'Hard times.' Since fall, Fayette students had over 300,000 contacts with mental health staff

Jan. 27—There have been 303,607 contacts between Fayette County students and district counselors, social workers and other mental health professionals from the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year through January 25.

That is significantly more than the 74,174 contacts for the same time period in 2018-19 and the 220,797 contacts with counselors, social workers, and other mental health professionals for that period in 2019-20.

The mental health situation that evolved during at-home learning in the COVID-19 pandemic is one that Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins wasn't expecting.

"This is probably the biggest surprise for educators in general," Liggins said Tuesday at a Commerce Lexington Public Policy Luncheon. "We knew about the learning loss. We knew kids were home and they weren't learning as effectively as they would have been if they had been in person."

"We really did not realize the impact that the isolation and the lack of socialization had on our students and on our staff, quite frankly, and how that would impact the school year," Liggins said.

Liggins said the district began providing mental health services for students when the pandemic began in 2020 and face-to-face instruction shut down.

A contact means a service is being provided including counseling sessions, group therapy sessions, guidance classes, college-career counseling and home visits, said district spokewoman Lisa Deffendall. Within that 303, 607 number there could be the same students being helped multiple times for the same issue.

"We're seeing more drastic cases of mental health issues than we've ever seen before," Liggins said. "The good thing is that we have a great team that can provide these services."

"It's tough. Our kids are having hard times. Our teachers are having hard times," he said.

Liggins described mental health services for students in the district as a well-oiled machine, but he said efforts are underway to do more for staff.

Students elsewhere in the state recently told Kentucky lawmakers that students were suffering from mental health issues as a result of their time in at-home learning.

In the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, House Bill 44 would excuse student absences for mental health reasons. It has been approved in the House and sent to the Senate Education Committee.

One of the sponsor's, State Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, said she was proud of students from across the state who brought the idea forward to allow excused absences for student mental health days.

"This is their bill, and it makes explicit that mental health is health. I think that's one of the important lessons the pandemic has taught us," said Willner.

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