The N.J.S.D. welcomes Dr. Michael Altekruse to fill the position of mental health coordinator for the district.

“I’m the first of my kind,” Altekruse joked when asked about his position. After 23 years as a counseling psychologist at UW-Oshkosh, he now pioneers the position of mental health coordinator in Neenah. He is one of two school district mental health coordinators in the state of Wisconsin, the nearest being in the Milwaukee Public Schools. While Altekruse mainly works with the guidance offices in the schools of the N.J.S.D., he pointed out he does not fit into any particular group, saying he “feel[s] like kind of a circus act here.”

Altekruse comes into the district with high expectations and the direction to seize these. Primarily on his agenda, he said, is to erase the negative social stigmas associated with mental illness and those suffering under it. Thus far Altekruse has been in close communication with various established counseling centers in the community, including: Christine Ann center, NAMI and Reach Counseling Services. By uniting these forces in the community, Altekruse says he is “taking a progressive approach to mental health.”

As far as long-term plans are concerned Altekruse says he is looking to establish mental health surveys all the way down to the early elementary school level. He hopes these surveys could help the district spot early warning signs of anxiety and depression, so it can step in and assist. Ultimately, Altekruse is looking to set a lower suicide rate amongst teens. Altekruse understands only so much can be done to eradicate depression, saying that those afflicted “can’t just shake it.”

In the next five years, Altekruse is looking to have a big impact in the N.J.S.D. on the rapidly expanding mental health frontier. The current administration of the N.J.S.D. has been supportive of this goal according to Altekruse, who said district staff has done nothing but open doors for him and be receptive to his ideas.