District 205 seeking 708 funds after seeing success of counselor partnership with Bridgeway

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Lombard Principal Nick Sutton says a program in which a Bridgeway mental health counselor in the school 5 days a week is running very well in its early stages.Even as Sutton prepares to become Superintendent of Stark County schools in July, he’s helped District 205 apply for 5 additional counselors across Galesburg schools.

The application is with the Knox County 708 Board of Mental Health who will have about $900,000 to disburse and has requests from various agencies for almost double that.

Some have questioned why a taxing body should receive 708 grant funds and Sutton agrees that any time tax dollars are being spent citizens have the right to ask questions.

He tells WGIL that ultimately his goal is just to “provide a resource for kids.”

“And we see a need and so ultimately with us we just want to see the partnership grow with Bridgeway and the thing that I always want to stress to people is this is not a resource that was there before,” Sutton says.

He calls the addition of Bridgeway counselor Sara Bates, a bit of a “pilot program” not only being a first of its kind partnership in 205 or the area, but only one of a few in the state.

Bates has been a day to day presence at Lombard Middle School since December.

Sutton found a way to use federal funds to have Bates in building for students who are dealing with a range of mental, emotional and substance abuse issues.

Sutton and Bates both agree that the program so far has been successful.

Bates says they are encouraged by the large number of students who self refer themselves to come talk to her and students referring other students.

“It really reduces the stigma of mental health, which I think is really important just in recognizing if there’s this need then it’s ok to go to someone and talk about what’s going on,” Bates says. “But they’re becoming self-aware and they’re using their resources. They know where to go and who to talk to.”

Bates points out that there are few among us who didn’t have a tough time in middle school and a lot of Lombard students are facing particularly difficult circumstances.

Knoxville and Abingdon-Avon school districts are believed to have applied for funds from the 708 board to install a mental health counselor.

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