Counseling Services Home
Student Support
Counseling Services
BISD cares about the whole child and has developed plans to help support students if they experience emotional turmoil.
Need help right now?
If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. For mental health crisis support any time, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or chat online with the 988 Lifeline.
School Counselors & Social Workers →
Find the counselors and social workers at your child’s school.
Counseling & Crisis Resources →
Local and national resources for mental health support and crisis help.
Harassment, Intimidation & Bullying →
How to report HIB and how BISD responds.
District policy, reporting and support for students.
Ways to Help Kids Process Tragedy →
Tips for families and caregivers supporting children after difficult events.
Support in Times of Crisis
BISD Support for Students Exhibiting Emotional or Behavioral Distress →
The district’s plan for supporting students in emotional or behavioral distress.
BISD Suicide Prevention Plan →
How BISD works to prevent suicide and respond when there are concerns.
Following the news of a death of a member of the BISD community, what immediate support is given to students/staff?
Anytime there is a death of a student or staff, we activate our Crisis Support Team. This team is composed of grief counselors (BISD counselors from across the district, counselors from the Olympic Educational Service District, and/or counselors from Bainbridge Youth Services). The counselors meet with those who need help processing the death and the Crisis Support Team remains active until their triage services are no longer required.
A quiet room is set up at the school and is a place for students and staff to express emotions and find solace. Staffed with grief counselors, the quiet room offers healthy snacks and drinks and provides outlets for processing emotions such as coloring pages and fidget objects. If students are identified as needing increased levels of support, they are brought to the school counselors’ offices for additional assistance.
How does the district support the social and emotional health of the students?
Suicide prevention and substance abuse prevention are community-wide issues that require community-wide support. As such, the district and our community partners (Bainbridge Youth Services, Raising Resilience, and the Healthy Youth Alliance) partner in this work.
BISD is fortunate to have Bainbridge Youth Services housed on its Bainbridge High School campus. This collaborative relationship allows middle- and high-school students to receive free, confidential, on-site counseling.
The Signs of Suicide program is implemented at the secondary grade level in some grades. One of the program’s main goals is to decrease suicide and suicide attempts by increasing students’ awareness and attitudes about depression.
BISD school counselors, school psychologists, and school nurses are trained in suicide prevention and must be retrained every five years in order to keep their certificates current. They are the front-line for suicide prevention.
What happens at the school level if there are concerns a student may be suicidal?
When a student, or the student’s peers/parents/teachers, report a suicide concern, counselors and principals meet with the student to investigate and informally assess the risk following district procedures. The parents/guardians are also alerted.
Depending on the situation, the next steps may involve creating a Student Safety Plan and providing the family with suicide resources such as a psychological evaluation resource list.
Each case is individualized and requires a specific plan for the student to meet their needs.