Dana Carey, a school counselor from Lake Forest North Elementary School, has been named the state’s 2023 Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year.

The announcement was made by Department of Education Secretary Mark Holodick and House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, during Thursday’s statewide banquet honoring the 20 district and charter school network behavioral health professionals of the year.

“I have created positive relationships with my students by making meaningful connections I am a safe adult they can count on to listen to them, help them throughout their day, and be by their side when they need me,” Ms. Carey said. “I have sat by students’ sides when they have had to talk to community agencies, I have delivered food to their homes and I have provided them with clothing and school supplies when their families were not able to do so on their own.”

At the beginning of the school year, Ms. Carey administered a school-wide assessment of students’ food needs and identified 75 students with food insecurity.

This led to a partnership with the Food Bank of Delaware to set up a backpack site at the school, providing the 75 students with two breakfast meals, two lunch meals, drinks and snacks each week prior to heading home for the weekend.

Ms. Carey checks in with the students every week as she delivers their food and has also partnered with the Felton United Methodist Church to provide families with additional food in emergencies.

In the fall, Ms. Carey organized a school-wide food drive, collecting 1,600 non-perishable items to help stock the food pantries at the church and Lake Forest High School.

“My goal for this project is for my students to understand that we are a school family. We take care of and support each other to the best of our ability,” she said.  “In addition, we need to work together to give back to the community the best we can even when at times we struggle ourselves. Providing my students with community service opportunities promotes self-esteem and life satisfaction.”

Erin Dotson, principal of Lake Forest North Elementary School, said that Ms. Carey is the definition of a true leader.

“When Ms. Carey isn’t handing out school supplies or dispersing food for students to have for the weekend, she is teaching social emotional learning classes, holding social groups and individual sessions with students. I have never met a kinder and more caring person,” Ms. Dotson said. “The students are her first priority. If she discovers a need for her students, she will do whatever it takes to assist.”

The Delaware State Behavioral Health Professional of the Year program is administered by the Department of Education and recognizes outstanding service by school employees who are health care practitioners or human service providers.

Nominees can include school counselors, social workers, licensed clinical social workers, psychologists and school nurses.

Each school district or charter network winner receives a $2,000 personal award from their respective district or charter school. The state program then chooses one person annually to serve as Delaware’s Behavioral Health Professional of the Year, who receives an additional $3,000 personal award from the department and $5,000 to be used for the educational benefit of their students.