BY RYAN O’CONNOR

Bow Memorial and high school students who are facing difficult life situations will now have somewhere to turn when confronted with substance abuse, moral/emotional conflict, family problems or a number of other adolescent issues.

Heather Kingston, who specializes in school-based counseling, will work with Bow High School and Memorial School, students and parents to help prevent high-risk behaviors and deal with personal problems that may lead to such decisions.

She met with district officials and staff on March 9 and parents and community members on March 20 to discuss her purpose within the district and provide information on how she will approach student-related issues dealing with drugs and alcohol, thoughts of hurting oneself or others, depression, dropping grades, running away, family problems and other common teenage stressors.

A lot of Kingston’s purpose within the schools will be centered on classroom and group education, though it goes well beyond.

“The concept is to be proactive and preventative in nature –  you’re educating kids before they make those decisions,” she said. “The main scope is drugs and alcohol education, but it’s also counseling when somebody has been identified as having some sort of issue, whether it’s some kind of school policy violation, or maybe they even have a family or friend who is having issues.”

In addition to one-on-one counseling and classroom education, Kingston will offer social skills groups and female self-image groups.

“Basically I’m here to give them some tools to go out there and critically think about society and how to deal with issues they face on a day-to-day basis.”

According to Kingston, students can be referred to the program by peers, teachers, guidance counselors, parents, community members. Or they can refer themselves.

All referrals, she noted, are confidential.

After the first meeting with a student, Kingston said she will generally inform parents she is working with their child.

Kingston is not an employee of the Bow School District, however. She works for Second Start, and her position within the district is contracted out and funded through BADCo (Bow Alcohol and Drug Coalition).

BADCo receives federal and state grant money for drug-free schools, said Superintendent Kathleen Holt, which helps the group pay for Kingston’s assistance.

Kingston will keep statistics on the number of students and staff members with whom she works and how she communicates with them.

As far as the use of Kingston is concerned, Holt said she expects it to take time before district officials and students become comfortable with the concept.

“It may get worse before it gets better because people don’t understand, and often when something like this is being brought out, people might misinterpret what we’re trying to do,” said Holt. “When we first talked about this, our thought was that it would probably take at least six months, with an individual in the position, before we actually see people utilizing the position for what it is intended.

“People need to recognize that she’s not a narc and that the relationship is meant to be a positive one.”
Bow student resource officer Ryan Cochrane said Kingston’s position does not infringe on his duties, but rather noted the two are mutually exclusive, yet compliment each other well.

“She is an excellent resource for guidance and things like that when it comes to general substance abuse,” said Cochrane. “I certainly can talk to students, but I’m in an authoritative position where as she is less threatening and people may be more apt to go to her. That allows her to be be proactive, while I often am forced to be very reactive when something happens.”

Cochrane said in less serious cases, he and the school may work on a resolution that includes a student meeting with Kingston.

Holt noted that Kingston is just one additional resource for students.

“Our guidance counselors are often swamped with academic issues supporting students, so while they would identify a situation and work with students for how it affects them academically, they now have a resource that can assist them in other areas,” said Holt. “We see this as adding to the tools the tools that we we already have. We want to give kids as many options as we can.”