Mental Health Support
Bullying
Resources
Hotlines
If there is immediate threat to your child or others call call 911 immediately.
Colorado Crisis Services
1-844-493-8255
Text "TALK" to 38255
Board of Education Bullying Policies
JDHB - Bullying (English)
JDHB SP - Intimidación o Acoso Escolar (Bullying) (Spanish)
Report Bullying
To report bullying, complete this form. The school administrator will promptly conduct an investigation and provide the parent/guardian a report after the investigation is complete. If you have any questions, please contact your school’s principal.
Grief and Loss
Grief is personal. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. How people grieve can be influenced by developmental level, cultural traditions, religious beliefs, mental health, disabilities, family, personal characteristics, and previous experiences.
What to Expect
Grief is not solely related to the death of a loved one. The symptoms, characteristics, and process of grieving can be similar after other types of loss (e.g., divorce, transition, moving).
Grief is often characterized by sadness, emotional pain, and introspection in adults. However, children’s grief reactions differ according to age and developmental level:
What should I look for?
Preschool
Regressive behaviors, decreased verbalization, increased anxiety
Elementary
Decreased academic performance, attention/concentration, and attendance; irritability, aggression, and disruptive behaviors; somatic complaints; sleep/eating disturbances; social withdrawal; guilt, depression, and anxiety; repeated re-telling of the event
Middle and High School
Decreased academic performance, attention/concentration, and attendance; avoidance, withdrawal, high risk behaviors or substance abuse, difficulty with peer relations, nightmares, flashbacks, emotional numbing or depression
Grieving Milestones
Grieving does not have a timeline. Schools should be aware of anniversaries, birthdays, developmental milestones, and other factors that could affect students months or years after the loss.
Grieving involves meeting specific milestones. Individuals are likely to experience (and often re-experience) some or all of the following adjustments/responses:
- Accepting the death
- Experiencing the feelings and emotional pain associated with death and separation from the deceased
- Adjusting to changes and an altered environment that no longer includes the deceased
- Finding ways to remember and memorialize the deceased
Warning Signs
Grieving is an absolutely normal response to loss – but more assistance may be required when someone shows the following behaviors:
- Marked loss of interest in daily activities
- Changes in eating and sleeping habits
- Wishing to be with the deceased loved one
- Fear of being alone
- Significant decreases in academic performance and achievement
- Increased somatic complaint”
- Changes in attendance patterns (e.g., chronic absenteeism)
Source: National Association of School Psychologists
Things to avoid
- Euphemisms when referring to the deceased such as “they are sleeping,” or “they went away”
- Minimizing statements such as “it was only your great-grandmother, (or dog, neighbor, etc.)”
- Predicting a timeframe to complete the grieving process such as, “it has been a month, you should be getting over this,” or “the pain will fade soon”
- Over-identifying, (e.g., “I know how you feel”)
- Too much self-disclosure (e.g., I lost my mom to cancer) as not everyone handles self-disclosure the same way and the focus should remain on the student’s grief
Things to do
- Maintain routines as normally as possible
- Ask questions to ascertain the youth’s understanding of the event and emotional state
- Give the youth permission to grieve
- Provide age and developmentally-appropriate answers
- Connect the bereaved with helping professionals and other trusted mentors and adults
- Encourage students to adopt adaptive coping strategies, particularly ones that will involve interaction with other students (e.g., sports, clubs)
- Educate teachers and families about what is healthy grief and how to support the student
Resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Suicide Prevention
CDC: Preventing Suicide Fact Sheet PDF
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Rise Against Suicide (free mental health therapy for uninsured or underinsured youth struggling with suicidal thoughts)
Hotlines
If there is immediate threat to your child or others call call 911 immediately.
Colorado Crisis Services
1-844-493-8255
Text "TALK" to 38255
Board of Education Bullying Policies
JDHB - Bullying (English)
JDHB SP - Intimidación o Acoso Escolar (Bullying) (Spanish)
Report Bullying
To report bullying, complete this form. The school administrator will promptly conduct an investigation and provide the parent/guardian a report after the investigation is complete. If you have any questions, please contact your school’s principal.
Substance Use
Substance abuse and problematic patterns of substance use among youth can lead to problems at school, cause or aggravate physical and mental health-related issues, promote poor peer relationships, cause motor-vehicle accidents, and place stress on the family. They can also develop into lifelong issues such as substance dependence, chronic health problems, and social and financial consequences.
Substance abuse is the harmful pattern of using substances—such as tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs, and prescription drugs—leading to impairment or distress with one or more of the following behaviors:
- Recurrent substance use resulting in failure to fulfill major responsibilities at work, school, or home such as repeated absences, suspension, and expulsion
- Recurrent substance use in situations where it is physically dangerous, such as driving while impaired
- Recurrent substance-related legal problems, such as arrests for disorderly conduct that are substance-related
- Continued substance use despite having persistent or recurring social or personal problems caused or worsened by substance use
One of the most highly abused substances among youth in the U.S. is alcohol. Youth engage in binge drinking more than adults do. This can lead to risky and potentially harmful behaviors, and many times substance abuse (60-75 percent of youth with substance abuse problems) co-occurs with mental health disorders.
