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Schools offer free counseling services
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Shannon Railling, left, and Sonja Walker outlined some of the physical and emotional health services available to Warren County students when they spoke Thursday to The Rotary Club of McMinnville.  Railling leads the local school district’s Coordinated School Health Program, while Walker directs the system’s network of campus-based nurses, all of them with RN credentials and continuing training.

Students troubled by emotional and mental issues can find free professional help in a new benefit through the Warren County school district.

Powered by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Education, all of the local schools will be able to offer confidential counseling services by online connection starting Tuesday, Shannon Railling, director of Warren County Schools (WCS) Coordinated School Health, told the Rotary Club of McMinnville at its weekly luncheon meeting Thursday.

Students and parents may request the teletherapy service from counselors in their respective schools.   To protect the privacy and confidentiality of the online sessions with therapists, the schools are discreetly providing exclusive spaces within the buildings, Railling said.

“We are super-excited to be partnering with Family Care Clinic, a local provider, in offering this service,” she said in an interview recording for McMinnville Public Radio 91.3-WCPI.   Railling, along with WCS School Health director Sonja Walker, responded to questions in the radio interview after their presentation at the Rotary Club.  

The community-based, non-profit broadcaster will air the half-hour conversation Tuesday at 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 5 a.m.; Thursday, 1 p.m.; and Friday, 1 a.m.

The innovative program aims to relieve parents and guardians of the burden of uninsured costs in mental health services, along with the problems of taking time off from work and traveling long distances for traditional in-person meetings with therapists, Railling explained.

Coordinated School Health works “to remove non-academic barriers to learning,” Railing stressed, with the advantage of “keeping students in the classroom,” she continued.

Grant funds support up to 20 of the online sessions per week through the current school year, she noted.  Students and parents in private and church-related schools may also apply for these services by contacting the Warren County Schools Coordinated School Health office.

Also in Thursday’s Rotary meeting, Sonja Walker, director of WCS Health Services, reported that some 3,500 local students benefited from basic health screenings in 2021-22.   Those tests focused on vision, hearing, blood pressure, scoliosis and body mass index (BMI),  she stated.

In addition to those efforts, the registered nurses in all Warren County schools worked through “more than 41,000“ clinic visits by students and district personnel, Walker observed.  The school-based health professionals handled 116 medical emergencies for students and 13 for teachers and support personnel.

All that came on the heels of two years of struggle against the raging COVID-19 menace, Walker remarked.  The student health service provided on-the-spot testing that gave COVID results in 30 minutes, followed immediately  by reporting to parents and the state Department of Health.

Even in normal times, Warren County’s in-school clinics may see about 70 students a day, she told the Rotary audience.

At the latest report, 11 students and one staff person were confirmed infected by the COVID virus, Walker noted.  Epidemiological surveillance and reporting continue as a an important function in WCS health services, she added.