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Forest Area School District to offer drug and alcohol services

Forest County schools will be seeing increased service offerings in the coming months.

According to Amanda Hetrick, superintendent of the Forest Area School District, the need for drug and alcohol services was growing when she approached Mike Philhower, Executive Director of Family Services of Warren County, about the possibility of his agency providing them.

Why the need for drug and alcohol services specifically?

Hetrick said students in Forest County struggle with a lack of service availability.

“A kid who needs to see a counselor would have to go to Warren, Oil City, or Clarion to get that service,” Hetrick said, as there is no full-time mental health providers at ready access for Forest County. “We see kids who struggle because parents have drug and alcohol issues.”

So while the services being provided are drug and alcohol counseling, Hetrick said it’s really just an effort to have services at a student’s disposal in the school with a focus on drug and alcohol issues.

“It’s support for students” who have addiction issues in their families, Hetrick said, adding that “the problem is not always and isolated issue.”

Substance abuse in the family comes with all manner of additional stressors for children, explained Hetrick, including dealing with parents being gone due to incarceration, and generally being part of a demographic for whom the day-long trip outside of Forest County to receive services may be a barrier to treatment.

Transportation, a notoriously problematic barrier even in well-connected and more populated rural areas, is a serious consideration for Forest County residents, Hetrick said. And a child receiving services in one of the surrounding areas could easily wind up spending an entire day out of school to attend one hour long session. ‘We just have no access,” Hetrick said.

Hetrick said she based her estimates of service needs on data from probation and children and youth services, as well as her own guesses based on what she sees as superintendent. “I expect services to start off small,” said Hetrick, adding that it’s a small number of students in need of the services, and that they’re being introduced not because of a large population in need, but because of the significant obstacles to getting help for those who do need it.

In addition to transportation and access, said Hetrick, the enduring problems presented by the stigma of receiving mental health services prevents many students from accessing services. With the ability to simply go to a service provider in the school setting, said Hetrick, students are able to mitigate the stigma since going to see a school counselor isn’t seen as having the same negative implications.

“I think it’s going to start off slow,” said Philhower, adding that as teachers and school staff become aware of both what’s being made available and what needs there are among students he expects referrals to pick up. Philhower, too, recognized the need for service availability on Forest County and said that if things go well in the school and the need proves enough to justify it he’d love to see a FSWC satellite office in the area.

Philhower and Hetrick said that final approval for the program to be provided in the schools is forthcoming and Hetrick said she expects the program to begin to be offered in anywhere from two weeks to three months, depending on certification.

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