Montana’s youth need help. Here’s how educators are confronting a mental health crisis.
Missoulian by Carly Graf, May 30
Conner Reisinger realized he was different from his classmates in the fifth grade. He was always around other kids, but felt like an outcast and couldn’t put his finger on why.
“There’s a difference between being alone and feeling alone,” Reisinger said.
Years later, an autism diagnosis gave him a tidy way to explain his idiosyncratic behaviors when others would cast side-eyed glances. But it didn’t ease the pain of watching his classmates enjoy milestones and hallmark teen experiences while he struggled.
Before the end of middle school, Reisinger had attempted suicide three times. “I started to hate myself,” he said. “I felt like autism was a curse.”
Now a high school senior, Reisinger is almost unrecognizable to his former self.
He dons rimmed glasses and a leather jacket and sports oversized metallic rings on multiple fingers. Tucked under his arm is a notebook filled with lines of poetry he’s written as a way to work through the minefield that is his own brain.
Most notably, he hasn’t attempted suicide in more than two years.
Reisinger credits Paris Gibson Education Center in Great Falls, an alternative high school for at-risk students, for the transformation.
Of the roughly 230 students, most have been diagnosed with clinical behavioral health disorders, predominantly severe anxiety and depression. Many are victims of sexual or emotional trauma and come from non-traditional households. A large share work a full-time job during the week on top of attending classes.
“I met some people that brought out the best in me. They didn’t care about my autism; they liked me for who I was,” Reisinger said. “This should be the norm.”
Overwhelmingly, experts say unmet behavioral health needs show up first in the classroom. It could be the students who are frequent flyers in the principal’s office for disciplinary action or those who never seem like they’ve studied for the test. Other signs mistaken for bad behavior could be absenteeism, falling asleep in class or sitting alone at lunch.
“I truly don’t believe that kids are going to be successful academically if they have undiagnosed, unmet mental health needs,” said Tobin Novasio, the Hardin Public Schools superintendent.
Through hours of interviews with the Montana State News Bureau, education and behavioral health experts acknowledged that schools need more help to meet this call.
While the Montana Legislature this session signed off on about $3.5 million over the next two years to bolster school-based behavioral health care, there are still students — often those with severe struggles — who need more than what the traditional educational setting can provide.
Read more from the Missoulian/Independent Record here.