Update on Kindle Farm's Clinical Team

As we dive into the depths of winter, the clinical team has begun to gain some strength and clinical "person" power to help further support the students and staff. With the general ups and downs due to COVID and staffing challenges, we have been lucky to have a fantastic clinical intern- Josh DiGiovanna, come to us full time. Josh came to us from the adult case management team at HCRS. He is in his final internship from his MSW program at Sacred Heart University. Given Josh's experience in adult mental health coupled with his eagerness to learn, he has been a tremendous addition to the team. Josh has done an excellent job connecting with the students, staff, and families. His style of engaging with the students and empowering and challenging them to be in charge of their treatment and goals is a great strength, whether they are 10 or 19 years old.

This quarter the clinical team has started to do social-emotional groups within the school day, working with classrooms on social skill development and team building. This quarter, we will participate in robust professional development, including suicide prevention training with Wildflower Alliance and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Trauma Work. We are excited to deepen our training to bring this to the Kindle Farm staff team. We have also seen increased collaboration with other HCRS divisions and other partners. With the complexities of these students' stressors, it has been so helpful and essential to have such great teaming,  collaboration, and creativity with school districts, HCRS teams, and other partners.

We hope to expand our team by adding a third clinician in the months to come. We have seen some solid and promising candidates that look like they could help our clinical team continue to support the students, staff, and families as our student roster increases.