Behavioral Support Through an Integrated Lens – Summit Olympus High School
By Alex Mehling, Regional Executive Director
Summit Olympus High School in downtown Tacoma, Washington, is one of Seneca’s longest partnerships in the state. Starting in 2015, Seneca began providing mental health and special education services to the Summit Olympus community, which is part of the Summit Public School network.
This year, we had a unique opportunity to pilot a traditional community-based program into our school-based work with Summit Olympus, proving that integrated care of youth increases accessibility of care.
Therapeutic case management (TCM) began in Washington as a behavioral program based on similar principles as therapeutic behavioral services. The program serves youth up to 18 years old with intensive case management and behavioral support. Counselor staff provide both individual and family services to their clients at home, school, or within the community. Typically, referrals to TCM are made by our region’s intensive services wraparound team, outpatient team, or school-based teams.
This school year, we were able to embed a TCM counselor, Bri Rumph, into Summit Olympus High School. Bri integrated into the school and quickly became a safe person for students to visit for quick check-ins, support with finding resources, or help advocating for themselves in the classroom. Beyond Bri’s Tier 1 and 2 support, she also holds a small caseload of youth for more individualized TCM services.
Each youth enrolled in TCM completes a functional behavioral assessment and creates a treatment plan based on the identified needs. Bri can work individually with the students on her caseload while they are at school, while also scheduling family support sessions in the home or community. Students may also seek Bri’s support in attending appointments with other treatment providers or community support. This integrated model seeks to bridge the gap of community-based providers not always being able to access youth when they are at school. And, as providers, we know that school is one place many youth spend much of their time.
