Tag Archives: Mental Health

Mental health services in the district

In case you missed it, last spring the district made huge cuts to the mental health services in our schools, refusing to reapply for grants that totaled about $1.2 million and paid for about fifteen jobs in our community. We ended up with some academic advisors in the high school (not licensed counselors), and Witt saying each school would have one counselor in it. Shortly before school started, they sent this email to parents:

WPSD has partnered with Mindsight Health, a mental health support service, to offer professional care and support for our students and in partnership with their families. 

Mindsight Health is a skilled team of highly trained mental health professionals passionate about school-based mental health services. Their mission aligns with our commitment to provide the best possible educational experience for our students, recognizing that the mental health of our students plays an important role in academic achievement. 

Partnering with Mindsight Health allows us to offer students and families mental health support services within our school systems. WPSD remains dedicated to ensuring parents are actively involved in seeking and receiving mental health support for their children. Mindsight Health professionals will be available to provide individual therapy to district students and can meet with their families to discuss how best to support their student. With this partnership, we aim to empower parents and guardians to engage with their child’s mental health needs, working hand in hand with WPSD and Mindsight Health professionals.

Additionally, we have dedicated space within our high school for Mindsight Health professionals to meet with students upon receiving parent or guardian consent. This private space will ensure the confidentiality of information exchanged between Mindsight Health professionals and the

students and families. Moreover, this service is accessible to WPSD students of district run schools that have a qualified need, with Mindsight Health first working with the family’s insurance to ensure coverage.

What sets Mindsight apart is its dedication to tailoring its services to meet the unique needs of each student. By carefully pairing students with a therapist whose skill set complements their individual needs, Mindsight ensures that every child receives personalized attention and the

most effective support possible.

To learn more about Mindsight and its services, please visit their website at www.joinmindsight.com.

For questions, please contact Kim Moore, CAO, at kmoore@wpsdk12.org.

We’ve looked into Mindsight, and they’re a small Colorado Springs based company with questionable experience. They specialize in these in-school mental health services so seem to be just part of the latest trend to privatize our schools. Founded two years ago, they are a very small company, with two people showing up on LinkedIn, and another co-founder not popping up there – and no information about their staff on their website. Despite that small size, they claim to be supporting 18 different schools in this area. I’ve heard rumors from district insiders that the Mindsight reps are not experienced (one said she is starting her course work, but hasn’t had a class yet), and that there are long wait lists (two months), and while I lack proof of those claims, it does seem plausible with the information they’ve made publicly available.

So, the district chose a small Colorado Springs based company to provide mental health services. Are there other companies that they should have considered as well? Absolutely…and one that instantly stands out is Bloom, a local company started by our former Mental Health Supervisor Laura Magnuson. She’s attracted some experienced staff to her business, and it’s located right here in Woodland Park. I was really curious why they chose Mindsight over our local option of Bloom, so I submitted a CORA request for any RFPs (Requests for Proposals) for mental health services…the response was, “”There are no documents responsive to this request.”

What did this no-bid deal with Mindsight involve? Another CORA request dug up the written agreement we have with Mindsight. I’ll include some bullet points below, but you can read the entire document for yourself at this link.

  • The agreement is for one person (or equivalent total support from multiple people) to support the district.
  • Mindsight may use interns for these services.
  • Both verbal and written permission from parents is required before initiating any mental health services.
  • Mindsight is not a ‘crisis response organization’
  • Mindsight will have access to student information, schools, and classrooms, as might be expected.
  • If Medicaid or private insurance are not applicable for a particular student, the district will pay the fees.
  • Travel expenses will be reimbursed at a rate of $30 per day.
  • Last but certainly not least – the initial term of the MOU is from August 1, 2022 through July 21,2023 (yeah, they wrote this for the wrong year).

Detailed information on the effect of refusing grant money this year

The school board and interim superintendent Ken Witt chose not to apply for most grants for the upcoming school year. We’ve struggled a bit to really and truly quantify what this means for the district…how to translate grants into job positions and benefits for the students. Thanks to the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), we’ve learned quite a bit. There are some outstanding CORA requests for more information, but for now, here’s what we’ve learned.

  • the grants received by the district for the ‘21-22 school year;
  • here’s the ‘22-23 school year info. Note the ‘ESSER’ grants are what’s often referred to as Covid money…temporary federal grants that are going away this fall.
  • Here’s a conversation via email about what grant topics are to be pursued for next year.

The real treasure trove of useful facts though, comes from an email exchange between Ken Witt and Laura Magnuson, the district mental health supervisor and a co-author of the mental health presentation given to the board on 12/21. Laura outlines how grants are being used, and later in the email summarizes a discussion she had with Witt on this topic of grants. Read this email for yourself, there is a LOT of information in there, only some of which I’ll be summarizing below.

  • The Substance Abuse Block Grant funded two social work positions and had additional funding for prevention. This grant was up for renewal; it would have been easy to renew this and maintain that funding.
  • The grant money she expected to be lost was about $1.2 million annually, funding fifteen jobs.
  • The School Health Professional Grant currently funds five school social workers (‘with significant additional program funding’).
  • Witt’s approach to mitigation acts of violence is to rely upon campus security, rather than fixing this problem at its source (mental health).
  • When asked how the schools would continue their work to prevent youth suicide, Witt replied that WPSD will prioritize academic success.

Sadly, Laura closed her email by stating her intent to not return to WPSD next year. Her email makes clear her dedication and caring for the students, and the community should be greatly concerned at not only her loss, but the reshaping of our district which has pushed her and others like her out.

Please read her email in its entirety for yourself. It’s our best insight to date on the use of grant money for social programs in the school district, and what we’ll be losing out on next year due to this board and interim superintendent.