So Liberty Hill is a alternative program school.

It's a behavior modification, and they're not meant to be there forever.

It's to come in and figure out what's going on, put in all these extra supports wherever they need to be for the student and for the families.

The kids, they come from some pretty rough backgrounds and they're not trusting of any adults.

They put up a wall.

I'm able to luckily, take those down very quickly, and my room is a non-judgmental space.

I'm here for them, I love them and I want to support them.

And they feel that.

And they know that.

We started school based behavioral health, and our goal is to be able to provide both behavioral health therapy, psychotherapy and medication management through our partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry to serve those kids in schools that can't otherwise access services in the community.

A lot of the diagnosis that we treat are ADHD.

Some conduct disorders, depression and anxiety is huge in our students related to depression and anxiety.

There's a lot of self-harm and suicidal ideation, especially among adolescents.

A lot of trauma related disorders.

So not necessarily post-traumatic stress disorder, but the symptoms are related to a traumatic incident.

When we see kids for telehealth visits for mental health, one of the things that we really want to do is to normalize that it's okay to not be okay, to have feelings, to have things that you struggle with, and that it's okay to talk about them.

And that doesn't mean that you're in trouble.

It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you.

It doesn't mean you're a bad kid, that you're a bad person.

There's something behind every behavior.

The behavior for kids is a cry for help and saying, I need help, I need support, I need something.

And a lot of times they can't even pinpoint what that is.

So having professionals be able to come in and ask the right questions has really been able to hone in on what the problem is, and then figuring out the treatment plan to fix it and get these kids and these families back to their best selves.

We have a lot of communities that are very rural here in South Carolina, and many of these communities don't even have a child and adolescent psychiatrist in the community at all.

So their primary care providers are providing that medication management.

But we know that many primary care physicians are not comfortable with more complex behavioral health issues.

And so not having access to those services in our rural communities, it could be devastating for families.

And so being able to use telehealth with all the wonderful psychiatrists that we have here in the Charleston area, gives all of those families access to specialty care that they wouldn't otherwise have access to at all.

As a school nurse, it's been really exciting to say to parents, hey, we can have your child see the doctor and the therapist out in school.

You'll get the phone call after, and you don't have to leave work and bring them anywhere.

As a mom that has been so beneficial for me because I don't know that I could do it otherwise.

We have three little boys.

Grayson, who's eight years old, Henry is seven years old, and Parker is five years old.

Henry.

He was my wild card.

He was different from the get go, just very full of energy.

Huge range of emotion and struggled more than Grayson with just kind of social aspects and emotional regulation.

His whole life.

And this year, while starting to do the behavioral telehealth program, my school was when we started having more problems with Henry.

And I asked this teacher, I said, do you think he has ADHD?

Because what she was telling me were very textbook signs and symptoms.

I circled back around with Christy, and I said, I really want my kid to be part of this program.

So it worked out.

The school was really excited to bring it in, and he was able to see Dr. Goodyear, There's been a huge change at school with his work, his ability to focus and not be distracted.

He's just been doing better and better.

And then Grayson, my eight year old, is about to be nine.

Who really does nothing wrong.

He just gets so upset with himself and he just falls apart.

So after seeing Henry's experience, I was like, you know what?

Grayson might not need Dr. Goodyear and medication management, but I think he could really benefit from emotions, feelings, nervous system regulation.

And the earlier you learn it, the better it is in your lifetime.

Realizing how to help deal with these big emotions because they don't ever go away.

And these are little tiny kids.

They're not meant to be able to deal with big emotions yet, so they need to learn from someone from the start.

I'm excited for them.

I wish I had that when I was younger.

The earlier that we can identify what behavioral health issues that students are struggling with, the more likely that we are to be able to teach them coping skills and ways to be resilient.

And that's going to lead to long term success.

You know, less hospitalizations, less treatment over time, increased self esteem, increased motivation, and then just more success in school.

We want to keep children in schools as much as possible.

And so if they aren't going to the emergency room or the hospital or having crises that they can't manage on their own because of lack of skills, then the more successful they're going to be managing the stressors of everyday life that comes with adulthood.