Dear Mom and Dad,

OMG - where has the time gone?! The new school year has started already! I do hope that everyone is getting settled in and off to a fantastic start. I want to extend a very warm welcome to you as we begin another school year at Immanuel Lutheran School, and introduce myself to those of you who I might not have had the pleasure of meeting just yet. I always feel extremely blessed to be embraced by your school community. Coming to Immanuel Lutheran School is still the very best part of my week!

PREVENTION PROGRAMS
For those of you not yet familiar with me, or the services that I provide to the students at ILS – just a bit of background. ILS receives Bullying Prevention programming via grants that Buddies Not Bullies® secures through different funding methods. All of these services are provided at no cost to ILS. We do our very best to bring lessons to each grade level K-8 at some point in time during the school year. Our current plan includes engaging KG & 5th grade students through our Rudolph program between Thanksgiving & Christmas. I’ll be working with the primary grades (1st–3rd) for a couple of hours in the Fall and Spring, introducing and practicing basic concepts about respect, bullying, and age-appropriate social emotional skill sets (i.e. manners, communication, cooperation, and conflict resolution). 4th graders will be participating in Buddies Not Bullies® flagship program beginning on September 8th. We plan to meet on Friday afternoons, so be sure to ask about what your child is learning. I also try to send home just a few ‘strategic’ homework exercises to be completed with parents – so be on the lookout for those. Finally, middle school students will participate in the Play It Safe Cyberbullying/Internet Safety class beginning in late October (that’s the plan). A detailed description of Buddies Not Bullies® programs can be found on our website – www.buddiesnotbullies.org. There’s even a video series for parents, pared down into bite sized lesson that even the most time challenged parent can appreciate. Best of all-it’s FREE! That should be it for our Prevention plans, but should something else come to mind, I’ll let you know. Feel free to reach out with ideas and questions!

SCHOOL BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Buddies Not Bullies® also provides School Based Mental Health services to children enrolled at ILS. My background is that of a Licensed Psychologist evaluating and treating children, teenagers, and adults for the past three decades; splitting my time for the past 20 years between Buddies Not Bullies® and private practice. Beginning on September 7th I will be in school on Thursdays and Fridays again this year for counseling services. We value your child’s academic priorities and progress, and do our very best to balance that schedule with making time to address their emotional and mental health needs as well. Every hour of the school day holds essential learning opportunities for your child – yes- even recess and lunch. However, it does happen that academic scheduling conflicts with counseling appointment availability-particularly when the schedule fills up. In the event of those types of conflicts, every effort is made to ensure that your child’s academic needs are not routinely disrupted or negatively impacted by their participation in counseling services. We plan to use the same referral and scheduling system used in previous years–with appointments being routed through Mr. Hopfensperger. Doing so helps with coordination of everyone’s schedule.

So, you’d like for your child(ren) to be able to receive counseling services at ILS. How much does it cost? Remember those grants…? Students enrolled at ILS receive SBMH services for free. Great! How do you sign them up? Buddies Not Bullies® utilizes an on-line registration form for you to request SBMH services begin right away, later if necessary, or not at all through school. Rather than requesting a written overview from parents prior to meeting your child the first time, we’ve spent quite a bit of time revising the form to enhance our understanding of presenting issues in order to create a roadmap at the outset of counseling.
 
How will you and I work together? Excellent question! It is my practice to meet virtually or in person with parents early in the counseling process to gather history, understand your concerns, and create a plan of action that will help your child. The timing varies depending on the age of the child and availability, but rest assured, we always find a time for that initial contact. As the school year goes along, the days get very busy working with children, and it can become difficult to touch base with parents as regularly as I am able to in my private practice. However, having open lines of communication is vital to helping your child, and I encourage you to give me a call, send an email, or drop a note in my office mailbox (in a sealed envelope) to keep me posted with any changes in behavior, family stress, concerns, and successes. My goal is to help your child be as successful as possible - emotionally and academically.

Parents can find the link to the SBMH Registration form at the bottom of my letter, as well as in the school office, the school website, or with your child’s teacher. Regardless of your decision to have your child receive counseling services at school, please take the time to complete the form even if you are deferring or declining those services. You are always able to change your mind in the future, but having the form on file at the beginning of the year is most helpful because should an urgent need arise, your child is able to receive support and counseling services without delay. The form is kept on file, and you can revoke your consent at any time. Conversely, if you prefer, you can always complete the registration and consent online with the link as described above. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions if you have concerns about the consent form.

Thanks again for including Buddies Not Bullies® and myself in your wonderful community! I look forward to touching base again soon!

Sincerely,

Lisa S. Bell, MA
Missouri Licensed Psychologist – MO PY01665
Executive Director
Buddies Not Bullies®

Use this link to access the SBMH registration form.
www.surveymonkey.com/r/SBMH-23-24
Please let us know if some aspect of the form is not working properly.

Learn more on Buddies Not Bullies website www.buddiesnotbullies.org