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THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 12. 2020 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 13A
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APEX
her family’s busy schedule,
and miss work to take the
youngster for weekly coun
seling sessions, the child was
able to meet with therapist
Jennifer Byrne, a licensed
professional counselor with
Highland Rivers Health, right
at their Pickens County ele
mentary school.
The youngster was able to
connect with Byrne because
of the Georgia APEX pro
gram. Through the program,
school districts partner with
local mental health providers
such as Highland Rivers to
provide mental health serv
ices to students right at
school. The program is avail
able in all Pickens County
schools.
“That made it so conven
ient,” says the adoptive
mother. “The Highland
Rivers staff was very profes
sional and kept us informed
about what they were work
ing on so we could reinforce
that at home. APEX really
helped a lot.”
Making the
connection
Marla Callahan, principal
of Harmony Elementary
School - one of the five
schools therapist Jennifer
Byrne visits each week - be
lieves social and emotional
learning is vital to students’
mental wellbeing and overall
academic success, even when
they are in elementary
school.
“Academics are very im
portant, but academics are
going to suffer if our emo
tional needs are not met,”
Callahan says. “We see a lot
of kids that need some extra
support and it’s critical to
have these resources avail
able, and at every grade level,
because that’s one of the
most important ways we help
kids be successful.”
The APEX program,
which has been provided in
Harmony Elementary for
three years, makes it both
simple and convenient for
children and families to get
that extra support.
“One of the greatest bene
fits of APEX is it’s built into
students’ school days,” says
Callahan. “Parents don’t
have to worry about trans
portation, they don’t have to
worry about their child miss
ing an appointment because
something came up - the
therapist comes to the child,
at school. It’s not an addi
tional thing parents have to
navigate outside of school
hours.”
Kayla Kinser, one of the
two school social workers
employed by Pickens County
Schools, works with school
staff to connect kids to the
APEX program.
“A teacher that has a stu
dent who is having some
challenges first makes a re
ferral to the school coun
selor,” Kinser says. “Each
week I meet with the school
counselors to process all the
kids that might have had is
sues to determine if they need
a referral for additional serv
ices, including if they meet
the criteria for APEX.”
If so, Kinser contacts the
student’s parents and gives
them information about
APEX. If the parents agree, a
Highland Rivers APEX ther
apist (Byrne is one of two
serving Pickens schools)
schedules an intake with the
student and family, and then
schedules regular therapy
sessions with the student at
the school.
“Most of the parents we
work with are glad to hear
about APEX,” says Kinser.
“They know the child is hav
ing some problems because
they are seeing it at home.
But they really want their
child to be able to maintain
during the school day - they
don’t want to keep missing
work to come and pick the
child up - so they are willing
to try APEX.”
Highland Rivers APEX
therapist Jennifer Byme says
that while students are re
ferred to APEX for a variety
of reasons, she does notice
some trends among children
of different ages.
"For kids in junior high
and high school, I see lot of
referrals for anxiety - defi
nitely a lot of anxiety sur
rounding COVID - but also
depression symptoms, some
bullying, and self-esteem
struggles," says Byme. "With
the younger kids, I see anger
management and adjustment
issues - such as having DFCS
involvement, or being re
moved from their home or
living with a relative. And if
the whole family wants or
needs a therapy session, we
do that too."
To date, Highland Rivers
has served 131 Pickens stu
dents through the APEX pro
gram. Among those, 46
percent were ages 5-12, and
54 percent were ages 13-17.
“The therapy sessions are
very discreet,” adds principal
Callahan. “Usually, a student
is just called up to the school
office and meets with the
Highland Rivers therapist in
a private area. Students get
called to the office for a vari
ety of reasons every day, so
no one knows any particular
student is going to meet with
a therapist.”
Embracing APEX
Funded by the Depart
ment of Behavioral Health
and Developmental Disabili
ties, APEX was piloted in
about 100 Georgia schools
beginning in the 2015 school
year. By the end of the fourth
program year, in June 2019,
the number of participating
schools had ballooned to 565,
and more than 14,000 Geor
gia students had received
services through the pro
gram; rural schools account
for nearly 80 percent of
Georgia schools that provide
APEX services.
