Reprinted from Counseling Today Magazine, Tuesday August 26, 2003
By: Dawn A. Pennington

With only a few clicks of a mouse, teens will soon have a mental health resource available to them, about them and for them. Schoolblues.com is a free program designed to help students and parents locate counseling resources in their schools or local communities.

According to founder Bill Keefe, SchoolBlues.com was created in response to the overwhelming success of CampusBlues.com, a mental and physical health education/outreach program utilized by students at more than 300 colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada.

"We are delivering to high schools a free program that provides an interactive website, dealing with the top-notch issues kids are concerned about," Keefe said. "Our ultimate goal is to connect students to qualified adults. With the website, we hope to reduce the stigma for putting their hands up and asking for help."

Keefe is in the process now of promoting the program to high schools all across the nation. Beginning in November, students from registered schools will be able to go to the website, select their schools and click on the link. A window will appear with a name, number and usually an e-mail address of a local counselor.

"We're pointing the students toward resources at their own schools. For each high school that participates, they identify a volunteer who is available there for students to talk to," he said. "In addition to school-based resources, we identify other local and community- based resources as well. In many cases, the support services are delivered by American Counseling Association members."

"ACA recognizes the need to network with organizations that share a similar philosophy in regard to enhancing the counseling profession, and working to improve the lives of those clients and students with whom our members work," said Richard Yep, ACA executive director.

Participating schools are given free educational posters to help promote SchoolBlues.com as a resource to their students. "We are able to do this at no cost to the schools because of the support from sponsors and help from the ACA," Keefe said.

The website, which is currently in a demo version, offers articles on teen issues such as relationships, depression, anxiety, college, violence, acne and eating disorders. The articles, written by professional counselors and speaking directly to students, not only give warning signs for a variety of troubles, but, also provide solutions and coping strategies that are easy to understand and relate to.

ACA first collaborated with Keefe last year, in the midst of the Washington D.C.-based sniper shootings and nationwide terrorist alerts, on the launch of the joint "Talk to Somebody" campaign on WorkplaceBlues.com. The goal of that outreach campaign was to provide online information about coping strategies and counseling resources to the general public during times of distress.

Yep said that the partnerships with Keefe have been ones of mutual benefit. He added, " At this point in time, we must look at how to reach students who are facing life's many challenges. I believe that SchoolBlues.com is just one more tool for mental health professionals to meet that objective." Keefe agreed. "SchoolBlues.com is the next step in an ongoing joint initiative to raise public awareness of available support services during times of crisis, both personal and national," he said. "Teaching young people and their parents to recognize the importance of seeking help when they need it is a valuable lifetime lesson."

CampusBlues.com, which is geared toward college-age students, trailblazed the path of offering counseling resources to youth. Several hundred colleges have partnered with CampusBlues, providing reciprocal links that have resulted in countless students visiting their counseling centers after reading the website, and vice versa.

Richard Boyum, senior counseling psychologist and webpage coordinator for the Counseling Services department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, uses CampusBlues as a "homework assignment" for students he counsels. "My students have told me how important this medium (the Internet) is in their everyday lives," he said. "So I ask them to go home, read CampusBlues, and find something interesting that we can discuss at their next session."

He noted that his department's website attracts a significant number of hits from CampusBlues, so he knows that his students are using the information they are finding. "My experiences in talking and working with Bill is that he is an extremely innovative, creative, devoted and pragmatic individual, as related to the websites he has developed," Boyum said. "These are some of the same characteristics that define good counselors."

He commended Keefe's "desire to get material in the hands of people 24/7 to make a difference in the quality of their lives," Boyum said. "He sees the valuable role of technology as providing additional tools to help students as they try to find out who they are, where they are going and how to deal with various things happening in their lives."

Keefe is pleased to offer these resources at a time when the need is overwhelming and counseling programs are suffering because of many budget cuts in school systems across America. SchoolBlues.com is the fourth website launched by ReconnectingU, a private company based in Massachusetts. Stoploneliness.com was the first online mental health resource endeavor launched by Keefe, who is the founder and the chairman of the board of ReconnectingU.

"ReconnectingU is dedicated to supporting the mental health and well-being of individuals as they move through life's major transitions. By offering quality, accessible and affordable assistance services, our goal is to become a trusted resource in times of personal challenge and growth," Keefe said.

Boyum noted that, as a college counselor, he appreciates that sites like SchoolBlues and CampusBlues aren't meant to be stand-alone sites, but rather a way for students to collect information on their own time and are encouraged to process that information with their campus mental health professionals. "He's doing an excellent job in his devotion to being a change agent and making students' lives different."

Assistance program for college students Due to the ongoing challenges with insurance companies not reimbursing mental heath services, last August ReconnectingU established the Student Assistance Program. Modeled after the likes of the Employee Assistance Program, SAP is a specialized support program for students and their unique needs.

For an enrollment fee, a student will be given a wallet- sized access card with a toll-free phone number. They will be able to contact a trained counselor 24 hours a day, every day of the week. Students can speak to professionals on a variety of topics ranging from addiction, academic stress to eating disorders, relationship concerns and grief counseling. Counselors provide not only crisis intervention but also offer free legal and financial counseling and referrals.

The convenience of the card and around-the-clock resource availability will enable teens to find help wherever they may be at the time. This is especially beneficial for students who need assistance after their counseling office's hours have ended or who are away from school on holidays. The parent or the student him or herself can enroll in the program, which is designed to work cooperatively with school counseling services. The SAP Care Package ($39.95) consists of a full year of coverage and unlimited confidential phone guidance and support with licensed professionals. The SAP Care Package Plus ($69.95) gives the students an additional six face-to-face sessions with a licensed counselor.

"SAP is an amazing new concept. For decades, employee assistance programs have offered support services to adults," Keefe said. "Parents frequently struggle with insurance coverage for counseling for their children. Now they have an opportunity to make the same professional support available to their children at an affordable cost."

Keefe is scheduled to attend the 2004 American Counseling Association Convention in Kansas City, Mo. Materials and information on all of the ReconnectingU websites will be available at its booth during the convention. For more information on SchoolBlues.com or the Student Assistance Program, contact Bill Keefe at keefe@reconnectingu.com.