District holds public forum onNorthwell Mental Health partnership

The Northwell School Mental Health Administrative Team.

By JEFF MORRIS 

In order to try to answer questions and provide more information to the public, the Bedford Central School District held a forum Jan. 14 about the district joining the Northwell Mental Health Partnership.

The forum, held in the same Fox Lane Middle School location as BCSD Board of Education meetings, was streamed live and recorded.

Vera Feuer, M.D., Northwell’s medical director of child and adolescent psychiatry and the director of the service, led the discussion along with Michelle Raider, senior director of school mental health.

Bedford joined 64 other school districts in the mental health partnership, most of which are on Long Island. Feuer said in mental health care, hospitals are often siloed from the rest of the community.

“Really the mission of this initiative was to partner with communities, partner with schools, so that together we can do more for families and collaborate,” she said, starting with prevention and early recognition, coupling with immediate access, and promoting equity and reducing stigma.

The model, she said, evolved over six years, and will continue to evolve. It is what is known as a multi-tiered system of support. The first tier supports all students and focuses on promoting health. The second tier supports at-risk students, with interventions that focus on select students and preventing challenges from progressing. The top tier is for high risk students, with interventions that focus on individual students’ immediate treatment needs.

The actual site of the Northwell Behavioral Health Center is located at  657 East Main St., Mount Kisco. Feuer noted the center “is not where a family or a child would be coming necessarily for long-term care.”

She said there is a big gap in the care continuum, in that those who need therapy can spend weeks or months trying to find a provider — especially one that will take their insurance and has availability — or they can go to the emergency department. 

“In between, there’s this big gap of need, which is what this center means to meet,” she said.

Feuer said if the crisis is such that same day evaluation is needed, “we are a real alternative to the emergency department.”

She said they have already handled several crisis cases from the district, where counselors call, identify risk, have a discussion with the parents, and there is an appointment the same day with the family to be evaluated right away and, if at all possible, avoid the hospital and the ER.

Coordinating ongoing care, Feuer said, is an important part of their work, because this is an assessment and stabilization service that will then help families to connect with ongoing care. She said that prior to opening in July, they spent the previous year in Westchester learning the care continuum, meeting with many providers and establishing relationships.

Feuer said because the gap she described in the care continuum is so wide, they also do immediate short-term stabilizing care and can start a child on medication — though that is not what most kids need, and is only used with 8% to 10% of patients. She said they also do bridging therapy, when issues are so acute that they don’t want to wait however long it takes to set up regular therapy appointments.

The center also offers a virtual hub, which allows parents to access a clinician directly by pressing the star button (asterisk * ) when they call the center. This allows parents to get questions answered if they are unsure if the center is the right choice for their child, or if they need questions answered immediately.

Feuer went into detail about the elements of the interview process and follow up from the care manager. 

Raider reviewed the center’s community education program, including in-person sessions and YouTube videos, as well as sessions in Spanish and Mandarin. There is also a series of Lunch and Learn Workshops on various topics. Feuer noted the workshops are free and do not require that participants be identified.

Another component mentioned is a peer counselor program. Feuer said this year they have 98 students in the program, learning skills to support their peers, and to engage in youth advocacy activities. Bedford did not have any students in the program this year, she said, because it joined the partnership too late, but they are looking forward to its participation in the future.

Responding to a question from a Fox Lane resource officer about if a student needs to be restrained, Feuer said in an emergency, the center is available for a student who can be calmed down and agree with their parent to go to the center. However, the parent needs to bring them; if no parent is available and an ambulance is needed, they would have to be taken to the hospital. Feuer said in most cases, that would mean going to Westchester Medical Center, as that is where there is an adolescent psychiatric unit. But, she said, they have partnered with Westchester EMS to divert patients to Northern Westchester Hospital, where the Mount Kisco center can be more directly involved. The resource officer added that local emergency services usually try to bring patients to NWH.

Feuer noted that in response to post-engagement surveys that are sent out, they have already received very robust, positive reactions from Bedford parents.

A recording of the one-hour session is available on the BCSD website, under BCSD-TV Video On Demand - Town Hall Events.