Pickens County Schools
partnered with Highland
Rivers in 2017 to implement
the program in three schools,
and beginning with the 2019
school year, expanded the
program to all Pickens
schools.
“Pickens may not be a
large school system, espe
cially compared with some of
counties we serve, but it is in
novative and very open to
partnerships that will
strengthen opportunities for
student success,” said High
land Rivers Health CEO
Melanie Dallas, a longtime
resident of Pickens County.
“And I think that’s why Pick
ens has already expanded
APEX into all of its schools
even as some school systems
in the area have not imple
mented the program at all.”
That the school system
has continued to partner with
Highland Rivers for four
years to provide and expand
the program is not surprising.
According to a 2020 APEX
program evaluation by the
Center of Excellence for
Children’s Behavioral Health
at Georgia State University,
nearly 75 percent of schools
that engaged in providing
school-based mental health
services continued the part
nership with providers over
four years.
“Pickens County Schools
understood the potential ben
efits of APEX very quickly
and was interested in imple
menting the program in all its
schools,” Dallas added. “But
more important, in doing so,
the district has made mental
health services accessible to
4,300 young people in the
community, and that is a
pretty compelling achieve
ment.”
The win-win
Pickens County Schools
Superintendent Dr. Rick
Townsend has become a fan
of the APEX program since
joining the school system this
spring, especially because he
knows that mental health is
sues can have an ongoing
negative impact if not
treated.
“There has always been a
need for mental health sup
port for students, but because
of COVID there is increased
awareness,” Townsend says.
“APEX is an important re
source we offer our students
and parents. Students benefit
by getting the extra support
they might need and parents
benefit because it is so simple
for their kids to get help.
Once we contact parents
Shannon Cazier, EdS,
APEX Therapist
Pickens/Gilmer counties
n
I i
4
«
Jennifer Byrne, LPC,
APEX Therapist
Pickens County
Kimberly Guthrie,
APEX Community
Support Staff
Benji Parker, LMSW,
Child and Adolescent
Regional Manager
^HIGHLAND
iff'M\ IEALTH
#PickensAPEX
Highland Rivers Health is proud to partner with Pickens County Schools
through the Georgia APEX program to promote mental health and wellness for
Pickens County students and families, with resources in schools, Highland
Rivers' Pickens Outpatient Clinic and the Pickens County community.
#MaskUp #DragonNation
Beth Vice, LPC, CPCS, Jessica Goldblum- Falyn Mitchell, Business Cheryl Lewis, LPC, CPCS,
East Region Director Knight, HRH Operations HRH Operations HRH Director of
(Including Pickens) Coordinator Manager Outpatient Services
about their child receiving
services through APEX, they
usually want to move for
ward.”
Ultimately, Townsend be
lieves APEX helps level the
playing field by making men
tal health services available
to kids and families who
might not otherwise have ac
cess to such services.
“It’s like when a school
brings in a dentist to do
exams and cleanings in the
school - because if a child
doesn’t have a dentist or their
parents can’t afford to take
them to a dentist, that child
doesn’t get any dental care,”
he says. “It’s the same for
kids whose parents can’t take
them to a mental health
provider or can’t afford it -
APEX gives kids the oppor
tunity to get that extra care, it
doesn’t matter what address
or zip code you live in, you
still get the care you need.”
If you have a child in
Pickens County Schools and
are interested in learning
more about the APEX pro
gram and services, contact
your child’s school coun
selor.
ID
The state patrol and city
police are seeking informa
tion about the two vehicles
that left the scene. It is not
known if charges would be
made. An investigation
would have to determine if
the drivers were aware they
hit a person.
Anyone with information
on the vehicle and the driver
is asked to contact the Geor
gia State Patrol SCRT at 706-
624-1484 or the Jasper Police
Department at 706-253-9110.
Plants of the Southeast
Fireweed," Erechtites hieracifolius
Photo/Linda Lee
It turns out that fluffy blooms are a very efficient way of
moving around. Fireweed commonly shows up in places
that have been disturbed, even slightly.
