Social / Emotional Support
Supporting the social, emotional, and mental well-being of learners in the TCSS community
Through the office of our TCSS Mental Health Services Coordinator, we work to provide students with quality social-emotional care at school, to educate families about resources and techniques to help their students, and to educate faculty and staff about resources to care for themselves and support students.
TCSS Mental Health Services Coordinator
Mrs. Angela Kelly serves as Mental Health Services Coordinator for TCSS.
The Mental Health Services Coordinator position was made possible beginning in 2020, in part by a new School-Based Mental Health Coordinator Pilot Program at the state level. Efforts to improve student social and emotional wellness may involve school nursing, school safety, special education, transportation, counseling, community partnerships, and more. The role of the Mental Health Services Coordinator is to support and expand coordination of these efforts, ultimately contributing to the success of our students.
Before becoming Mental Health Services Coordinator, Mrs. Kelly was the English Language Learners Social Worker for TCSS. Mrs. Kelly is a graduate of Hillcrest High School and holds Bachelor and Master of social work degrees from The University of Alabama. Before joining TCSS, Mrs. Kelly worked with Tuscaloosa Department of Human Resources and Tuscaloosa City Schools. She holds an Independent Clinical Social Worker License and served on the founding board of the School Social Work Association of Alabama.
Main Contact
Mrs. Angela Kelly
Mental Health Services Coordinator
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Explore More
- Safety Services & School Social Work Program
- Suicide Prevention
- Bullying Prevention
- Sexual Harassment
- A Message from Mrs. Kelly
Safety Services & School Social Work Program
Safety Services
The Tuscaloosa County School System works diligently to ensure the mental health/wellness and safety of students, staff, and families by providing intervention and prevention services, outside agency referrals, mental health awareness and training for all TCSS faculty and staff members.
School Social Work Program
School Social Workers provide a focused reach to support all students, specifically in areas of social, mental, emotional health, and wellness. School social workers are uniquely trained to integrate the school, community, and family context into interventions and resource referrals. School social work interventions reduce barriers to learning by enabling students to be physically, mentally, and emotionally present and ready to learn in their classrooms.
Suicide Prevention
The Jason Flatt Act
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. For youth between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the second leading cause of death, and the third leading cause in Alabama. The Jason Flatt Act works within a state's requirements for in-service or Certificate Training by adding youth suicide awareness and prevention as part of that state's training for educators.
The Jason Flatt Act, which amends Section 16-28B-8 of the Code of Alabama 1975, provides that "To the extent that the legislature shall appropriate funds, or to the extent that any local Board may provide funds from other sources, each school system shall implement the following standards and policies for programs in an effort to prevent student suicide":
Prevention of Suicide
The Jason Flatt Act was passed in order to equip education institutions and their personnel to recognize and act on signs of suicide risk in order to provide prevention, intervention and postvention with students at risk, their families and the communities who may be affected. This act includes prevention of harassment and violence. School systems will:
- Develop individual, family, and group counseling services related to suicide prevention.
- Make referral, crisis intervention, and other related information available for students, parents, and school personnel.
- Provide training for school personnel who are responsible for counseling and supervising students.
- Increase student awareness of the relationship between drug and alcohol use and suicide.
- Educate students in recognizing signs of suicidal tendencies and other facts and warning signs of suicide.
- Inform students of available community suicide prevention services.
- Support cooperative efforts between school personnel and community suicide prevention program personnel.
- Promote school-based or community-based, or both, alternative programs outside of the classroom.
- Develop strategies to assist survivors of attempted suicide, students, and school personnel in coping with the issues relating to attempted suicide, suicide, the death of a student, and healing.
- Engage in any other program or activity which the local Board determines is appropriate and prudent in the efforts of the school system to prevent student suicide.
- Provide training for school employees and volunteers who have significant contact with students on the local Board policies to prevent harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence.
- Educate and empower students on how to prevent suicide, harassment, intimidation, violence, and threats of violence.
- Provide annual training for all certified employees in suicide awareness and prevention. This training may be provided with the framework of existing in-service training programs or as part of required professional development offered by the local school system.
Behavior Expected of Students
Students are expected to treat other students with courtesy, respect, and dignity and comply with the Code of Student Conduct. Students are expected and required to
- comply with the requirements of the law, policies, regulation(s), and rules prohibiting harassment, violence, or intimidation, and
- to comply with the systems' prevention strategies related to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention support.
Responsibilities of Reporting
Any person involved in a cause of action or omission resulting from the implementation of this suicide prevention policy or resulting from any training, or lack thereof, required by this section shall be subject to state immunity law.
Promulgation of Policy and Related Procedures, Rules & Forms
This policy and any procedures and rules developed and approved to implement the policy will be published, disseminated, and made available to students, parents, and legal guardians, and employees by such means and methods as are customarily used for such purposes, including publications on the school system's website. (Policy 5.83)
September is National Suicide Prevention Month
Statistics from the National Alliance on Mental Illness show that suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 34. This is one of the many reasons suicide prevention awareness and efforts are crucially important to the Tuscaloosa County School System. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, a time to learn how we can all help prevent suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10. The Monday through Sunday surrounding September 10 is National Suicide Prevention Week.
In observance of Suicide Prevention Month, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is sharing this message: #BeThe1To. This helps spread the word about actions we can all take to prevent suicide.
We can all #BeThe1To:
Ask. Research shows people who are having thoughts of suicide feel relief when someone asks after them in a caring way. Findings suggest acknowledging and talking about suicide may reduce rather than increase suicidal ideation.
