Dear Editor: I’m writing this to express my deep concerns over the current lack of mental health support for the students at Mt. Edgecumbe high school. I was the mental health clinician there from 2015 to December 2021 and was asked to come back in October of last year until resigning Thursday.
I have experienced firsthand the imperative need to have a full time clinician for the students. I am the second licensed mental health clinician to resign out of deep concern for the safety of the students within the past year.
There are many students who attend the school who have high mental health needs and as such it is imperative that there be a full-time mental health therapist at the school. When I resigned Thursday, there was no mental health clinician at all for the school and I had been acting only as a part-time clinician on a contract.
We currently have only one wellness person in the dorms who does an excellent job but it is not yet a clinician. I would just like to ask the community at large to support the immediate hiring of a full-time clinician at Mt. Edgecumbe high school. There are community agencies that offer great support to our students but this is not enough as a lot of times the students have their most difficult time later in the night in the dorms.
Student Health is a great support to our students as well, but their priority is the physical health of the students and there needs to be someone working closely with them who can attend to the mental health needs of the students as well. I am hopeful that the current administration at Mt. Edgecumbe high school takes this matter very seriously and can find a way to use some of the $425,000 that was allotted to the school to use between student travel and mental health services. I cannot think of anything more important than keeping these amazing students safe
Debi Terry, MS, Sitka,
Licensed Professional Counselor