By John Nelson
University of
South Carolina
Imagine that every person
in the world had all of his or
her natural life compressed
into a single year, from start
to finish. Talk about intense!
That’s what it is like for the
plants that we call “annual”
species...those that germi
nate from seed, then grow as
much as they can from a
(usually) rather fibrous root
system, finally going into re
productive “mode” and pro
ducing a crop of seeds,
before drying up and wither
ing away.
Many of the garden fa
vorites around us, such as
cosmos, zinnia, and
marigold, are annuals. The
evolution of an annual life
term in plants is a bit risky,
because there is only one pe
riod of time (a single growing
season) available to get
everything done. For an an
nual plant, the overriding
“goal” in existence is the for
mation of as large a crop of
viable seeds as possible,
these representing the next
generation, and an untimely
drought, flood, fire, or insect
attack may ruin the seed
crop. Now, plants that live for
a number of seasons--the
perennial species--have
something of a luxury in not
needing to be in such a rush.
For them, if one particular
growing season is not con
ducive to abundant seed pro
duction, that’s OK: maybe
the next year will be better.
After all, a perennial plant
will keep growing season
after season, coming back re
peatedly from a rhizome or
bulb, or something similarly
massive below (or above) the
ground, so it will have plenty
of chances to reproduce. An
nuals only get one shot.
Fireweed, Erechtites hi
eracifolius, is a native annual
species, common over much
of eastern North America. It
is usually smooth and dark
green, with plenty of toothy
leaves, these sometimes
lobed, up and down the stem.
Healthy, happy plants
growing in optimum settings
may be nearly 6’ tall, but they
can bloom when they are
much shorter. The plants pro
duce plenty of seeds when
they finally start flowering,
from mid-summer until frost.
(Another attribute of annual
plant species is that they pro
duce a relatively high number
of seeds, usually equipped
with some mechanism for
being dispersed widely, thus
increasing the likelihood of
their being established the
next season.)
This is a member of the
sunflower family (Aster-
aceae), and thus it has lots of
small flowers congested into
heads. The individual heads
are green and barrel-shaped,
wrapped around on the out
side by a layer of slender
bracts. Each flower ulti
mately produces a slender,
brown nutlet (or “achene”),
equipped with a prominent
fluff of a snowy-white pap
pus. So, once the plant starts
doing its thing, it will shed
hundreds-thousands?—of
little white parachutes, each
one with a nutlet, containing
the seed.
It turns out that this is a
very efficient way of moving
around. Fireweed commonly
shows up in places that have
been disturbed, even slightly.
Scraped places in the deep
woods, including wind-
caused tree throws (“tip-up”
mounds) are a good place for
it. It is even more likely to
occur wherever there has
been burning, whether small-
scale campfire sites, or in ex
tensive settings of previous
forest fires. ©JohnNel-
son2020
[John Nelson is the retired
curator of the A. C. Moore
Herbarium at the University
of South Carolina, in the De
partment of Biological Sci
ences, Columbia SC 29208.
As a public service, the
Herbarium offers free plant
identifications. For more in
formation, visit www.herbar-
ium.org or email
johnbnelson @sc. rr. com.]
10th Annual
Holiday Market in jasper
November 20 & 21, 2020
Chattahoochee Technical College, Jasper, C t
Over 70 booths of Arts, Crafts, Home Decor,
Fashion, and Much more
SIGNATURE SHOPPING BAG FRIDAY
November 20 - 4:30 to 8:00 p.m.
$5 Donation
First 250 Shoppers receive a Signature Shopping Bag filled with goodies
EVERYONE RECEIVES:
Five entries for Ten $100 Gift Baskets and
a $5 Diva and Dude Gift Card
SATURDAY SPECTACULAR SHOPPING
November 21 — 9:00 a.m. to 4:00p.m.
$1.00 Donation
Ten $100 Gift Baskets will be given away!
Thank You to Our 2020 Event Sponsors
fijajulctX
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HARRY DANIEL
I RE NAS ANT
BANK
111)1 Georgia Rustics
INSURANCE
fimcice fyUn-v* Piedmont
MmiMTAiMsmc
ill proceeds benefit local charities and non-profit organizatio