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
Athens High
Athens Middle
Brownsboro High
Brownsboro Intermediate
Brownsboro Junior High
Chandler Intermediate (Brownsboro ISD)
Bullard Elementary
Bullard High
Bullard Intermediate
Bullard Middle
Bullard Primary
Clarksville Middle High
Cheatham Elementary (Clarksville ISD)
Chandler Elementary (Kilgore ISD)
Kilgore High
Kilgore Intermediate
Kilgore Middle
Dieterich Middle School (Midlothian ISD)
Frank Seale Middle School (Midlothian ISD)
Midlothian Heritage High School
Midlothian High School
Walnut Grove Middle School (Midlothian ISD)
Mineola Elementary
Mineola DAEP
Mineola High School
Mineola Middle School
Mineola Primary School
Mount Pleasant High School
Mount Pleasant Junior High
P.E. Wallace Middle School (Mt. Pleasant ISD)
Navasota High School
Navasota Junior High
Spring Hill High
Spring Hill Intermediate
Spring Hill Junior High
Spring Hill Primary
Birdwell Elementary (Tyler ISD)
Boulter Middle (Tyler ISD)
Caldwell Arts Academy (Tyler ISD)
Early College High (Tyler ISD)
Hogg Middle (Tyler ISD)
Hubbard Middle (Tyler ISD)
Jack Elementary (Tyler ISD)
Moore Middle (Tyler ISD)
Owens Elementary (Tyler ISD)
Rice Elementary (Tyler ISD)
RISE Academy (Tyler ISD)
Three Lakes Middle (Tyler ISD)
Tyler DAEP
Tyler High (Tyler ISD)
Tyler Legacy High (Tyler ISD)
Woods Elementary (Tyler ISD)
Clift Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Coleman Junior High (Waxahachie ISD)
Dunaway Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Felt Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Finley Junior High (Waxahachie ISD)
Howard Junior High (Waxahachie ISD)
Marvin Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Northside Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Shackelford Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Simpson Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Waxahachie Global High
Waxahachie High
Wedgeworth Elementary (Waxahachie ISD)
Wilemon STEAM Academy (Waxahachie ISD)
Winona Elementary
Winona High
Winona Middle
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
Henderson County JPD
Marion County JPD
Morris County JPD
Navarro County JPD
Panola County JPD
Red River County JPD
Rusk 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 in schools, 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.