The Island County School Based Behavioral Health Team

The Island County School Based Behavioral Health Team continues to be actively supporting our community as appropriate during this time.

Efforts have been made to reach current clients and their families. Some of our staff have access to their offices and phones, others are relying on email and sometimes snail mail to make theses contacts. We are working to get dedicated phone lines available to our staff.

We would encourage schools and families to keep crisis line information readily available to students and encourage them to call as needed. I am including a variety of resources below.

As we work forward, we will continue to offer support to students and families. One access point is the Human Services call line. Please share this contact information from our website with families:

Island County Human Services

We understand recent closures and mandates for social distancing can have an impact on you and your family. If you are feeling anxious, scared, or are in need of resources related to mental health, please call the Island County Mental Health line at: 360-678-2346

Monday-Friday 10am - 8pm

Saturday-Sunday 9am - 5pm

Further, telehealth  or distance counseling, is being explored. At this time, Washington DOH is loosening some restrictions, but there are still minimum licensing requirements. Due to this step, some of our staff are not able to offer distance therapy services.

We will continue to work with families to connect them to appropriate resources and services. The current plan is to focus on supporting students and families in establishing long term supports and ensuring basic needs are met.

If you have questions or concerns about current services please contact me at your convenience. We'd love the opportunity to collaborate on best steps to serve students.

Sincerely,

Betsy Griffith LMHC, NCC
Behavioral Health Lead
Island County Human Services
Office: 360-678-8294

Resources

1. Crisis Lines (Phone and Web-based)

VOA 24-hour crisis line:

1-800-584-3578 or 360-969-2067

 Trevor Project Text Start to 741-741 – https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help-now/
I'm Hurting-Crisis Chat – http://imhurting.org/
Crisis Text Line Text Start to 741-741 – https://www.crisistextline.org/
CADA - Citizens Against Domestic & Sexual Abuse (Oak Harbor):  800-215-5669 – www.cadacanhelp.org

Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990

This 24/7/365 service from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides crisis counseling for people going through both natural and human-caused disasters. It's free, multi-lingual and confidential. You can also text TalkWithUs to 66746.

2. Coping and other Emotional Supports

YMCA-Free Yoga and Fitness classes online! https://ymca360.org/

Sno-Isle- Great digital resources including "The instant help solutions" a series of books that support therapeutic interventions (stress management, anxiety, relationships, grief) – https://www.sno-isle.org/

Progressive Muscle Relaxation –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nZEdqcGVzo

Mindfulness for Youth – https://www.mindfulschools.org/

Smiling Mind- Age based mindfulness curriculum. Easy fun and free https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

 Mindfulness Northwest- Local mindfulness workshops. Lots of online. https://www.mindfulnessnorthwest.com/

 Little Flower Yoga- ideas https://www.littlefloweryoga.com/blog/robot-relaxation-for-kids/

 Coping with current events https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html

Telehealth: many providers are offering telehealth and there are tech services like Betterhelp and Talkspace that offer online counseling. Some insurance and Employee assistance plans cover this.

Military Families: Non-medical, solution-focused, short-term video counseling.

Qualifiers are Active duty, recent retired, and reservist military youth dependents between 6 and 17 years old.

https://www.militaryonesource.mil/confidential-help/non-medical-counseling/military-onesource/non-medical-counseling-for-youth-now-available-by-video

3. Social Connection Resources

Skype https://www.skype.com/en/

Duo https://duo.google.com/about/

Zoom https://zoom.us/

Telegram https://telegram.org/