Mental Health

Mental health is important for all of us. There are three components to mental health – our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Mental health impacts how a person thinks, feels, and acts. It also determines how we handle stress, relate to other people, and make choices. The mental health of our children and young people also plays an important role in their academic success. Mental health challenges can hinder the ability to think clearly, concentrate and focus at school, prioritize tasks and complete work, and the ability to grasp and process new information. Good mental health lays the foundation for our children and young people to thrive – both in school and out of school.

Let’s take a moment to talk about what it means to thrive as individuals, families, and as a school district. To thrive means to grow, develop, and/or be successful. Of course this is what we want for our children and young people at every age and every stage of their lives.

As we work together to achieve this for our students, it’s important that we operate as a team – school, family, and community. More than ever, young people growing up and learning to navigate today’s world need all of us to help them gain the tools they need to be successful academically and personally.

In order to thrive, resilience is essential. A simple definition of resilience is the ability of a person to bounce back after adversity. It is the quality that allows people to be knocked down by the challenges of life that we all experience and come back just as strong or even stronger than before.  The best thing about resilience is that it can be learned!

Our school district is committed to giving our students the tools they need to become resilient, thriving young people. This will be accomplished through instruction in your student’s classroom, the support of our school counselors, and our district mental health counselors. Your student’s well-being and their academic and personal success is the reason we come to work every day. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to someone if you have concerns about your child’s mental health, or if you have any other worries about your student.

CSD Multi-Tiered Mental Health Support

Who's Who

Deborah Godbold

Mental Health Coordinator

District Threat Management Coordinator

deborah.godbold@suwannee.k12.fl.us

386-647-4619

Bridget McLaughlin

Mental Health Counselor

bridget.mclaughlin@suwannee.k12.fl.us

Crystal Bryan

Mental Health Counselor

crystal.bryan@suwannee.k12.fl.us

Crisis Resources

This is not a comprehensive list of crisis resources.

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline – 988 or Text HOME to 741741

The Trevor Hotline – 1-866-488-7386

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline – 1-800-662-4357

The Florida Abuse Hotline – 1-800-96-ABUSE (1-800-962-2873)

Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline – 1-800-422-4453

National Human Trafficking Hotline – 1-888-373-7888

Meridian Mobile Response Team – 1-800-330-5615

Mental Health Resources

This is not a comprehensive list of local mental health providers.

Soul Counseling                                                                              

Lourdes Berlanga, LMFT

Live Oak, Florida

386-674-1363

Oasis of Hope Therapy

Josey Corbett, LCSW

Live Oak, Florida 

Lake City, Florida  

386-697-8842

                                                                                

Chrysalis Health Clinical Services & CAT Team

Lake City, Florida

386-749-8533

Dr. Jennifer Lacasse, LCSW

Lake City, Florida

Live Oak, Florida                                                                                                               

352-374-5600

     

North Florida Family Counseling

Janet Kuykendall, LMHC

Lake City, Florida

386-365-0885

Counselor.janet@aol.com

 

CDS Florida

SNAP Program   

Family Action Program                                                            

cdsfl.org

386-487-0190

Community Hospice of Northeast Florida

Live Oak, Florida

Lake City, Florida

1-866-253-6681

Meridian Behavioral Healthcare

Live Oak, Florida   

386-362-4218

Grow Therapy                                                          

https://growtherapy.com/filters 

betterhelp

https://betterhelp.com/#

Social Services Resources

This is not a comprehensive list of social services resources.

Suwannee River Economic Council

Live Oak, Florida

386-362-6079 or 386-362-1164

United Way of Northeast Florida

Dial 211 or Call 10904-632-0600

Resiliency Characteristic of the Month

The Resiliency characteristic for September is Kindness and the character word of the month is Empathy. These two things go hand in hand. We’ve seen countless acts of kindness and evidence of empathy in our community in the last week. As Hurricane Idalia blew through and left a path of destruction, the art of kindness took her place. Kindness involves being generous, helpful, considerate, and doing things for others without expecting anything in return.  This perfectly describes the actions of the people of Suwannee County and all those who came from their homes in other places to help in the aftermath of the storm. What a wonderful example of kindness and empathy to show our children and young people. As we all know, actions speak louder than words … and acts of kindness have spread like sunshine after the rain all around us.

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.

– Amelia Earhart

Be Kind When You Can (You Always Can).     Kindness      Empathy Is...

Baker Act Attempt to Notify: (part b discusses documenting attempts)

Requirement s. 1002.20(l)1., F.S. states "The public school principal or the principal’s designee shall make a reasonable attempt to notify the parent of a student before the student is removed from school, school transportation, or a school-sponsored activity to be taken to a receiving facility for an involuntary examination pursuant to s. 394.463. For purposes of this subparagraph, “a reasonable attempt to notify” means the exercise of reasonable diligence and care by the principal or the principal’s designee to make contact with the student’s parent, guardian, or other known emergency contact whom the student’s parent or guardian has authorized to receive notification of an involuntary examination. At a minimum, the principal or the principal’s designee must take the following actions: a. Use available methods of communication to contact the student’s parent, guardian, or other known emergency contact, including, but not limited to, telephone calls, text messages, e-mails, and voice mail messages following the decision to initiate an involuntary examination of the student. b. Document the method and number of attempts made to contact the student’s parent, guardian, or other known emergency contact, and the outcome of each attempt. A principal or his or her designee who successfully notifies any other known emergency contact may share only the information necessary to alert such contact that the parent or caregiver must be contacted. All such information must be in compliance with federal and state law".

SESIR

Requirement: s. 1002.20(25), F.S. states "Parents of public school students have a right to access school safety and discipline incidents as reported pursuant to s. 1006.07(9)."

Timely Notification of threats, unlawful acts, significant emergencies:

Requirement: s. 1002.20(24), F.S. states "Parents of public school students have a right to timely notification of threats, unlawful acts, and significant emergencies pursuant to s. 1006.07(4) and (7)."