In one week in March, school psychologist Tim Farrow supported a student who received a text message that her father had died unexpectedly, helped another student with federal Section 8 affordable housing vouchers for his family, and completed a suicide risk review for a student with an intellectual disability who was struggling with grief over the loss of a family member.
That was in addition to providing required services for 25 students with disabilities on his caseload. Farrow cares about all 1,700 students at Denver’s North High School, but he said the extra work beyond his caseload can make his job feel unsustainable.
“Most of the extra work we’re doing as educators, it’s things that we want to do,” said Farrow, who is one of two psychologists at North. It’s just that he and other mental health staff want “the opportunity to do those things without being run into the ground,” he said.
