Grand Forks Public Schools and CVIC collaborate to bring evidence-based therapy groups to students

Jun. 22—GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks Public Schools, in partnership with CVIC, is offering additional mental health resources within K-12 schools in response to a growing demand for services.

The increase is due, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It really just seems like the pandemic initiated this increase in feelings of isolation and community stressors," said Christine Litzinger, GFPS mental health coordinator. "There's been a lot of that that we've seen."

Observing a need to provide resources beyond what was already available, Litzinger applied for Stronger Connections Grant funding, some of which the district could use to pay for a youth therapist to coordinate and facilitate evidence-based group therapy — particularly in schools that lack the resources to get groups up and running on their own.

"I was also working with a national group, where I was learning about (programs) like CBITS and Bounce Back, which are trauma-informed interventions, and Anger Coping," Litzinger said. "It just seemed like a really good fit for CVIC's specialty — and we already had that really good working relationship."

In the summer of 2023, the district was approved to receive $793,045 in grant funding. The Stronger Connections Grant, established by the U.S. Department of Education, provided $4,833,025 to school districts throughout the state, according to the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. Funding will be dispersed over a three-year period that began with the 2023-2024 school year.

In January, Maura Ferguson was hired by CVIC as a youth therapist who would work full-time in Grand Forks schools throughout the academic year.

"There's actually quite a bit of research out there that shows that having mental health services in schools makes it a lot more accessible, more likely that students will be able to engage in it," Litzinger said. "There are a lot of factors, like transportation, and cost and parents having to leave work. Schedules and all that can get in the way of seeking mental health services outside the school."

Ferguson began her first round of 10-week therapy programs mid-March, working with 13 students across two schools. She's received a significant amount of positive feedback from mental health teams, administrative staff, parents and guardians, she said.

"It's been really awesome," Ferguson said. "This spring has been kind of our 'pilot run' of these groups."

CBITS and Bounce Back are intended to address traumatic experiences, while Anger Coping is designed to teach children healthy coping skills to navigate friendships and regulate their emotions, Litzinger said. The three curricula are based in cognitive behavioral therapy.

Before a 10-week program gets up and running, Ferguson meets with school staff to explain her plans and what might make someone a good fit for one of the therapy groups. Admin and mental health teams select student participants from a pool of nominees.

"It's about seven weeks of front-end work before the groups even get going," Ferguson said. "Because then, from there, the parents have to give consent."

Between four and seven students are assigned to each group. Each program has 10 group sessions. Some also have individual and parent sessions.

"I think anytime we can get that family engagement, it's a huge win, because when the parents are learning those skills, they're able to reinforce them at home," Litzinger said. "That's a way that you can see some real change and success for both (adults and children), because kids don't exist in a silo — it's an interconnected system that they live in."

Ferguson sees empowering adults to be active participants in their child's healing as one of the most powerful components of her work, she said. At the beginning of her relationship with parents and guardians, Ferguson explains she's not there to tell people how to parent their children; she's there to help mend and build relationships by providing a positive model and outside perspective.

"I think there's so much weight on being a parent that even if it's something completely beyond your control (that caused trauma for your child), I think it's natural and normal for parents to feel some blame, even when it's inappropriate or it doesn't seem rational," Ferguson said. "It's easy to think, 'oh my gosh, how could I let this happen?'"

Ferguson focuses on the fact that regardless of what happened to the child and whatever the adult's role may have been, the present provides an opportunity to work together toward a better future.

"I also try to make things as fun as I can, which seems counter-intuitive to trauma-based work, but that's how I get in the door," she said. "It's easy to connect with kids in that way. And a lot of parents, it's easy to connect to in that way, too."

If Ferguson wants students to be eager to come back to group therapy, she needs to make the experience fun, she said. Her efforts were validated when, at the end of this school year, nearly all group participants told her they were sad it was over. Attendance across the three groups was between 77% and 93%. Ferguson is happy with the result.

"I think there's always that philosophy of hope, that belief that things are going to get better, things are going to get easier — and these are tools that are going to help someone get there," Litzinger said. "So when you engage in that in a really positive way, the kids are sad to be done."

Ferguson facilitated or co-facilitated every session in the first round, but hopes to allow school mental health teams to facilitate some of the programs on their own moving forward. Students have already been selected for the second round of group therapy programs, which will begin in September.

Parents and guardians who think their children may benefit from one of the programs are encouraged to reach out to their child's school mental health team.

Litzinger hopes to continue expanding access to group therapy at GFPS. She's written a grant that, if approved, would allow for another position like Ferguson's to be established in 2025, followed by a third in 2026.

"I think that would really serve our district well," Litzinger said. "We wouldn't have wait lists. I think we would be able to get in and get all the groups taken care of that we need to."

The demand for mental health services does not exist solely in GFPS. After hearing from rural Grand Forks County schools, CVIC hired a rural youth therapist in April.

"(Rural schools) might have funding or ability to hire school counselors or social workers, but might not have the application pool where it's possible to fill those roles, so we were able to use grant funding to help fill that need," said Therese Hugg, vice president of therapy services. "Our team's model really is to go where the students are."

The therapist can provide individual sessions for students in any Grand Forks County school. Eventually, they will co-facilitate groups with school staff.

For more information about CVIC's therapy services, call (701) 746-0405 or visit cviconline.org.