Poplar Bluff School District receives grant for play therapy training

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo., (KBSI) — The Poplar Bluff School District has received an $8,000 grant to certify its school-based therapist in play therapy, a research-developed intervention for young students.

The grant, awarded by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation, will be used to train licensed therapist Jodi Powell through the Heartland Play Therapy Institute.

Powell will work with approximately 25-30 students in pre-K through third grade, providing a non-verbal way for children to express their feelings and resolve psychosocial difficulties.

The district adopted the school-based therapist position this academic year, after initially being funded through a grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The grant is part of a larger effort to address mental health needs in rural Missouri communities, with a dozen schools and organizations receiving a total of $250,000 in funding.