The success of the Behavioral Health Support Program and annual Counselor’s Conference garnered attention at Three Rivers College’s monthly board meeting Wednesday.
Board chair Gary Featherston congratulated Corey Reynolds, the program manager for the Behavioral Health Support Program, on receiving the Program of the Year Award from FCC Behavioral Health in 2021.
“What this really shows is the incredible amount of work that Mr. Reynolds has done in our community, in our surrounding area — to be out there, to be present, to build the relationships, to build those partnerships and really make a difference,” he said.
Reynolds has pioneered the Behavioral Health Support Program to streamline behavioral health education and fortify mental health services with new, qualified workers. The 18-month accelerated program requires two field practicums and 315 practicum hours for students to earn their Associates of Applied Science in Behavioral Health Support.
“This year in May, we’ll be graduating eight students, and this week, we just had 19 new students come in. So we’re excited about that,” Reynolds said.
The program’s success has attracted notice. Reynolds went on, “Last week, the Missouri Behavioral Health Council sent an update that I’m really excited about, and they have just completed drafting their proposal for a delegation for programs like ours ... The delegation will require for anyone who’s going to enter behavioral health or mental health services here in the state of Missouri, to complete a program like ours here at Three Rivers College at the associate’s level.”
During the President’s report, ACHIEVE director Davina Bixby reported the 34th annual Counselor’s Conference was a hit with students and high school counselors.
“We had 34 people pre-register, 22 counselors actually attended and we had 17 different schools represented,” she said.
This year, TRC focused on highlighting the services and support available to students. Bixby said they set up tables from different departments and brought in hands-on demonstrations with science labs and welding. TRC’s choir even joined in to represent the music department.
“Overall, we got really good reviews. They love the hands-on part, they love (that) we had our ambassadors there. They love talking to the ambassadors, seeing the students as well as the faculty, the staff. So it was a very successful program,” Bixby explained. She went on to say some attendee reviews listed the Counselor’s Conference as their favorite such event this school year.
Finances were also largely positive despite tuition and revenues lagging behind where they were this time last year. Financial officer Charlotte Eubank explained the decrease was in line with recent trends the school had seen in enrollment, and TRC had already budgeted accordingly. The college is still well in the black and adjusted its spending to allow expansion of improvements to a sports field and one set of restrooms, as well as replacing the parking lot at the License Bureau. It even saved some money thanks to grants.
“And then we have two reserves projects intended, that were previously budgeted out of institutional funds, but we’ll be able to cover them with grant funds,” she said.
The report also showed the school approved a $61,011 bid from FE Technologies to install a new RFID system in the library.