BRPC Hopes to Implement Mental Health and Substance Abuse Programs in CBRSD
DALTON, Mass. — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has been working toward obtaining approval from the Board of Health to apply for a grant that would fund its Youth Prevention Mental Health and Substance Abuse Programs.
During its meeting last week, the board postponed its final decision to the next meeting so it could gather input from the school district.
The commission met with Central Berkshire Regional School District Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis on Jan 17.
The goal of this endeavor is to create Youth Advisory Boards and programs within Central Berkshire Regional Schools and collect data from students using anonymous surveys to inform the best practices for substance abuse prevention.
The commission successfully implemented this program in the Pittsfield Public School District last year, utilizing a MassCall3A grant through the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services.
Using those funds, the commission underwent strategic planning and created advisory boards at Pittsfield High School and Taconic High School where they received feedback, Laura Brennan, assistant director & economic development program manager at Berkshire Regional Planning Commission said.
This year the commission is eligible to apply for the MassCall3B grant through the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services and would like to bring its programming to the Central Berkshire Regional School District.
The commission will be responsible for gathering the data and implementing the youth programming. Although the board can be as involved as they would like, their involvement is not required.
During a previous meeting, Brennan emphasized that this program will not add more responsibilities to Town Agent Agnes Witkowsk's workload.
"We're doing the work; we don't expect you to do the work. We have the grant; we expect to do the work. If anybody wants to be involved, that'd be great," Brennan said during a meeting in November.
"We will make sure that we're coming up a couple of times a year and keeping you updated on what's happening because I think that's fully fair that you know what's happening."
During the meeting in November, board co-Chair Dr. Claudia Colombari said that she thought the initiative was a great idea and as long as what they are describing is included in the memorandum, she did not see an issue with this going forward.
During the meeting last week, the board approved the commission's wording of the memorandum which said that BRPC is conducting these activities on behalf of the town of Dalton, unless the Board of Health wishes to increase its direct participation at any point which is not required.
The information the commission collects within the schools and county-wide with the prevention needs assessment can be compared to the rest of the country.
The schools already have a prevention needs assessment with the 10th and 12th graders every two years, but this program expands on what this survey has been doing for about 20 years.
"We're continuing part of this grant, because there's always a question about how it's going to get administered and how it's going to get paid for but it's been about 20 years that this has been done county-wide under the Berkshire Youth Development Project," Brennan said.
Each school conducts the survey differently but usually schools set aside a class period to complete the survey. Some schools conduct the survey during lunch but the data is not as accurate due to the lack of responses.
The schools contact the parents to provide them the opportunity to opt their child out of the survey.
The survey not only takes into account what substances are being used but also how the students are feeling in their school, community, and at home.
"The data is never recorded except to the aggregate, and it's not usually recorded school by school. It's usually recorded county-wide and then by South, Central, and North County. The schools obviously get their own results," Brennan said.
It is up to the district how or if they make the data public.
Tags: BRPC, CBRSD, mental health, substance abuse,
