Brunswick School Superintendent on the WCME Midcoast Morning Buzz

Students in 18 school districts, including Brunswick and Bath-based RSU-1, may have less mental health support next year now that the nonprofit behavioral health organization Sweetser, providing long-term therapy, says it can’t afford to keep current staffing levels.

Sweetser had 80-school based clinicians working with more than 2,300 children in 100 public schools during the last school year. It’s a service many school officials say students desperately need because the state is near a crisis point in youth mental health challenges, and school counselors and social workers need the additional support Sweetser provides. Sweetser’s decision to scale back services comes after the program ran a $1.5 million deficit this fiscal year.

In Bath, RSU-1 Superintendent Patrick Manuel says the current Sweetser clinician at Morse High School will now be based in Brunswick. While she will be able to continue to see students at Morse, she will have to dedicate time to the Brunswick clinic as well.

Brunswick School Superintendent Phil Potenziano discussed the situation as it impacts on his district on the WCME Midcoast Morning Buzz.

You may hear it here.