GRAYSON CO., Va. – Grayson County classrooms will be filled with students next week. They rely on the Mount Rogers Community Services Board for what is called therapeutic day treatment — a kind of intensive mental health support that helps traditional school counselors.
“We’re not the guidance counselors of old. School counselors impact and reach each and every student in school through a variety of ways,” said Jill Cook, executive director of the American School Counselor Association.
Cook said Virginia schools generally do better than the national average when it comes to counseling, but smaller districts struggle. That is where therapeutic day treatment becomes a really valuable support.
In Grayson County, there are six therapeutic day counselors Mount Rogers provides with funding from programs like Medicaid.
“I don’t like it in any situation that our students are not getting the services they need. It’s tough. I understand you have cuts and there are times you have to go a different route,” said Grayson County Schools Superintendent Kelly Wilmore.
In Carroll County, the district says it has already lost 24 AmeriCorps positions from other federal funding cuts, and losing the three Mount Rogers therapists will just add to their struggles.
Galax City Schools and the other two districts learned about a week ago that these counselors would go away. Mount Rogers says it just can’t afford the cost given new state rules and ongoing limits on what Medicaid will pay.
This week, the three superintendents met in Galax with Mount Rogers officials.
“I think we made some progress and we were able to express to them some needs we have and how we would like to move forward with this program,” Wilmore said. “We are not going to get our TDT counselors back. They are not going to be able to afford that with their cuts. They also promised us that they would look at some other formats.”
“The challenge isn’t unique to these districts, Mount Rogers or even the state of Virginia,” Cook said. “When funding gets tight, we know hard choices have to be made.”