186. Preventing School Shootings: Jonathan Cogburn on the Conservative Case for School Counseling

In this compelling follow-up conversation, I welcome back Jonathan Cogburn, a licensed marriage and family therapist from Texas, to explore a nuanced conservative perspective on mental health services in schools. While we've covered many concerns about ideological overreach in school counseling on this podcast, Jonathan makes a thoughtful case for why certain levels of mental health intervention are not just appropriate but indispensable in our current educational landscape.

We dive deep into the McKinney-Vento Act and its implications for students experiencing homelessness - a critical issue that most therapists haven't even heard about. Jonathan shares his extensive experience working with behavioral threat assessment teams and reveals surprising data about successfully prevented school attacks. We explore how schools can create positive cultures that prevent violence upstream, the proper boundaries between school support and parental roles, and why some vulnerable student populations desperately need these services.

This conversation challenges us to think beyond binary positions about school mental health services, examining what a "just right" balance looks like that serves students while respecting parental authority and avoiding ideological indoctrination.

Jonathan Cogburn is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in West Texas who currently works for an agency that provides a variety of support to school districts in his area  In that role he delivers state-required mental health training to districts, supports rural school counselors and homeless student liaisons, and co-leads a team of licensed professionals and school counselors that respond to crises and disasters. Follow Jonathan @SystemicTexism on X or on Substack.

MAKE SURE YOU'RE FOLLOWING THIS PODCAST ON ANY PLATFORM OTHER THAN SPOTIFY. Spotify removes episodes for containing copyrighted music, even though I have a license to use my theme song, Half Awake by Joey Pecoraro. It's been a huge pain; I'll release an episode explaining this soon. In the meanwhile, find this podcast on your platform of choice starting here. 

 [00:00:00] Start
 [00:02:45] Defining McKinney-Vento and Student Homelessness
 [00:05:40] Unaccompanied Youth and School Support Systems
 [00:08:50] Mental Health Professionals’ Role in Identifying Homeless Students
 [00:14:10] Student Leadership Summit and Success Stories
 [00:18:10] Association of Mental Health Professionals Conference Recap
 [00:19:45] Detransition Language Discussion
 [00:23:05] Values and Ethics in School Mental Health Services
 [00:29:45] Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Explained
 [00:33:00] Voluntary vs. Imposed Therapy for Students
 [00:40:13] Problems with Suicide Awareness Campaigns for Children
 [00:46:00] Overmedicalization and the Origins of Family Therapy
 [00:51:00] Family Therapy’s Historical Role and Modern Challenges
 [00:55:00] Appropriate Levels of School-Based Intervention
 [01:04:30] Behavioral Threat Assessment Overview
 [01:35:30] Restoring School Function and Readiness

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Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI.

Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission.

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