superintendent Capuana says members from 26 public school districts and 23 agencies from across the county gathered to share ideas and resources to battle the increasing mental health crisis among students.
“Over the course of the year we are going to work very closely to be able to connect and make sure that the resources are easily accessible for our families and our students,” reflected Capuana.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz appeared at the event saying they want to share mental health resources.
Experts were sprinkled in from the county's departments of Mental Health, Social Services, and Probation to offer advice to educators.
“We feel for our teachers — we really feel for our teachers because they don't always know what to do,” explained Stacy Dziwulski, Mental Health Advocates of WNY.
Dziwulski says as a result of the pandemic, students were isolated and lost their ability to socialize, causing high levels of anxiety and depression.
“But it really has affected kids in being able to just be social and even with our youngest ones that didn't have the ability to be social. They were at home with their parents — the whole time and then go to kindergarten and see what happens,” replied Dziwulski.
“Knowing how to regulate their emotions is also a big issue,” replied Anne Nowak, director of the Family Support Center, Sweet Home Central School District.
Nowak participated in the collaborative conversation also explaining how the pandemic affected social-emotional behavior.
“They forgot how to interact with each other. They forgot how to manage their emotions. They forgot how to problem solve and solve conflicts, and so that's really going back to basics and really teaching kids how to do that again,” Nowak noted.
Hamburg School Superintendent Michael Cornell is also president of the Buffalo Niagara Superintendents Association. Cornell promises this is not a “one-time” event.
“We are not going to mistake the take-off for the landing. We're going to keep after this for the rest of this year, and next year and next year, and next year because we have to keep asking ourselves the question — how are the children?”, Cornell stated.
Those who gathered for this smart event will take the information back to their school districts in hopes of supporting students' mental health.
