ALBERTVILLE – Educators are powerful role models.
Counseling and Mental Health Services Coordinator Kristi Rains has been tasked with a vital mission for Albertville City Schools – to bring school counselors, mental health services and community resources together for students and families in the Albertville City School System. Rains is in her first year as the leader of the Aggie Advocacy Center. For the last eight years, she was the counselor at Albertville Intermediate School. Prior to that, she worked in mental health counseling. When a role opened that combined her passions, she knew it was for her.
“For me, it’s very much understanding that this is calling for me and not just a job,” said Rains. “I’ve known for a long time I would be working in counseling and mental health and helping folks in that way. It’s looked different through the years as to what capacities, but I have to work in something I feel like makes a difference, and this is it. It’s what keeps me going. I want my community to be the best it can be, and this is my role in it.”
September is National Suicide Prevention Month and recognizing warning signs and providing resources for someone in need could be life saving. In 2020, suicide was the twelfth leading cause of death for Americans, according to the CDC. And for people ages 10-34, it was among the top three causes of death, the agency found.
“Suicide is an uncomfortable topic to discuss but one that should be discussed openly and honestly,” said Albertville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Boyd K. English. “Talk to the young people in your life. Let them know they are important. Let them know they have a network of support, care, and love. Difficult times are inevitable, suicide is not. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of our students.”
The Aggie Advocacy Center, which is located in the Alumni House on East Alabama Avenue, started in 2021 and is a consolidated coordinated space designed to help meet students’ more holistic needs. It’s a neutral space that doesn’t feel like school, a place where families can go to have difficult conversations and interventions. It also serves as a place to provide counseling services to students when schools are closed.
Suicide prevention has been something schools have been required to train their staff on and talk to their students about for many years. According to Rains, there is a need to talk to students at a young age. She has seen students in the third grade this year already having these overwhelming feelings, and she feels like social media plays a big role in them.
“It’s a big deal to have those kinds of thoughts. They hear a lot of things and get frustrated. We’ve been talking to our middle schoolers about suicide prevention and showing them how to notice warning signs in themselves and their friends,” said Rains. “An important piece we are teaching them is how to respond to their friends. One of the things that can be a struggle for a lot of students is when a friend confides in them and asks them not to tell anyone. The student feels concerned but doesn’t want to be a bad friend and tell their secret. We want them to know they are being a good friend when they let someone know so they can help.”
There are resources on albertk12.org for both students and parents. Visitors can find them on the Aggie Advocacy Center page under departments. School counselors are also available for parents to talk about individual situations. Rains says it’s important for parents to always take it seriously when their child is having these thoughts.
“Talk to your kids. Ask them how they are doing, and let them know that it’s okay to not be okay. Tell them you’re here to help if there’s something going on. Have a good conversation with them, and whether they take advantage of it or not, they will have the knowledge that they have somebody at home they can talk to and confide in,” said Rains. “Watch for sudden changes. Teenagers like to stay in their rooms a lot, but if that’s a sudden thing paired with other events like grades dropping or changes in social interactions, those are times to not just attribute that behavior to being a teenager.”
In the Aggie Advocacy program, each school is assigned an advocate that acts as a support role to the school counselor, and all students have access to an advocate. Advocacy looks different at the grade levels. For students in grades first-fourth, it may be advocating for physical needs, such as clothing and food, connecting families to community resources and providing behavior intervention. For middle and high school students, it can look like an additional person to help mentor the student and doing some social work type services. Nine weeks into school, around 150 students have already been directly served by the center.
Through a partnership with Mountain Lakes Behavioral Healthcare, Albertville City Schools now has a dedicated mental health therapist that serves only students in Albertville City Schools. Rains says having a dedicated mental health therapist for ACS provides the level of service students need. In addition to the therapist’s regular caseload, an additional 28 students have been referred this school year.
“Our advocates provide social and emotional support, but then we also connect students and families to community resources. One of those is the Albertville City Schools Foundation Ready to Learn program. The money raised for this program goes directly to help with student needs,” said Rains. “All school staff has access to a form they can fill out to identify any student they feel has a need for clothing, shoes, personal hygiene items, etc. We even had one student who needed glasses, and a local provider helped with that. Ready to Learn is about removing those barriers for students, so they are ready to learn.”
To donate, you can mail your donation to the Albertville City Schools Foundation at 107 West Main Street, Albertville, AL 35950. You can also donate online at https://givebutter.com/readytolearn.
The Aggie Advocacy Center also partners with local food pantries, such as the Second Chance Food Pantry, to make sure students have the food they need to thrive.
“Second Chance Food Pantry has been absolutely great to work with our students and our families,” said Rains. “We’re teaching our families how to access and utilize a community resource. We have so many resources out there, and we are working on educating our families about them. We want a cohesive program that bridges our community to our families so that we can best support our students.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat online at 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Kristi Rains, Ed.S., NBCT, LPC, is the counseling and mental health services coordinator for Albertville City Schools. In this new position, Rains has been tasked with a vital mission for ACS – to bring school counselors, mental health services and community resources together for students and families in the Albertville City School System.
Earlier this month, First Southern State Bank donated $4,600 to the Albertville City Schools Foundation and the Aggie Advocacy Center for the Ready to Learn program. The donation will help remove barriers that keep students from being ready to learn by providing tangible needs to them. Pictured, from left, is ACS Foundation Board Chairman Jeremy Smith, ACS Foundation Board Member Spring Charles, ACS Foundation Director Annah Grace Morgan, First Southern State Bank Vice-President Susan Armstrong and Top Selling Teller Tonya Painter.
