A behavioral-health intervention program for Woonsocket students kicked off with six weeks of training this summer and is expanding to West Warwick in the fall as a way for educators and health providers to team up to help at-risk youth.
The program, Links to Success, is funded with a $60,000 grant from the CVS Health Foundation, a private foundation. Although the program focuses on absenteeism, it also is designed to help students struggling academically and with behavioral issues by reaching out to students and parents.
Dr. Beata Nelken, a pediatrician at Thundermist Health Care, which has offices in both Woonsocket and West Warwick, is spearheading the programming, which includes partnering with school-based health centers and utilizing Botvin Life Skills Training, provided this summer to help students change at-risk behaviors like smoking and substance abuse.
Running for the 2014-15 academic year, the programming includes an individualized plan for social achievement for grades, attendance and behaviors. At least 80 students will be served between the two schools, if not double that, Nelken said. Parents, social workers from Thundermist, which runs the school-based health centers, and high school guidance staff are doing the planning, she said.
According to Nelken and Andy Barnes, Woonsocket attendance officer, chronic absenteeism registers 43 percent at Woonsocket’s high school, and 23 percent at the high school in West Warwick. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 18 days or more (10 percent) of the school year, they said.
Absenteeism is a sign, Nelken added, that “there’s something else going on in their lives inhibiting their success in school, and those barriers are going to be the same ones they’ll stumble on when they’re in the workforce unless they’re addressed.”
Nelken reached out to Sayasit personally, as she did with many other students, and with the support of her daughter, Kamphou Sayasit agreed that McKayla would participate.
“I know she’s trying too to get her grades up and I couldn’t find out how to get her grades up more,” said Sayasit. “I let her go to the [basketball] games because there’s too much stress, but she’s still struggling no matter what, so hopefully this program will help her out.”
The six-week summer program that started July 7 and ended Aug. 15 had 30 students in the Links to Success program, while another 10 also were exposed to the Botvin life-skills curriculum, Nelken said. Another 30 students could be helped this fall in West Warwick, she said.
“The Links To Success program targets high-risk students: chronically absent, [with] behavioral issues or academic issues, and it focuses on identifying and assisting with the root causes of those issues,” Nelken said.
Eileen Howard Boone, president of the CVS Health Foundation, said Thundermist, which had to apply formally for the grant, has a track record of innovation and is a longstanding partner of the trust.
Middle school students entering high school represents “a critical time for kids,” said Boone. “They need help and support. I think this coordinated-care approach will make a big difference. Nelken has created a suite of services for coordinated care. We’re really lucky to have Thundermist in our state and Nelken in particular, because they really are so committed to our community.”
Nelken said those records, tracked quarter to quarter, as well as goals set in individualized student plans, are markers.
“The bigger picture is to support teens and see them have success and graduate,” she said. “It’s success that we expect will breed further success in their work careers.”
The Botvin training is an evidenced-based program proven to be effective as an intervention for high-risk behaviors: tobacco smoking, substance abuse, bullying, relationship violence and other matters, Nelken said.
Barnes said his job is to “promote attendance. I don’t chase truants.” In his 24th year on the job, he said statistics are getting better but still need to improve.
“I go out on home visits for students absent from school to determine the reason that they are out,” he said. “Some of them are very legitimate. If they are not legitimate I go back to the school and try to come up with a plan to get them back in.”
Finding out the cause of absenteeism in the home, chiefly through the parents, who are usually cooperative, is Barnes’ goal.
“A lot of these parents want help, especially when you get to the secondary level, they say, ‘What else can I do?’ They have the same expectations we do. Adolescence isn’t an easy age on a lot of levels,” he said. •
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