Thanks to a generous grant from the Womens Fund of Smith County, we are now able to offer counseling services free of charge for Smith County Students in our Downtown Tyler Offices. This service is available to all students who reside in Smith County or attend a Smith County school K-12 and College age.
UPDATE: March 24th
Next Step is committed to ensuring that clients are cared for during this time of uncertainty caused by COVID-19.
We are also committed to ensuring a seamless transition to video counseling (primary mode of service provision going forward) as we shift to an online environment in the coming weeks. We are no longer seeing clients in the office.
If you already have an appointment set, your counselor will contact you about how video counseling works.
We will start providing services virtually / remotely (no in-person appointments) via video platforms starting Tuesday, March 24, 2020.
Schedule a counseling appointment here:
CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE
Or call: 903-939-9010
COMPREHENSIVE COUNSELING IN SCHOOLS
As many as 20% of students have behavioral, emotional and mental health issues that require counseling or treatment. Of these youth, more than 80% never receive any mental health care for their issues and 10% go on to drop out of school.
At Next Step, we want to ensure that teens experiencing mental health issues get the support they need, no matter what. We can partner with your school to provide a Licensed Professional Counselor on campus, so any student on your campus can access counseling at no cost. Many schools have a student to guidance counselor ratio of 500:1. Most school guidance counselors simply don’t have the time to spend with the 30-60-100 or more students that require many hours of individualized counseling sessions over the course of the school year.
COUNSELING LOCATIONS- SCHOOLS
Arp High School
Arp Junior High
Athens High School
Athens Middle School
Brownsboro High School
Brownsboro Middle School
Bullard High School
Bullard Middle School
Bullard Intermediate School
Gilmer High School
Gilmer Middle School
Gilmer Intermediate School
Gilmer Elementary School
Kilgore High School
Kilgore Intermediate School
Kilgore ISD – Chandler Elementary
Mineola High School
Mt. Pleasant Junior High
MPISD – P.E. Wallace Middle School
Spring Hill High School
Spring Hill Junior High
Spring Hill Intermediate School
Spring Hill Primary School
Tyler ISD – Robert E. Lee High School
Tyler ISD – John Tyler High School
Tyler ISD – Rise High School
Tyler ISD – Early College High School
Tyler ISD – Boulter Middle School
Tyler ISD – Hogg Middle School
Tyler ISD – Hubbard Middle School
Tyler ISD – Moore Middle School
Tyler ISD – Three Lakes Middle School
Tyler ISD – Athletics Department
Winona High School
Winona Middle School
Winona Elementary
WHY CHOOSE TO PARTNER WITH US?
Next Step only uses professionally licensed counselors in order to achieve the highest level of service. Next Step has been offering counseling services to East Texas schools for the past five years.
Our program is administered within the school setting during school hours. Next Step counselors work closely with designated school staff, and provide the right amount of counseling hours based on your unique needs.
Since we are a nonprofit organization, we work to combine your support with a variety of funding sources to provide your school with the most affordable solution, making it more beneficial than hiring a district employee.
Hiring a district employee to perform mental health services can be expensive when you factor in hidden costs such as payroll, health insurance, taxes, retirement, background checks, HIPAA compliant case management software, and more. Our school based mental health program takes care of these things , and leaves your mental health care footprint small, effective and cost efficient.
Student’s unmet mental health needs pose barriers to learning and development. Because of school guidance counselors’ training and position, they are uniquely qualified to provide education, prevention, intervention and referral services to students and their families. At Next Step, we see ourselves as a critical part of this mosaic of care, allowing school guidance counselors and administrative staff to refer students to our licensed professional counselors right on campus.
1. Our licensed professional counselors can make professional recommendations and referrals to outside experts when necessary.
2. All counselors have up-to-date Senate Bill 9 certified criminal background checks.
3. Mental Health care can help teachers improve classroom management reducing teacher stress by helping disruptive students, improve grades, and decrease absenteeism and reduce disciplinary referrals.
4. Our counselors only provide mental health counseling. This allows school staff to perform their core duties.
5. By having mental health counselors on campus, we remove the barriers to care so you know your students are getting the services they need. We will see any young person referred.
If you would like to have a licensed professional counselor on your campus, we would love to talk further! Contact our office at 903 939 9010.
COUNSELING AT JUVENILE PROBATION OFFICES
We have counselors at 18 Juvenile Probation locations across East Texas.
Our counseling program also extends to Juvenile Probation Offices. Our licensed professional counselors provide individual and group counseling on site. We work closely with probation staff to ensure needs are met.
If you are interested in having one of our Next Step counselors at your probation office, we would love to discuss this further! Contact our office at 903 939 9010.
COUNSELING LOCATIONS- JUVENILE PROBATION
Anderson County JPD
Bowie County JPD
Camp County JPD
Cass County JPD
Delta County JPD
Franklin County JPD
Henderson County JPD
Hopkins County JPD
Marion County JPD
Morris County JPD
Nacogdoches County JPD
Navarro County JPD
Panola County JPD
Rains County JPD
Red River County JPD
Rusk County JPD
Shelby County JPD
Titus County JPD
Van Zandt JPD
Wood County JPD
Youth Mental Health First Aid USA is an 8 hour public education program which introduces participants to the unique risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems in adolescents, builds understanding of the importance of early intervention, and teaches individuals how to help an adolescent in crisis or experiencing a mental health challenge.
The course teaches participants the risk factors and warning signs of a variety of mental health challenges common among adolescents, including anxiety, depression, psychosis, eating disorders, AD/HD, disruptive behavior disorders, and substance use disorder. Participants learn to support a youth developing signs and symptoms of a mental illness or in an emotional crisis by applying a core five-step action plan: Assess for risk of suicide or harm, Listen non judgmentally, Give reassurance and information, Encourage appropriate professional help, and Encourage self-help and other support strategies.
CALL US FOR MORE INFORMATION AT 903 939 9010.
We are excited to be the first in Texas to implement Sources of Strength, a best practice youth suicide prevention project. This program is designed to harness the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture, ultimately preventing suicide, bullying, and substance abuse.
The mission of Sources of Strength is to prevent suicide by increasing help seeking behaviors and promoting connections between peers and caring adults. Sources of Strength moves beyond a singular focus on risk factors by utilizing an upstream approach for youth suicide prevention. This upstream model strengthens multiple sources of support (protective factors) around young individuals so that when times get hard, they have strengths to rely on.