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Politics & Government

School Board Backs Mental Health Program; Counselor Talks Cyber-bullying

The Kirkwood Board of Education voted to continue providing counseling services through BJC Behavioral Health to meet the mental health needs of students, including issues surrounding cyber-bullying.

Kirkwood school board members approved the Educational Support Counselor Program (ESC) for another year at their regular meeting Monday. The program is partnership between the and that provides support and early intervention for the short-term mental health needs of students in the district.

Tom Gaither-Ganim, a counselor at , is the longest-running member of the partnership, which began in 2001. At the time, Gaither-Ganim was the only full-time mental health professional employed by the district.

"It was a lot of work for one person, but over the years this thing has really grown," Gaither-Ganim said. Eight BJC mental health professionals are now employed both part-time and full-time by the district.

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"To be honest, we don't really feel like BJC employees," Gaither-Ganim said. "We feel like members of this community and this district."

The report presented by Gaither-Ganim and representatives from BJC and the Kirkwood Special School District said the ECS program received 594 student referral's in the last year, about eight percent of the population.

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ECS provides group intervention, family support and one-on-one sessions for any and all students with social, emotional or behavioral problems.

Gaither-Ganim said that the area most open for improvement surrounds the increased trend of cyber-bullying.

"Cyber-bullying is an area that brings a lot more issues to the forefront, and I think we really need to make our focus on cyber-bullying, awareness and prevention," Gaither-Ganim said.

Board President Scott Stream thanked Gaither-Ganim and his entire staff for their work and promised to continue to support the program.

"This is a great service that gets better and better every time we hear about it," Stream said.

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