N. Lehigh eyes on-site mental health services

Northern Lehigh School District could soon offer on-site mental health services in its school buildings.

Dr. Tania Stoker discussed the mental health services proposal with the school board last week.

Stoker said the district’s goal is for the services to be available for the start of the 2018-19 school year.

“We recognize the need in our area for mental health services,” Stoker said. “There’s not a lot of community resources for that right now.”

One reason for this is to eliminate the need for transportation, which is sometimes an issue for families.

“The need was initially brought forward by the high school administration and school counselors, but preliminary data shows that the need also exists in our other schools buildings, so we would like this to be a K-12 program,” she said. “Whether we offer the program K-12 from the start, or build to that needs to be determined, and different service providers have different approaches.”

The district has already met with two service providers, and have two others that it will reach out to.

“There may or may not be costs associated with implementing mental health services in our district depending on insurance,” she said. “We are trying to find a way to offer the services with little or not cost to the district or families.”

Stoker said mental health services would be provided to those with anxiety issues and depression, among others.

“We’re just very happy to be able to look into this possibility,” she said. “It’s certainly something we believe our students and community need. We are still working through many variables associated with this program internally.”