Drugs, depression, grief, pregnancy, and anger; these are all things problems that Students Support Services addresses and assists.
Student Support Services is a program that was brought to Akins by the administration in the 2006-2007 school year.
“Some assistant principals who worked in different school districts thought that it would be helpful, since Akins was a newer school at the time,” SSS director Colleen Arnold said.
Arnold began working at Akins in March 2009.
“I decided that I wanted to help adolescents after I worked with juveniles with drug problems for Travis County Correctional Facilities,” Arnold said. “I like working in a school because you aren’t always focusing on the same problem, and you get to help multiple kinds of people.”
The SSS has groups of all kinds ranging from teen pregnancy, to drugs or issues at home. The different groups are LGBTQ support, which is for students that are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning. The next group is Pregnant and Parenting Teens, which is for pregnant girls or their partners and teaches them parenting skills and helps with transitions. Another group is Grief and Loss, which helps students who have lost a love one deal with the grief attached to it. The fourth group is Phoenix House. Phoenix House is a group that brings an outside mentor to help students with drug abuse problems.
“Groups are scheduled ahead of time and you don’t always have to share or talk,” intern Erin Willig said.
At the SSS, students can also receive other services.
Other groups are Anger and Emotions management, which deal with coping with personal emotions on the inside and how you deal with them on the outside. A group that has separate boy and girl meetings is Healthy Relationships. Healthy Relationships is a group that deals with improving relationships with friends, family and in personal relationships. The last group is Girl’s Empowerment that helps with giving girls their own voice.
The SSS does not only mentor but helps with outside problems.
“We can help you get anything from clothing, jackets, eye glasses, baby clothes,” Arnold said. “We can also get you connected with outside agencies that help with depression, grief or other programs like that.”
Student Support Services also has the option of one-on-one sessions with Arnold or interns.
“Sometimes I go and talk to Ms. Arnold about anything,” senior Luis Hernandez said. “She helps a lot.”
Interns have one-on-one meeting with students.
“A one-on-one meeting with a student is built to help the student individually,” Willig said. “It can be built around when you’re available.”
The interns in the SSS are Masters students at The University of Texas at Austin or Texas State at San Marcos.
“When you are a first year graduate student you get placed at a school, and don’t get to choose where you go,” Willig said. “When you’re in second year of a Masters program you interview at different places and they ask where you want to go.”
An intern meets with different students, just as Arnold does, and acts as a mentor and someone that they can talk to.
“My favorite part of being an intern is that in high school you’re at an age where you experience a lot of different things,” intern Katie Jensen said. “There is a really big diversity of students at Akins so it’s neat to see all of the different backgrounds and perspectives people come from.”
AHA assistant principal Mary Mena believes that SSS is a help to campus.
“Students that don’t have support or things they need can go there, it’s such a great help,” Mena said. “It’s also really great for students that are kind of ashamed to ask for help because it’s confidential.”
The SSS is open everyday and is located in the very front office. A referral is not needed from an adult to receive help.
“Anyone can receive our services,” Arnold said. “They can either be recommended or come themselves. It is all voluntary and confidential.”
