School-based mental health counseling allows students to receive professional, individual psychotherapy on-site at their school during regular school hours. Tall Pines Behavioral Health therapists set up dedicated, private office space within the school building, making it easier for students to access consistent mental health support without sacrificing their family's evening routine or transportation needs.

No. Tall Pines Behavioral Health is an independent, private mental health agency. We maintain a collaborative relationship with the school district to provide space in the building, but we are completely separate from the school system.

• We are not funded or managed by the school board, district, private school system.

• Our clinicians are independent, licensed mental health professionals employed strictly by Tall Pines Behavioral Health.

• Services are billed as medical/mental health care, not through school taxes or school district budgets.

In some of our partner schools, we offer limited availability of school-based psychological testing.

School-based psychological testing provided by a licensed Clinical or Counseling Psychologist (such as those at Tall Pines Behavioral Health) involves comprehensive, medical-grade diagnostic evaluations conducted on-site at your child’s school. While school district testing focuses primarily on educational eligibility for special education, clinical testing provides a deep, comprehensive medical diagnosis and holistic picture of your child's psychological functioning. 

Our psychologists conduct formal, standardized testing across several specialized areas:

• Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluations: Evaluating complex mood disorders, anxiety disorders, depression, trauma/PTSD, and severe emotional or behavioral dysregulation.

• Neurodevelopmental Assessments: Diagnostic evaluations for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and executive dysfunction.

• Psychosocial & Personality Testing: Assessing coping mechanisms, emotional processing, interpersonal styles, and underlying psychological stressors.

• Differential Diagnosis: Disentangling overlapping symptoms—for example, determining whether a student's classroom difficulties stem from anxiety, an unaddressed attention deficit, trauma, or a combination of factors.

**Please note this is not available in all of our partner schools and often has a substantial wait list.

It is common to confuse these roles, but they serve distinct and complementary functions in a child's overall growth. The two professions work closely together to support childrens psychological and social health and development:

Employment

• • School Counselor: Employed directly by the school

  • Mental Health Therapist: Employed by Tall Pines Behavioral Health 

Focus Area

• • School Counselor: Universal emotional literacy, peer relationships, coping strategies for school settings, academic planning, and career readiness 

  • Mental Health Therapist: Intensive, individualized, ongoing clinical therapy (e.g., anxiety, clinical depression, complex trauma, grief, severe emotional dysregulation) 

Primary Scope

• • School Counselor: School-wide/Tier 1 & Tier 2 support: Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), psychosocial development, academic advising, and short-term crisis triage 

  • Mental Health Therapist: Tier 3 clinical support: Comprehensive individual psychotherapy, clinical diagnosis, and specialized treatment for mental health conditions 

Targeted Population

• • School Counselor: Supports the entire student body through large-group lessons, small groups, and brief counseling

  • Mental Health Therapist: Provides targeted individual and group therapy for students referred and enrolled in clinical care

Records

• • School Counselor: Educational records (governed by FERPA) 

  • Mental Health Therapist: Private medical records (governed by HIPAA) 

School counselors play a vital, foundation-building role in nurturing the whole child. They deliver universal Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum and foster healthy psychosocial development for all students across the school. Their work includes:

• Building Core SEL Competencies: Teaching foundational skills like self-awareness, self-management, empathy, responsible decision-making, and positive relationship building through classroom lessons and small groups.

• Supporting Psychosocial Milestones: Helping students navigate key developmental stages, such as adjusting to school transitions, building healthy self-esteem, handling peer pressure, resolving conflicts, and mastering age-appropriate social skills.

• Creating a Positive Climate: Facilitating school-wide mental wellness initiatives, bullying prevention programs, and school-wide resilience strategies.

School counselors serve as the frontline support system within the school environment. When a student's emotional or mental health needs extend beyond general SEL lessons, brief supportive check-ins, or school-wide strategies, the school counselor can help identify those needs and connect the family to Tall Pines Behavioral Health for specialized, intensive clinical therapy.

Together, the school counselor supports the student's overall educational and social-emotional growth, while the Tall Pines therapist provides deep, clinical intervention for underlying mental health conditions.

While both school psychologists and clinical psychologists bring advanced expertise in human behavior and mental health into a school building, their daily roles, core focus, and governing guidelines are distinctly different.

