By: Zoey Rainey, People Editor
Globally, The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 7 (14%) 10-19 year-olds experience mental health problems. Adolescence is a crucial period for developing social and emotional habits important for mental well-being. These include adopting healthy sleep patterns; exercising regularly; developing coping, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills; and learning to manage emotions. Protective and supportive environments in the family, at school, and in the wider community are important. This is especially apparent with today’s youth, there is a need for further help concerning mental health.
Many students don’t feel seen at PRHS and value being heard, “Very rarely will you find a teacher or a counselor that cares. Schools say that they care about mental health but in reality they don’t. They don’t even understand it. Teachers don’t read the cues of teens obviously not doing okay or they don’t realize that their loads of schoolwork do not help and make it a lot worse. Schools just think we are lazy and it doesn’t help with us. It’s just really hard because the most important thing a teen can hear from a teacher, counselor, their own parents is; I’m here for you,” Senior Carson Reneau said. This also relates to what Junior Madalyn Williams had to say, “You never know what is going on in someone’s life and personally I am extremely busy as I balance a job, sports, school, and then home/family life it is hard. Having teachers not understand that or not give any slack because of that just causes rush and anxiety. In summary, I think that school definitely plays a stress and anxiety factor in my mental health. School is a place where we are supposed to learn and grow, students shouldn’t be getting anxiety, depression, etc. when trying to learn.”
PRHS offers occupational therapists and psychologists on campus for further counseling services to Bearcats. While this may seem unproductive because of the pre-existent school counseling, school counseling and psychology are distinctly different, with different degree paths, training, licensure requirements, and services provided. Another major difference is that counselors offer services to about a thousand students in their designated grade level, while therapists and psychologists meet with anyone and manage a smaller count of students that come into their office. So, who are the therapists and psychologists that are on campus?
Meet The PRHS Support Staff:
Michelle Diasparra
Michell Diasparra grew up in New York She’s been a psychologist for 12 years and has been at Paso Robles high school for the last six years. Diasparra has a background in forensic psychology, as it was her major in college, and went to John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. While doing her training she was doing research on serial killers and school shooters which inspired her to become a school psychologist, “I remember we were doing a case study on a kid from Oregon who was a school shooter, and looking at all the case files and the home videos and just all of that information. I remember asking one of my professors, how do we get that kid help before they become that kid? And that’s when another professor of mine stepped in and said, You need to be a school psychologist because you’re going to get to those kids before it ends in tragedy,” Diasparra said.
Her focus on campus is special education students, she does psychological evaluations, which include different types of processing, cognitive evaluations, and social-emotional assessments to see if kids need counseling. She also meets with kids individually for counseling along with counseling groups. She works with students who are in crisis and helps them get resources with somebody outside if that’s what’s needed. She’s available for all kids. Generally, kids will go to their counselor first, but when kids need more help because of their social-emotional well-being, they go to a psychologist to look for a special education referral. Diasparra has been focusing a lot at the moment on returning to school pertaining to the anxiety and depression that’s coming with having been at home for a year and a half. Many students have been having a very hard time getting through the day making it through the entire day without getting extremely anxious.
During sessions Diasparra tries to make sure kids feel safe and comfortable talking to her, “ I find that kids want to talk and they want to feel safe and they want to feel like somebody is hearing them and I very easily connect with them. I don’t use a lot of clinical terms. You know, I kind of try to talk like a normal person which is how I talk anyway, it’s very relaxed in here. So kids curse it’s, they don’t get in trouble for that kind of thing. Like, you know, they can be a little bit more open in here because it is just us.” Diasparra said.
“One of the things I think that's the most valuable about having me here, that I'm here full time five days a week, I don't have any other schools in the district. And the fact that I've been consistently here for six years, I think has helped because I've really gotten to know the kids I've really gotten to know the parents, the families, the community. And for me, I just I absolutely love working here. I love the people I work with. I love the kids,” Diasparra said.
Reach out to Mrs. Diasparra at madiasparra@pasoschools.org
Laura Esquivel
Laura Esquivel was born in the Mexican town of San Juan Nuevo and is bilingual in Spanish and English. She was raised in Paso, attending kindergarten through 12th grade. She moved back to Paso with her two children 7 years ago to be close to her family after over 13 years of living in Santa Barbara, Oregon, Okinawa, and Gilroy. As a therapist, she has worked at a military counseling center, a nonprofit for intensive community-based services, County Behavioral Health, and overseeing the Therapeutic Learning Classrooms (K-12) for special education at Atascadero Unified.
Esquivel is the mental health therapist for PRHS and the alternative education programs, which include Liberty HS, Independence HS, and the homeschool program. She provides individual therapy, group therapy, and as-needed family therapy to students in the general education setting. She had planned to be a teacher. However, while working as an aid at an elementary school near UCSB, she saw how being a teacher is more than teaching math, science, English, etc., and had to make her first report of child abuse. She wasn’t sure anymore if she wanted to be a teacher. A friend suggested she volunteer as a crisis counselor at the local rape crisis center, which she did for almost two years. Being a crisis counselor made her realize she wanted to become a therapist.