Be There. People are more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful by after speaking to someone who listens without judgment.
Keep them Safe. A number of studies have indicated that when lethal means are made less available or less deadly, suicide rates by that method decline, and frequently suicide rates overall decline.
Help Them Stay Connected. Studies indicate that helping someone at risk create a network of resources and individuals for support and safety can help them reduce feelings of hopelessness.
Follow Up. Studies have also shown that brief, low-cost intervention and supportive, ongoing contact may be an important part of suicide prevention, especially for individuals after they have been discharged from hospitals or care services.
If you are in crisis or are experiencing difficult or suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call 911 immediately.
Bullying Prevention
The Jamari Terrell Williams Student Bullying Prevention Policy
It is the policy of the Board that no student shall engage in or be subjected to bullying, violence, threats of violence, or intimidation by any other student that is based on any of the specific characteristics that have been identified by the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education in this policy. Students who violate this policy will be subject to disciplinary sanctions. The term "bullying" as used in this policy means a continuous pattern of intentional behavior that takes place on or off of school property, on a school bus, at a school-sponsored function including, but not limited to, cyberbullying or written, electronic, verbal, or physical actions that are reasonably perceived as being motivated by any characteristic of a student or by the association of a student with an individual who has a particular characteristic, if the characteristic falls into one of the characteristics contained in this policy. To constitute bullying, a pattern of behavior may do any of the following:
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place a student in reasonable fear of harm to his or her person or damage to his or her property;
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have the effect of substantially interfering with the educational performance, opportunities or benefits of a student;
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have the effect of substantially disrupting or interfering with the orderly operation of the school;
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have the effect of creating a hostile environment in the school, on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored function;
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have the effect of being sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive enough to create an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for a student.
Bullying, intimidation, violence or threats of violence are prohibited and will be subject to disciplinary consequences and sanctions if the perpetrator of such action is found to have based the prohibited action on one or more of the following personal characteristics of the victim of such conduct:
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the student's race;
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the student's sex;
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the student's sexual orientation;
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the student's religion;
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the student's national origin; or
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the student's disability.
Reporting, Investigation & Complaint Resolution Procedures
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Complaints alleging violations of this policy must be made on Board-approved complaint forms available on the Tuscaloosa County School System website, the local school website, the school office, or in the Tuscaloosa County School System Student-Parent Information Guide (PDF). The complaint must be delivered to the principal or his/her designee by either mail or personal delivery. Incidental or minor violations of this policy may be presented and resolved informally.
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Upon receipt of the complaint, the principal or his/her designee will determine if the complaint alleges a serious violation of this policy. If the principal or his/her designee determines that the complaint alleges a serious violation, the principal or designee will undertake an investigation of the complaint in a reasonably prompt time period. The investigation will entail the gathering of relevant facts and evidence taking into account the circumstances of the complaint. If the investigation establishes a violation, appropriate disciplinary sanctions will be imposed on the offending student(s). Other measures that are reasonably calculated to prevent a recurrence of the violation(s) may also be imposed by the principal or the school system.
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Any reprisal or retaliation against any student who has reported a violation of this policy or sought relief provided by this policy are prohibited and are themselves a violation of this policy. Any confirmed acts of reprisal or retaliation will be subject to disciplinary sanctions that may include any sanction, penalty, or consequence that is available to school officials under the Code of Student Conduct. A student who deliberately, recklessly, and falsely accuses another student of a violation of this policy is subject to disciplinary sanctions as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.
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The complaint form developed to report violations of this policy will include a provision for reporting a threat of suicide by a student. If a threat of suicide is reported, the principal or his/her designee is authorized to inform the student's parent or guardian of the report unless at the discretion of the school principal or his/her designee the apparent cause of the threat of suicide is child abuse or other significant harm from a parent or guardian.
Sexual Harassment
It is the policy of the Board that sexual harassment of a student by other students or employees is unlawful behavior and will not be permitted in the school setting. Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:
- submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly as a term condition of the student's academic progress or completion of a school-related activity; or
- submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as a basis in evaluation the student's performance in a course of study or other school-related activity; or
- such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with the student's educational performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational environment.
A student who feels that he or she has been sexually harassed should report the incident to the school principal and the designated reporting officer.* The student may request that the school principal appoint a designee of the same sex to hear his/her complaint. The complaint should be made within ten (10) calendar days following the incident or the latest occurrence in the series of such incidents. The complaint may be made to the principal in person or may be made in writing, signed by the complainant, and then delivered to the reporting officer by the principal. If such report is first made verbally, then it will be the responsibility of the principal or reporting officer to reduce the same to writing and to have the complainant sign the written complaint (Policy: 3.43).
*The Tuscaloosa County School System's Sexual Harassment Officer may be contacted at (205) 342-2754.
A Message from Mrs. Kelly
“In the last three years, TCSS has seen a steady increase of suicide protocols being completed in our schools, surprisingly high numbers in elementary schools. My goal in this position is to ensure that students are receiving quality social-emotional care at school, that parents are educated about resources and techniques so that they can assist their children, and teachers are taking care of themselves and are aware and not afraid to use and teach social emotional techniques.
This new position opens so many doors for our school district to spread awareness about mental health and wellness, increase access to mental health services, provide training for staff, students, and parents, and dismiss the negative ideas about mental illness. I am so excited to be here in this position and I will work hard for our schools, students, and families.”
—Mrs. Angela Kelly