Brockton School psychologists overwhelmed with caseloads. Officials say more needed.
As the massive demand for mental health services continues to grow among students in Brockton Public Schools, and in school districts across the country, Brockton’s mental health resources are widely lagging behind what’s recommended by experts, according to BPS administrative staff.
BPS is working to reorganize its office of social and emotional learning to better serve the needs of students and plans to hire more school psychologists. School officials said the current lack of personnel makes it difficult to support the exploding demand.
James LaBillois, assistant superintendent of unified student services, said at a special Brockton School Committee meeting Tuesday night that the National Association of School Psychologists recommends a ratio of one school psychologist for every 500 students.
“Based on Brockton's enrollment, we should roughly employ 32 full-time psychologists. We employ nine,” LaBillois said.
With Brockton’s enrollment totaling nearly 15,000 students, the district’s nine psychologists are struggling to stay afloat, he said. One psychologist works exclusively with students in Pre-K, while the other eight are spread out across the remaining 23 schools in the district.
“Many of our psychologists at this point have completed well over 100 evaluations. They can't keep up with the volume,” LaBillois said.
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BPS hopes to hire more psychologists
The district hopes to add 15 more school psychologists in the next three years, hiring five every year. Currently, the BPS budget has room for 12 school psychologists, but three of those positions are vacant.
"It is overwhelming, even if you have a regular number of clients," said School Committee member Claudio Gomes, who works full-time as a mental health associate at Pembroke Hospital.
The proposal for an additional 15 faculty psychologists is part of the district's 2024 Student Opportunity Act plan, which outlines how BPS will address and fund the needs of students with the lowest academic performance - particularly students with disabilities, English learners and students classified as low-income.
The school committee voted Tuesday night to accept the Student Opportunity Act (SOA) narrative, which outlines how the district would use the additional state funding attached to the SOA. The financial portion of the act will be discussed at the next committee meeting.
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High demands for mental health staff
According to LaBillois, BPS ended last school year with 10 psychologists, but one resigned after just one year with the district "due to frustrations relative to the role." He said school psychologists are often "underutilized."
"The focus is on them as diagnosticians rather than the full-service model they're actually trained in," said LaBillois.
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The district has recently hired more adjustment councilors, increasing the size of its social and emotional learning department. LaBillois said the ongoing reshuffle of its SEL office will help the psychologists focus on tasks that match the skillset of their role and background.
But he said, psychologists are in high demand across the nation, as many school districts are also struggling to keep up with the growing need for mental health staff.
"I'm not convinced we'll find fifteen," LaBillois said. "This is a national shortage and it's not just us. Every other district around us is experiencing a shortage, they don't have enough, they're trying to find more. Everyone else is experiencing this explosion relative to mental health needs."
"We're incredibly lucky and proud of the nine that we have," he added.
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: More school psychologists needed in Brockton Schools to handle demand