School Psychologists are educational specialists employed directly by the school district. Their primary mission centers on learning, cognitive development, and classroom behavior. A school psychologist spends much of their time conducting psychoeducational evaluations to determine whether a student has a learning disability, developmental delay, or behavioral challenge that qualifies them for special education services, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), or 504 accommodations. They collaborate closely with teachers and administrators to design classroom intervention strategies, analyze learning data, and support school-wide behavioral programs. 

Clinical Psychologists—such as those operating through an independent agency like Tall Pines Behavioral Health—are licensed healthcare providers whose primary focus is comprehensive mental health diagnosis and specialized clinical treatment. Rather than focusing solely on academic performance, a clinical psychologist evaluates and treats broader emotional, behavioral, and psychological conditions, including clinical depression, anxiety disorders, severe trauma, or complex neurodevelopmental profiles. They conduct formal psychological and diagnostic testing and provide ongoing, intensive psychotherapy to promote long-term healing across all areas of a child's life—at home, at school, and in the community. As healthcare professionals, their services are billed through health insurance or private pay, and their treatment records are protected under medical privacy laws (HIPAA), remaining strictly confidential and completely separate from school files (governed by FERPA).

In short, a school psychologist is an educational expert who evaluates how a child learns and functions within the classroom to ensure they get the right academic accommodations. A clinical psychologist is a healthcare provider who diagnoses mental health conditions and provides deep, ongoing clinical therapy to foster emotional health and well-being.

Supporting a student’s emotional and social well-being requires a strong, interconnected safety net. Some schools have School Social Workers and School Mental Health Navigators who play key roles in that support. In some schools these professionals are the primary access point for referrals for Tall Pines Behavioral Health's school based services. Both professions guide and support the family through the system—ensuring the child successfully connects with ongoing, specialized clinical therapy without getting lost in the paperwork or logistical hurdles.

School-Based Social Workers are student services professionals employed directly by the school district. Operating as an internal safety net, they focus on systemic, social, and environmental factors that affect a student's ability to learn. Social workers address attendance and truancy concerns, provide short-term supportive counseling, lead social skills groups, and assist unhoused or food-insecure families. They also collaborate on IEP and 504 accommodation plans, conduct home visits, and step in during campus crises to keep students safe and engaged in the classroom. 

School Mental Health Navigators—often employed by independent healthcare agencies like Tall Pines Behavioral Health or regional health networks—focus specifically on care coordination, systems navigation, and removing practical barriers to care. Rather than offering direct therapy or managing school-based academic plans, a Navigator acts as a dedicated care guide for the family. They handle the logistical side of accessing mental health care: matching a student with the right therapist, arranging intake appointments, and facilitating a smooth transition between school staff and clinical providers.

• Maximizes Instructional Time: Traditional outpatient therapy often requires parents to take time off work, pick their child up early, drive across town, wait, and drive back—resulting in a student missing half or all of a school day. With school-based care, students typically miss only 45–50 minutes of non-core class time and return directly to learning.

• Convenience for Families: Parents don't need to arrange mid-day transportation, take time off work, or manage hectic after-school clinic appointments.

• Better Consistency & Attendance: Appointments are integrated into the child's weekly routine, leading to fewer missed sessions and smoother therapeutic progress.

• Real-Time Context: Therapists can observe and address academic, social, and emotional challenges right in the environment where students experience them daily.

• Comfort & Authenticity: Testing occurs in a familiar educational setting, reducing student anxiety and capturing performance in the environment where daily challenges typically manifest.

• Minimal Disruption: Testing sessions are broken into manageable blocks during the school day, preventing long, exhausting trips to outpatient clinics or missed days of instruction.

• Direct Clinical Recommendations: Families receive a comprehensive diagnostic report with tailored recommendations for both clinical therapy and actionable classroom strategies that school teams can use to build effective accommodations

Tall Pines Behavioral Health operates under strict healthcare privacy guidelines (HIPAA).

• Private Medical Records: Therapy session notes, treatment plans, and diagnostic details are stored securely in Tall Pines' HIPAA-compliant electronic health record system. They are never entered into the school’s academic portal, student cumulative file, or report cards.

• Information Sharing: Our therapists will only share general coordination details (such as confirming appointment times) with school staff as needed to manage the schedule. Detailed clinical information is never shared with teachers, principals, or school staff without explicit, written consent from a parent or legal guardian.

• Standard Exceptions: As required by law and ethical standards, confidentiality must be broken only if a student poses an immediate danger to themselves or others, or if child abuse or neglect is disclosed or suspected.

Yes. We view parents and legal guardians as essential partners in a child's mental health journey.

• Prior to beginning care, parent/guardian consent is required.

