The increasing number of students getting concussions has raised questions among some students about getting a Brookline Resilient Youth Team (BRYT) referral.
BRYT is a program designed to help students adjust back to school after an extended absence due to medical or psychiatric reasons or other extreme circumstances, according to BRYT Clinical Coordinator Ray Feller. Feller estimates the current number of concussions at about 50.
A student who may be in need of BRYT must get a referral from his or her guidance counselor in order to join, Feller said.
“If a guidance counselor knows one of their students has been out of school a long time, they’ll come talk to us,” Feller said. “It will depend on why the person was out and what supports they already have in place and how many students we have in BRYT at the moment.”
For junior Emilia Morgan, who has a post-concussion syndrome, this process occurred soon after her concussion. Morgan fell off a horse in August and had a second impact later that month due to the pressure caused by the depth of a pool. Morgan had heard about BRYT beforehand, but her guidance counselor also suggested it following a call from her mother asking what to do.
Morgan’s guidance counselor helped arrange a meeting on the second day of school between the three of them and a nurse, who also recommended the program; soon after, Morgan met with a BRYT coordinator. She is now enrolled in the program.
Senior Tess Jewell, on the other hand, did not know about BRYT for some time. She said she had over 30 absences in some classes last year due to endometriosis, and then dealt with symptoms of a concussion obtained while participating in Powderpuff this year. She finally heard about BRYT when substitute teacher Robert Levine mentioned it to her while substituting for one of her classes. She said she was confused why she had not been placed in the program.
She then went to BRYT to talk to a coordinator about joining and was told she needed a referral from a guidance counselor.
“I went to see her that day, and she wasn’t there, and I was kind of annoyed with the situation, so I kind of gave up on it,” Jewell said. “I wanted to be a part of it, but I just didn’t really have the energy and time to seek out people to help me get in it.”
Jewell said she wishes there were greater awareness of BRYT, especially since many students are getting concussions. She said she believes improvements could be made to the referral process.
“I think that teachers should be able to refer you as well because you see your teachers every day, and the guidance counselors are responsible for so many kids in the school that it’s hard for them to be on top of the case of every single one,” she said
According to Feller, BRYT does referrals only through guidance counselors in order to “streamline the process.”
“We do it through the guidance counselors just to make sure that communication-wise, everything is centralized, because sometimes things can get confusing if this person’s teacher thinks they should be in BRYT, but this person’s guidance counselor knows that there’s other information that would be helpful,” she said.
Feller also said that it is rare that a guidance counselor will be unaware of a student’s condition or that the student will have to ask a guidance counselor for a referral. Reasons for this include the guidance counselor noticing the high number of absences and then reaching out to BRYT or the student’s parents letting the guidance counselor know of medical issues.
“Guidance counselors, they’re like pretty awesome spies in the background, figuring out what’s up,” she said. “They are pretty on top of things.”
But there can also be exceptions for why a guidance counselor may either not know of the student’s condition or choose not to refer a student, according to Feller.
“Now and then, I’m sure, if no one called, the guidance counselor may not realize someone’s been out. They don’t check everyone’s attendance every day,” Feller said. “And then there are probably also cases where a student may have told their guidance counselor, ‘Oh, everything’s fine. I’m not worried about it. It’s great.’ Some people are more private so they may not share everything with their guidance counselor.”
Alex Johnson can be contacted at [email protected].
