TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | m ay 2 0 1 7 17 a licensed master social worker (LMSW). "This is the age where you don't really know who you are yet ... you're experimenting. Should I hang with this crowd or that crowd? Your body is changing and you are really trying to figure out who you are. This is a very critical time. We get to the kids now, in middle school, so by the time they get to high school, they will be set and focused on who they are as a person." In the 2015-16 school year, Key Middle School led the district in the number of behavioral referrals, a way for teachers to refer students to administrators to be disciplined. There were 1,486 behavioral referrals for the school year, according to data collected by ProUnitas. BridgeUp at Key Middle School works with students through a tiered system based on three risk factors: attendance, behavior and coursework. Tier One students are deemed the lowest risk; Tier Three students are considered the highest risk. For the past year, Kenya and some of her class- mates at Key Middle School have been attending the voluntary BridgeUp classes taught by Edwards, who works with Tier One and Tier Two students. "In Child Builders, we talk about our problems and healthy relationships and unhealthy relationships," Kenya said. "It will help me a lot to learn how to not argue with my friends and with my family members." Students also see Edwards one-on-one for counsel- ing, either voluntarily or as a result of a referral from a teacher or administrator. The main goals of BridgeUp are to keep kids in school, teach them how to cope with conflicts that arise in school or at home, and, most importantly, succeed in life. Although BridgeUp has been very helpful for Kenya, she still struggles. "Last semester was kind of hard because my third period teacher always gives me zeros for no reason," Kenya said. "In my other classes, they make learning fun. I love my reading class. We are reading a book called Monsters. It has been really fun because my reading teacher in first period gave us all different parts to read." Recently, Kenya was suspended. "This boy had thrown a book at me and the teacher didn't do nothing about it," Kenya said. "So I defended myself and I hit him back. I was so scared because after that, he got all of his sisters that are in high school and they tried to jump me." When she returned from suspension, Kenya went to Edwards for advice. "Kenya processes everything with me and she told me about what happened with the suspension," Edwards said. "The girls this age like to play with the boys and then it turns serious, so I told her to not touch the boys and to distance herself from people who are not positive." At the end of the school year, Kenya will be moving to a different part of Houston to live with her mom. Although she is sad about leaving her friends and family at Key Middle School, she is looking forward to a fresh start. "I feel sad about moving," Kenya said. "When I think about it I start crying. But at my next school, I am going to choose the right friends to hang with and look for positive people like Ms. Edwards told me." BridgeUp is a new program, so administrators are still working out the kinks. In the two semesters BridgeUp has been operating at Key Middle School, Edwards and her ProUnitas team have experimented with holding the classes at different times during the day and on different days of the week to see which times work best for students and their families. "This year there has been a lot of inconsistency because we are trying things and because I was new on campus," Edwards said. "Now the students love coming to talk with me. … We have also seen referrals go down by 600 from the 2015-2016 school year." BridgeUp is focused on improving the mental health and well-being of the community's youth and, in particular, youth who are disadvantaged … — C. EDWARD COFFEY, M.D. President and CEO of The Menninger Clinic … we talk about our problems and healthy relationships and unhealthy relationships. It will help me a lot to learn how to not argue with my friends and with my family members. — KENYA A sixth-grader at Francis Scott Key Middle School Kenya, 12, in the hallway of her school.

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