Substance use, abuse, and dependence can negatively impact every aspect of an individual’s life.
The good news is youth substance use is preventable.
Protective factors may lessen the likelihood of youth using substances.
BVSD's prevention programming is focused on increasing Protective Factors and reducing Risk Factors.
Resources
Hotlines
If there is immediate threat to your child or others call call 911 immediately.
Colorado Crisis Services
1-844-493-8255
Text "TALK" to 38255
Board of Education Bullying Policies
JDHB - Bullying (English)
JDHB SP - Intimidación o Acoso Escolar (Bullying) (Spanish)
Report Bullying
To report bullying, complete this form. The school administrator will promptly conduct an investigation and provide the parent/guardian a report after the investigation is complete. If you have any questions, please contact your school’s principal.
Vaping
The BVSD community is dedicated to health and wellness of the whole child, following the whole child model. Vaping has been on the rise and is being addressed through a multi-faceted approach between BVSD, community partners and families.
Know the risks of e-cigarettes for kids.
Have you seen your kid’s USB flash drive lately? It could actually be an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) containing nicotine. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. middle and high school students, and USB-shaped e-cigarettes are increasing in popularity.
- Cartridges generally contain up to 20 mg of nicotine. The lethal dose of nicotine for children is approximately 10 mg.
Safety Risks
E-cigarettes, or “vapes,” can explode and cause serious injury. Although rare, these explosions are dangerous.
Laws & Regulations
It is illegal for youth under 18 to buy or possess them in Colorado; it is also illegal for adults to sell or give them to anyone under 18.
The 2008 Tobacco Free Schools Law prohibits the use of tobacco products on school grounds by students, staff, and visitors. Tobacco products are defined as, “any product that contains nicotine or tobacco or is derived from tobacco and is intended to be ingested, inhaled, or applied to the skin of an individual.”
Safe Disposal
In Boulder County, e-cigarette components, including batteries and e-liquids can be disposed of at the Boulder County Hazardous Materials Management Facility.
To learn more about e-cigarettes, e-hookahs, and other tobacco-related products and issues, please contact Boulder County Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership (TEPP) staff at 303-413-7524.
Suicide Prevention
Suicide is Preventable
Most suicides occur due to some form of mental condition, such as depression or a substance abuse disorder. These conditions are treatable and suicide is preventable.
Know the Risk Factors
Risk factors are characteristics that make it more likely that someone will consider, attempt, or die by suicide. They can't cause or predict a suicide attempt, but they're important to be aware of.
- Mental disorders, particularly mood disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and certain personality disorders
- Alcohol and other substance use disorders
- Hopelessness
- Impulsive and/or aggressive tendencies
- History of trauma or abuse
- Major physical illnesses
- Previous suicide attempt(s)
- Family history of suicide
- Job or financial loss
- Loss of relationship(s)
- Easy access to lethal means
- Local clusters of suicide
- Lack of social support and sense of isolation
- Stigma associated with asking for help
- Lack of healthcare, especially mental health and substance abuse treatment
- Cultural and religious beliefs, such as the belief that suicide is a noble resolution of a personal dilemma
- Exposure to others who have died by suicide (in real life or via the media and Internet)
Know the Warning Signs
Some warning signs may help you determine if a loved one is at risk for suicide, especially if the behavior is new, has increased, or seems related to a painful event, loss, or change. If you or someone you know exhibits any of these, seek help by calling the Lifeline.
- Talking about wanting to die or to kill themselves
- Looking for a way to kill themselves, like searching online or buying a gun
- Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live
- Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain
- Talking about being a burden to others
- Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs
- Acting anxious or agitated; behaving recklessly
- Sleeping too little or too much
- Withdrawing or isolating themselves
- Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge
- Extreme mood swings
Resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Suicide Prevention
CDC: Preventing Suicide Fact Sheet PDF
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Rise Against Suicide (free mental health therapy for uninsured or underinsured youth struggling with suicidal thoughts)
Hotlines
If there is immediate threat to your child or others call call 911 immediately.
Colorado Crisis Services
1-844-493-8255
Text "TALK" to 38255
Board of Education Bullying Policies
JDHB - Bullying (English)
JDHB SP - Intimidación o Acoso Escolar (Bullying) (Spanish)
Report Bullying
To report bullying, complete this form. The school administrator will promptly conduct an investigation and provide the parent/guardian a report after the investigation is complete. If you have any questions, please contact your school’s principal.
Most adolescents experience positive mental health, but one in five has had a serious mental health disorder at some point in their life. Problems with mental health often start early in life. In fact, half of all mental health problems begin by age 14. The good news is that promoting positive mental health can prevent some problems from starting. For young people who already have mental health disorders, early intervention and treatment can help lessen the impact on their lives.
Mental health disorders can interfere with regular activities and daily functioning, such as relationships, schoolwork, sleeping, and eating. If you feel your child is experiencing a mental health concern talk to your school counselor or nurse, or find additional resources at Mental Health Partners.
If you or your child is experiencing a mental health crisis call: 1-844-493-TALK