Brainerd School District Partners with Mental Health Center to Help Students

The Brainerd School District is partnering with Northern Pines Mental Health Center to bring services closer to students. The partnership will provide therapy, crisis intervention, and even training opportunities for school staff.

Between September 1st, 2021 and August 30th, 2022, 518 students in the district received mental health services. The idea behind having services available at school is to benefit students by making therapy accessible without ever having to leave school.

“Being to pull them just right from 5th hour and send them back, I think, is a huge time-saver to keep kids in school, said Sami Cross, Northern Pines Children & Family Division LPCC, at a recent school board meeting. “I think our team is also very strategic in who they’re taking and what time, so if I were to be seeing a child that was working on some deep trauma, I would not see them 1st hour and then send them back to their school day. I would see them 7th hour, and if they weren’t equipped to get on the bus to go home, I would be calling the parent to see if they could come pick up the child because some of the things that we do in those sessions can be pretty heavy, and we don’t want to send a disregulated child back to class.”

More information on Northern Pines can be found on their website.