Mental Health Matters

We hope Kent ISD's Mental Health Matters Newsletter becomes your bi-monthly hub for practical strategies, crisis prevention, and evidence-based practices designed to support the well-being of your entire school community. To see previous volumes of our newsletter, use this link.

Did you know that one in four students in Michigan public high schools identifies as LGBTQ+? And yet, LGBTQ+ students are still at disproportionate risk for persistent bullying, harassment, and victimization. In response to requests from school districts across Michigan, the Michigan LGBTQ+ Students Project staff created a suite of online professional development workshops to build the capacity of schools to provide a safe, supportive, and inclusive culture and climate where all students can thrive. Start the school year with a stronger understanding of who LGBTQ+ students are and what they’re experiencing in Michigan schools.

Fall 2026 professional learning opportunities include:

• Laying the Foundation: Understanding the Identities and Experiences of LGBTQ+ Students in Michigan
• The Power of GSAs: Getting your School’s Club Up and Running!
• Stay Current: Legal and Policy Issues Pertaining to LGBTQ+ Students and School Staff
• From the School Bus to the School Board: School-Wide Policies and Best Practices to Support LGBTQ+ Students
• Listening to Understand: LGBTQ+ Students Discuss Their Experiences in Michigan Schools
• Safe, Supportive and Inclusive Classrooms: Practical Strategies for Affirming LGBTQ+ Students (Secondary Focus)
• Safe, Supportive and Inclusive Classrooms: Practical Strategies for Affirming LGBTQ+ Students (Elementary Focus)
• When Bias Gets in the Way: How to Recognize and Address Barriers to Supporting LGBTQ+ Students and Families

Use this link to learn more about and register for session offerings.

Join PBIS Apps staff on October 28, 2026, for a one-hour, live virtual training on the essentials of a strong Tier 1 framework. This session covers defining and teaching schoolwide expectations, using data for decision-making, establishing acknowledgement systems, and building consistent staff practices.

Participants will gain a clear understanding of how these core features foster a positive, predictable, and equitable school environment, leaving with actionable takeaways to support or strengthen Tier 1 efforts. [Click here for more information and registration!]

Getting Started with the New Site:

• First time logging in? Reach out to your district SEL coordinator to get your unique building link and set up your new account.

• Already set up? You’ll automatically keep access to all of your favorite legacy materials, plus gain access to new training tools and resources.

Looking for familiar materials? Check out the short Legacy Content Access tutorial video for a simple, step-by-step walkthrough on where to find the lessons and tools you love!

Proactive suicide prevention creates a safe, predictable, and supportive environment for all students.

Kent ISD's School-Based Suicide Prevention Framework & Implementation Assessment tool assists districts in evaluating their practices across staff training, family engagement, risk protocols, student re-entry, and postvention alignment.

As school-employed mental health professionals, your role goes beyond classroom management. You design systems, consult with staff, and deliver targeted interventions for students navigating acute and complex trauma.

In an MTSS framework, trauma-informed practices work best when evidence-based clinical concepts are seamlessly integrated into universal, targeted, and intensive supports. Here is a quick tune-up of core clinical variables to ground your consultation, risk assessments, and student interventions.

Frame Regulation as a Biological Prerequisite

• Cortical processing (executive functioning, logic, problem-solving) is offline when a student's autonomic nervous system is in a state of neuroception-driven threat (fight/flight/freeze).

• Consultation & Practice Tip: Guide teachers away from jumping straight to logic when a child is overwhelmed. Emphasize Bruce Perry’s 3 Rs (Regulate, Relate, Reason) model to apply somatic and sensory co-regulation strategies to bring the nervous system back to baseline before talking through what happened or helping them reframe their thinking.

Assess for Safety, Threat Perception, and Triggers

• Traumatized youth often misinterpret neutral stimuli (e.g., elevated adult voice, sudden movement, direct eye contact) as active threats, leading to seemingly out-of-proportion behavioral reactions.

• Consultation & Practice Tip: Use functional behavior assessments (FBAs) through a trauma-informed lens. Look beyond external antecedents to identify sensory, relational, or environmental triggers, and help staff map out individualized behavior and de-escalation plans.

Anchor Individual Interventions in Agency and Choice

• Trauma inherently involves a loss of control, powerlessness, and bodily autonomy. Unintentional power struggles or forced compliance in school settings can recreate traumatic helplessness.

• Consultation & Practice Tip: Build explicit voice and choice into individual behavior plans and Tier 2/3 interventions. Ensure students have an active role in goal-setting, safety planning (e.g., using the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention), and identifying their own designated safe adults and quiet spaces.

Mitigate Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) Schoolwide

• Chronic exposure to student trauma causes vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue, and burnout among school staff, which directly reduces their capacity for relational co-regulation.

• Consultation & Practice Tip: Normalize STS as an occupational hazard rather than a personal weakness. Integrate brief somatic check-ins into staff consultations by encouraging educators to pause, ground themselves, and notice physical stress signals (like muscle tension or shallow breathing) before discussing a student's challenging behaviors or intervention plan.

Your clinical expertise bridges the gap between complex trauma research and daily school practices. By helping staff understand the neurobiology of stress, you transform disciplinary interactions into opportunities for safety, healing, and skill development.

Partnership between home and school is key to supporting our students' emotional well-being. We’ve featured a fantastic podcast episode from the ADHD Parenting Podcast focused on screen time and its impact on the developing brain - especially for neurodivergent youth.

This episode, "What New Research Says about Screen Time & ADHD (And Why Online Advice Gets it Wrong)," offers easy-to-understand advice, evidence-based research, and practical tools. It’s a must-listen for parents of kids with ADHD and a helpful resource for all caregivers navigating screen habits!

When a student needs specialized mental health care, Pine Rest's Referral Relations team is available to help school staff and the student's family navigate available services and streamline the referral process. They support several flexible submission pathways to match your needs, including:

• How to Refer to Pine Rest
• Email Ryan & Karen at referralrelations-c@pinerest.org
• Call Ryan McPherson 616.222.4591 ext: 3890
• Call Karen Coy 332.322.0790

For additional information about resources included in this Newsletter or with other questions or concerns, please contact Chelsea Kittridge-Farrell, Behavioral Health Consultant.