THIS WEEK'S PERSONALITIES: Appleseed staffers provide Loudonville mental health services

Fourth and last in a series of personality stories about people involved in providing mental health assistance to students in the Loudonville-Perrysville Schools who need them.

LOUDONVILLE - Three staffers from the Appleseed Community Mental Health Center in Ashland provide mental health services for students in the Loudonville-Perrysville School District who need them.

These professionals include Kayla Crew, school-based therapist, and Mindy Wilson and Alyssa Schmidt, school community liaisons.

Kayla Crew

Crew, who grew up in Big Prairie and is a graduate of West Holmes High School, described her role as “providing needed mental health counseling to students. I am also available to assist with schoolwide crisis responses as needed, and provide social-emotional lessons for second- and third-graders.”

Her work coincides with an initiative, prompted both by school leaders and members of the community group Redbird Resilient, to improve and increase mental health services in the school district.

“I feel the initiatives here have been great,” Crew said. “We have a great mental health team, and work together to do our best to meet the needs of both students and staff in the school district.

“I am aware of similar efforts in other school districts, and feel it is a great benefit for school districts to have,” Crew added. “These initiatives help to break through some of the barriers we face at times for families.”

Crew said she has wanted to work in a position of “being there to help friends in need, and helping youth coming out of hard places, since I was in high school.”

She has a total of seven years of post-secondary education in the mental health field, including a Bachelor of Science in both psychology and sociology from Ashland University, and a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling from Capella University.

While at AU, she volunteered as a research assistant for a social psychologist for three years. She also worked for four years as a mental health case manager, completed a nine-month internship as a counselor, and has been working with a license to provide counseling services for over a year-and-a-half, giving her a total of six years of field experience working with all ages and assisting with a variety of needs.

She also volunteered with Big Brothers and Big Sisters for over seven years, and as a youth leader for over three.

At her previous job she worked as a mental health case manager in the Wooster City Schools, specifically at the Parkview Elementary School but at other buildings as well, helping students learn skills to be successful in the classroom. She also helped families make connections with local resources where needed.

She left that job for a position as an adult therapist, but found she missed working with youth.

“When I learned about the Loudonville school job, I jumped at the opportunity,” Crew said. She was already attending church in Loudonville, at the New Hope Community Church.

She has been working with Appleseed for the past year and a half.

Some of the most prevalent concerns she has seen in working with L-P students are struggles with self-harm, suicidal ideation, trauma responses and fostering healthy friendships or relationships.

“I have found working with the team in the L-P Schools has been a pleasure,” Crew said. “We could not do what we do without a caring staff. I feel I have been welcomed by the staff, and have enjoyed getting to know the teachers as I continue to work in the district.”

Mindy Wilson

Wilson, also a West Holmes High graduate who grew up in Nashville, serves as the liaison serving the six grades, junior high and high school, at Loudonville High School.

“My role is to identify student and family needs, provide easier access to community resources, collaborate with school staff, respond to crisis situations in the school, increase student attendance and engage families and increase partnerships and communication between parents and schools,” Wilson said.

Previously, she worked for 12 years with the elderly in health-care situations.

“Specifically, I identified the needs of individuals and then linked them and their families to community resources,” she said, “winding up serving as director of social services.”

She earned a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Kentucky Christian University, and became the school liaison in Loudonville in November.

“Biggest issues I see with the students here are anxiety, depression and self-harm,” Wilson said. “Our students need to know they have support, and with my position, I am able to let them know they are not alone, and that I can provide crisis intervention for them when necessary.

“I also believe that all of the schools in Ashland County are lucky to have school liaisons to help with needs students may have,” she added. “Loudonville, particularly, has a great mental health team to help students and families in the school district.”

Wilson stressed “I am not a counselor, but I enjoy being a listening ear for students, and a help in finding resources they may need.”

She mentioned that Loudonville High Principal Chrissy Butts has been helpful in “getting me acclimated to the school. The two high school secretaries, assistant principal, and guidance counselors are amazing, too. They have all welcomed me and we make a great team for the students.”

Alyssa Schmidt

Schmidt serves as liaison for students in the McMullen (grades K-3) and Budd (4-6) elementary Schools. She sees her role as “to be supportive to families in the schools. One of the ways I do this is by making connections with students to identify their needs, which can include attendance, academics, behaviors, stressors for kids, concerns at home and issues surrounding social skills".

“I often reach out to parents to address these concerns and/or make referrals as necessary,” Schmidt added. “As a school liaison it’s important to collaborate with staff and to engage families so we can identify barriers and solve problems. The goal is to help students be successful.”

Schmidt grew up in Fredericktown, and then earned a degree in criminal justice at Tiffin University. Years ago, she worked at a children’s services department and worked side by side with school liaisons and the families they worked with, she said.

“I admired the relationships they were able to build with families as they supported them,” she said. “I happily took the opportunity to become a liaison when the job at the Loudonville schools opened in October.

“Issues I am confronting here include children dealing with anxiety, anger, behavioral issues and social skills,” she said. “I’ve met with several students to offer a space where they can talk, take time to calm down, and find ways to handle situations. Not all children are the same, so we work to establish coping skills that are the most effective for each child individually.”

She praised the L-P Schools for “trying to support the mental health needs of students. It is a big task that I feel the district is navigating successfully. I believe most schools in Ashland County are implementing similar initiatives.”

Like Wilson, Schmidt stressed “I am not a counselor. My background is in social work, which supports my role as the liaison trying to connect the school and families as well as supporting families.”

She noted “when I arrived in the L-P District last fall I was clearly the new kid on the block, and it’s never easy going into an environment not knowing anyone and being the ‘new’ person; however, I feel the staff has really stepped up in welcoming me.”

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Appleseed staffers provide mental health services for L-P students