In survey geared for students and staff, Burbank Unified wants to know source of anxiety, stress
In the past two years, as the Burbank Unified School District has doubled down on efforts to tackle students’ mental health, the focus has put the district on the map.
Now, school officials are also eager to provide services to staff and to remove the stigma that’s attached to asking for help.
“By introducing services that are open to students, I think we do open the door to resources that are also available to staff. That’s critical,” said Steve Ferguson, school board president.
In the spring of 2016, the board passed a mental health and wellness master plan, four months after opening a Wellness Center at Burbank High.
This year, school officials cut the ribbon on their second Wellness Center at John Burroughs High School.
At both centers, students can speak with psychologists who are employed through Family Service Agency — a Burbank nonprofit that has provided counseling to Burbank students for years. Burbank Unified Supt. Matt Hill has said the agency is key to the district’s ability to offer support.
The students may visit the centers to rest, connect with peers and participate in group discussions.
As part of the district’s ongoing efforts to find out what’s affecting students and staff, they hired Hanover Research, a firm that conducted a survey in April.
“This is wonderful baseline data for us to be able to compare, year after year, the progress that we’re going to make in terms of reducing that barrier,” said John Costanzo, the district’s mental health and wellness coordinator. “That’s where we really need to approach this — reducing that stigma...and make it more accessible and comfortable for our students, and certainly our staff.”
Hanover Research collected data from more than 590 employees, 65% of them teachers.
More than 1,320 students also weighed in, the majority freshman and sophomores.
Results show 43% of staff said they were “unwilling to receive help,” while 12% of students felt the same.
“I feel like that’s what we need to tackle — that’s what we need to approach, if we’re going to get to our students,” Costanzo said of the staff’s unwillingness to receive help.
Another 41% of staff said they lacked knowledge about “who to ask for help” while just 11% of students said they didn’t know where to turn.
“We had a lot of phone calls this year, from staff, about identifying resources for themselves, and where they could go,” Costanzo said.
The survey identified the top stress and anxiety sources among students and employees.
Among students, 67% cited homework as a “large or moderate” source of stress or anxiety.
Fifty-seven percent of students said preparing for college, and “for my eventual career,” each caused the same amount of stress or anxiety.
Among staff, 60% indicated that their source for anxiety or stress was “feeling overworked,” according to the report.
Another 59% of employees cited their teaching responsibilities as a source of stress while 46% of anxiety was due to supporting students’ academic success.
School officials are encouraged by the data in hopes it can be compared with results from a future survey that will gauge the school district’s progress on staff and students’ eagerness to seek help and knowledge about where to go.
“This is wonderful baseline data for us to be able to compare, year after year, the progress that we’re going to make in terms of reducing that barrier,” Costanzo said. “That’s where we really need to approach this — reducing that stigma … and make it more accessible and comfortable for our students and certainly our staff.”
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
