BOX ELDER, S.D. — Mental health problems have been rising in students, especially with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some schools across the nation are putting more attention toward mental health and resources into school counseling.

At Francis Case Elementary in Box Elder, the counselor works with individuals, groups and even classrooms.

“We do things a little bit differently out here at Douglas, where school counselors at the elementary level are in the specials rotation,” Shelley Mitchell, school counselor for Francis Case Elementary said. “So, kids come to counseling like they do P.E., music, art or computer. They see the school counselor in a classroom setting for me three times a month.”

Kids have recently gone through the COVID-19 pandemic with the rest of the world, having to be quarantined in houses when schools closed in spring 2020.

Even when in-person classes returned, classrooms weren’t mixed and they had to follow policies like masks and social distancing.

“We’re seeing a lot of the effects from COVID as far as what kids experienced and what they went through. Kids are meant to be around other kids. They’re meant to socialize. They’re meant to be with one another. A lot of their learning is done through play,” Mitchell said. “For two years for some of these kids, those things were taken away.”

Kids at the school are kindergarten through third graders. They are receiving help from Mitchell with emotional well-being, needs and support.

Mitchell says kids are resilient and they go through a lot. She just wants to teach them at a young age to avoid having to struggle with how they feel.

“Within those classroom lessons, I’m not just doing social emotional type lessons. It’s a broad area of anything that’s related to a kid’s emotional well-being and emotional needs,” Mitchell said. “That’s kind of my realm and what I like to support and do. So I like to consider myself a soft place to fall for kiddos and a place that is safe for them to come to when they’re either having a hard day or they’re feeling unsafe at school or unsafe at home or needing someone to talk to, or just seeing some emotional support to help them be the best that they can be in the classroom.”

Mitchell says connecting with people and showing you care is what counseling is really about.

She brings mental illness awareness to her students and is able to break down some of those stigmas and helping kids understand their feelings like anger, sadness, depression, anxiety and putting those names to it.

While she gets to see kids grow and get better, the job isn’t filled with all positives.

“I think that if a lot of us knew what some of our kids face every day, we would say, ‘Wow, they are doing pretty well for what they went through even just this morning,'” Mitchell said. “They see a lot, go through a lot. It comes with the territory of this job. Hearing things, seeing things, knowing things that breaks your heart, knowing that they happen. But I like to teach kids that not everything happens for a reason, but when things do happen, we can choose to make good out of those situations and we can make the choice to better our life from whatever we went through and hope to better somebody else’s life from whatever we went through.”

She provides kids necessary skills to identify what emotion they are feeling through activities like bibliotherapy, mindful breathing exercises, games and even yoga.

According to the American Library Association, Bibliotherapy is when someone uses selected reading materials for additional therapy in medicine and psychiatry. It can also guide people to solution to personal problems.

The curriculum at Douglas School District can be whatever is used or whatever lessons, they just have to meet the standards that are set by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA).

“I want to give kids as much as I can give them, to be successful when they do go on to fourth grade and go on to other grades,” Mitchell said. “If I can give them five coping skills, or some things to recognize within themselves or recognize within others as far as mental illness and mental well-being, I feel like that’s what I want to accomplish and what I want to do.”

Mitchell also runs a program called “Mornings with Mrs. Mitchell.”

This helps kids with personal hygiene to feel and look their best for school. From 7:40-8:25 a.m., students can wash up, brush their teeth or have help brushing their hair.

People can even donate to the program by dropping items off at the front office, or sending supplies with a child to school.

Items that can be donated are kids friendly personal hygiene products, hair detangling spray, toothbrushes & toothpaste, hair brushes & combs, hair elastics/ties & headbands, dry shampoo, baby wipes and [Walmart or Target] gift cards to buy plastic totes and disinfectant spray.

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