• Therapists conduct comprehensive intake assessments with parents to understand the child’s history, home environment, and therapeutic goals.

• Therapists maintain ongoing communication with parents through scheduled check-ins, phone updates, and family sessions when appropriate.

Students receiving mental health care—along with their parents or legal guardians—have fundamental legal rights under state and federal law. At Tall Pines Behavioral Health, we are committed to honoring and protecting these rights throughout the treatment process.

Key rights include:

• Respect & Dignity: The right to be treated with courtesy, dignity, and respect for personal privacy and cultural identity.

• Informed Consent: The right to receive clear information about proposed treatments, potential risks, and benefits, and to participate in setting treatment goals.

• Confidentiality: The right to have personal medical records and therapy discussions kept private under strict healthcare privacy laws (HIPAA), with exceptions limited to immediate safety emergencies or legally mandated disclosures.

• Choice & Participation: The right to request changes to a treatment plan, decline specific interventions, or discontinue voluntary services at any time.

• Filing a Grievance: The right to express concerns or submit a formal grievance regarding services without fear of retaliation or loss of care.

(Note: Under state law, specific rights regarding consent for treatment, access to records, and decision-making authority depend on the age of the minor.)

For detailed information regarding specific legal rights, minor consent regulations, and state-mandated client rights protections, please visit the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Client Rights Office.

Tall Pines Behavioral Health is an In-Network Provider for most major insurance carriers in our community. Please see our Investment and Finances page for a detailed listing of our currently accepted insurance plans. Our team will help verify your insurance coverage during the referral process. School based services are typically covered the same as if the service occured at our clinic. The cost of the service depends upon the agreed upon rate or discount your insurance company offers.

Our team at Tall Pines Behavioral Health doesn't want cost to be a barrier to care for your child. Please note that many of our schools have access to charitable funds to cover costs for families without insurance or who are otherwise unable to afford services. Additionally, Tall Pines Behavioral Health offers a variety of financial tools (e.g. sliding scales, pro bono services, reduced rates, payment plants, etc) to make care affordable. 

We work closely with school administrators and teachers to schedule sessions during non-core subjects, study halls, or rotational periods whenever possible. Our goal is to minimize disruption to critical academic instruction while prioritizing the child's emotional well-being.

Tall Pines Behavioral Health accepts most major commercial insurance plans, Medicaid, and self-pay options. Our billing department verifies benefits prior to the first session so families understand their coverage, co-pays, or deductibles ahead of time.

Getting started is simple:

1. School Referral: Please contact your childs school to request a referral form directly from your child's school. Each school has a point of contact (listed in our location directory on this page) that offers the fastest and simplest way to access our services. Anyone in your childs school should be able to connect you with this person. 

2. Contact Tall Pines: You can call our main office or fill out our online referral request form on our website. We will then work with your childs school to assess availability of services.

3. Intake & Consent: Once we receive your information, our team will guide you through the initial paperwork, insurance verification, and consent process before scheduling the first appointment. Paperwork must be completed before the first visit to ensure that your insurance will cover the service and that you are matched with the best professional available to meet your neeeds.

4. Initial Visit: The initial visit (often called an intake), usually includes both the parents or guardians and the child. During this visit our therapists will get to know your family, gather important background and diagnostic information, and offer an initial assessment and plan for treament.

5. Following Visits: Caregivers may or may not regularly participate in school based therapy sessions after the intake based on your childs needs, treatments, and caregivers availability. Parents or guardians must attend treatment plan review meetings (typically every three months) and maintain regular contact with the therapist between session by phone or email. 

The initial process for a referral is the same as our other school based services, but includes several additional steps.

1. Intake & Referral: A parent or guardian requests an evaluation directly through Tall Pines Behavioral Health or via a referral from a school counselor or pediatrician. This process will include gathering some additional information, requesting records, and working with your insurance company if any authorizations are needed in advance.

2. Clinical Interview: The psychologist meets with parents/guardians and often the child to review developmental history, current concerns, and family goals.

3. Standardized Testing Sessions: The psychologist or a technician under their supervision works 1-on-1 with the student at school using standardized cognitive, emotional, and behavioral assessment tools, alongside rating scales completed by parents and teachers.

4. Feedback & Report: The psychologist hosts a detailed feedback session with parents to explain findings, provide the diagnostic report, and discuss next steps for therapy, home strategies, and school support.

The entire process can be lengthy, taking several weeks or months depending on how quickly information can be gathered.