FAMILY RESOURCES 

Student well-being is essential to learning. Family/school partnership is critical in recognizing and addressing students' academic, behavioral, and social needs. To the right and below are valuable information and resources on various topics for USD 231 families to access.

In addition, the online database, http://supportgroupsinkansas.org/, contains more than 2,500 local and national support group resources. Groups and resources can be searched by topic and/or by county. Topics include medical conditions, disabilities, relationship issues, parenting, grief, abuse, caregiving, and addiction, among many others.

An extremely useful resource for residents is a database that provides information related to a variety of issues: https://ims.jocogov.org/rc/

Psychologytoday.com allows parents to place information regarding location, specialty, etc., that provides a list of counselors who work in various fields.

The Department of Children and Families and the state of Kansas have created a free crisis hotline. The hotline's purpose is to provide crisis support for Kansas families and children to resolve an emotional, psychiatric, or behavioral health crisis. The services are available to all Kansasans 20 years or younger, including anyone in foster care or formerly in foster care. The Crisis Hotline number is 1-833-441-2240.

FAMILY RESOURCES 

BULLYING PREVENTION

BULLYING: AN OVERVIEW
Any aggressive behavior that is sufficiently severe, repeated or widespread that creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for a student or staff person. There are four broad forms of bullying:

PHYSICAL BULLYING

  • Intentional aggression that involves injuring someone or damaging their property

  • Examples: hitting, kicking or punching, spitting, tripping, pushing, taking or breaking someone's belongings, or making mean or rude gestures

VERBAL BULLYING

  • Intentional aggression that involves saying or writing things that are mean or hurtful to others

  • Examples: teasing, name-calling, taunting, inappropriate sexual comments or threatening to cause harm to another person

SOCIAL BULLYING

  • Intentional aggression that is used to damage someone's reputation or relationships

  • Examples: leaving someone out on purpose, telling other children not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors about someone or embarrassing someone in public

CYBERBULLYING

  • Intentional aggression using electronic devices, such as cell phones, computers, tablets or other communication tools, including social media sites, text messages, chat rooms and websites

  • Examples: mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.

HERE’S WHAT PARENTS CAN DO:

  • If you suspect your child is bullying, appropriate consequences are important. Monitor their behavior and seek additional services to help your child build appropriate self-awareness and social skills. We can help.

  • If your child is being bullied, prompt reporting is critical. Report a suspected bullying incident to the school principal immediately. You also can consider seeking additional services to help your child build useful skills and feel empowered. We can help.

  • If your child witnesses bullying, talk about the power of standing up for others by being an up-stander, rather than just a bystander. Stress the importance of reporting bullying to a trusted adult.

HERE’S WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO:

  • If you are bullying, that’s not okay. Students who bully will receive consequences and be monitored. You can learn better skills so that your needs are met, and you can be a true leader.

  • If you feel you’re being bullied, tell the bully to stop and then walk away from the situation. Let an adult know right away—it’s not okay to suffer in silence. We want to listen and help you build confidence and learn skills that can make you feel more in control at school. Report a suspected bullying incident to your principal or another trusted adult, or submit a copy of this flowchart to the school office.

  • If you witness bullying, tell the bully that what they’re doing is not cool. Stand up for others—be an upstander, not a bystander. Report what you see to an adult. We’ll all work together to make a difference.

HERE’S WHAT WE’LL DO AT SCHOOL:

  • Any school staff member will respond immediately when witnessing aggression or bullying. They’ll let the aggressor know it’s unacceptable and refer the aggressor for discipline and services.

  • A staff member will respond immediately to a student who is being bullied, referring the student for services to help build skills and reduce feelings of isolation.

  • As part of the monitoring and follow-up process, a staff member will ask witnesses to report if bullying occurs again.

  • School administrators will follow this flowchart when a bullying incident is reported.

For more information about bullying prevention and procedures, contact your child's building principal.

PARENTS AND STUDENTS:
The Kansas School Safety Hotline — 877-626-8203 — is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to give students, parents, and community members the opportunity to anonymously report any bullying, or rumors or threats of school violence.

BULLYING PREVENTION RESOURCES 

SUICIDE PREVENTION

GET HELP NOW!!!

The Suicide & Crisis Hotline launched a new three-digit code, 988, to help connect individuals directly to trained crisis counselors. 988 connects individuals in crisis and in need of support to a trained professional who will listen, understand, and support callers. 

988 is completely free, confidential, and available 24/7. By saving this number in your phone, you can help quickly provide help to someone who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts.

DEPRESSION IS MORE THAN SADNESS, AND SUICIDE RISK IS MORE THAN DEPRESSION.

Sadness is usually in response to something specific (i.e. a breakup, a poor test grade, a fight with a friend). The cause can usually be pinpointed or described. Depression is sadness that lasts for a long time (at least two weeks), and does not necessarily have a "cause." People will typically not be able to answer the question of "why they are sad."

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS:

"Depressed mood" can look like sadness, or in children and teens, it looks more like an irritable mood. Depression often brings with it a loss of concentration or interest in things that used to be fun or pleasurable – parents may see this as apathy. Changes in sleeping (too much or too little) and changes in eating (too much or too little) are also signs that sadness has moved to depression. Sometimes, depression just looks like it has slowed the person down. They may report fatigue and look like they are physically moving slower – perhaps with a report of restless feelings. The symptoms combine to cause significant difficulty coping with life and participating in social, school, or work activities.

SUICIDE PREVENTION RESOURCES

RESOURCES:

MENTAL HEALTH

Please see the resources listed below if your child is in need of mental health services.

For urgent situations or emergencies, call 988. The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free, and confidential support for people in distress, as well as prevention and crisis resources. 

Contact your school's counselor or social worker. Contact information can be found here - Counselor/ Social Worker Contact Information.

If you are seeing a therapist, the Psychology Today webpage offers a wide selection of therapists. You can filter the choices by topic, insurance, and location. Each therapist has a bio and picture, so you can select based on that information.

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES

RESOURCES:

TALKING ABOUT CRISIS

National tragedies can cause a range of emotions for both adults and children, such as feeling frightened or confused. From natural disasters to terrorist attacks, it is important that adults give children information and guidance on how to process and react. Helping children feel safe and secure and providing them with ways to cope is the most important thing we can do. For more information please use the following resources:

TALKING ABOUT CRISIS RESOURCES