She has found value in being a therapist, “The most valuable aspect about being a therapist is creating and holding a safe space for students to show all parts of who they are and the struggles they are experiencing without judgment and by affirming who they are and their personal strengths,” Esquivel said. At PRHS she has found that creating a safe space and making students comfortable has helped students open up and seek help, “My number one tool in therapy and to help students feel comfortable talking to me is being genuine and not hiding behind my title as “therapist.” I have a laid-back, let’s be real approach and use humor when appropriate. I also model honesty and share about myself when it’s appropriate. Students have enough judgment from others and don’t need a therapist who will do that, I’m non-judgemental. I meet students where they are in their journey for wellness,” Esquivel said. The main way to reach out to Esquivel is through school counselors who can send referrals for further assistance. The most important thing Esquivel wanted everyone to take away from therapy is,
“You matter, your mental health and wellness matters! Seek out support if you are in need.”
Reach out to Mrs. Esquivel at lesquivel@pasoschools.org
Janice Bryant
Janice Bryant grew up in Southern California and lived in Visalia. She loves the ocean and boating, she used to vacation in Morro Bay living in her boat with her sons and she fell in love with the Central Coast. While raising my sons, she had a really large home in Visalia and they didn’t use all of their space. Bryant wanted to show her kids that they were fortunate and could help others. They began fostering children and she opened a home for developmentally challenged children. Her sons and one of their foster children were very close so she ended up adopting him. He had an IEP (individualized educational plan) at that time, which was a whole new perspective for her. Bryant would go to the IEP meetings where she got in touch with the school psychologist. She had never heard of a school psychologist before but saw how helpful it was for her sons.
She has a bachelor's degree and a Bachelor of Science degree and is also a respiratory therapist. She has a master's degree and a PPS credential. ABA. She is also working on receiving her BCBA, or board-certified behavioral analysis analyst. She does counseling for students that are in general at the general education classes as well as special education. Along with assessments for students to see if they qualify for special education services, to help support them both with their academics as well as emotional and social issues.
Her role as a school psychologist entails a lot of different responsibilities. First and foremost, the thing that she is most passionate about is connecting with kids. Connecting with students is the most important thing to her so that they feel safe to know that they can always come to her if there's anything that they need.School psychologists do reports on students that are struggling, they attend IEP meetings, SSTs (socioemotional selectivity theory) to discuss whether students need more help. They meet with the student as well as their parents or guardians. And if they need extra supports they can be tested. And if they qualify, then they become eligible for special education support. They also support students in general education to provide accommodations that they may need, such as extra time on their test, sitting closer to the teacher, so they can see the board. And they offer social-emotional support for everyone.
Bryant has noticed that a lot of students are currently struggling with social-emotional issues, such as depression, anxiety, and we've had an increase in suicide threats, “It’s really, really hard to see kids struggle like that. I've also had some students come in and talk with me that were struggling because of their sexual orientation. And they feel threatened or bullied. And there's also a lot of racial tensions on campus, which really really saddens me. I mean, we're all human and we should all love each other and not be mean to each other because you know, students have enough problems and issues in their lives with everything that's going on. And not coming together as one is really disheartening to me,” Bryant said.
When students are struggling they would need to go into the counseling office or they can go directly to Bryant for assistance, “If a student is also needing to just speak to someone if they’re having a bad day, anything like that, they can always come in here, and they can find me by the yellow signs that I put on the door.”
Bryant is usually on campus in the early mornings, between 7:00 and 7:30, in the old career center near the attendance office. While students should try reaching out to their counselor first if they need help Bryant is always here to help,
“Please know that I empathize with you. I want you to feel safe and make sure you’re supported. I'm always here. My door is always open.”
Reach out to Mrs. Bryant at jdbryant@pasoschools.org
Additional Support Staff:
Byham, Chris (School Psychologist Practicum Student – M & W)---He is a student in a Master-level graduate program working towards becoming a school psychologist and can provide limited student support because he's doing practicum work. He works under special education and is supervised by Ms. Diasparra.
Catalan, Alondra (School Psychologist Intern – M & T)-- She is a student in a Master-level graduate program working towards becoming a school psychologist and can provide a bit more support than a practicum student support because she's doing intern work. Because she's an intern, she is able and trained to do risk assessment for things like suicide. She works under special education and is supervised by Ms. Diasparra.
Cherry, Britt (School Psychologist Intern – W & TH)--- She is a student in a Master-level graduate program working towards becoming a school psychologist and can provide a bit more support than a practicum student support because she's doing intern work. Because she's an intern, she is able and trained to do risk assessment for things like suicide. She works under special education and is supervised by Ms. Diasparra.
Ramos, Louis (Mental Health Therapist)--He only serves students who has IEPs.
Sanguras, Sydney (School Psychologist Practicum Student – T) She is a student in a Master-level graduate program working towards becoming a school psychologist and can provide limited student support because she's doing practicum work. He works under special education and is supervised by Ms. Diasparra.
Kris Wendorff (Occupational Therapist) Works with students who have IEPs on motor development and improve functional abilities.
Reach out to your counselor for any social/emotional support first to see what will help you most.
Your Mental Health Matters