Shhh! Browning Public Schools Install Mental Health Hush Pods

When Jason Andreas, the lone school counselor at Napi Elementary in Browning, saw the statistics gathered from students for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, including that 65% of students in the Browning Public Schools (BPS) system had experienced suicidal ideation, he and other counselors started brainstorming ideas to improve students’ access to a primary mental health resource — telehealth appointments.

In the BPS system, from elementary to 12^th grade, counselors are notified of an average of eight telehealth therapy appointments per day for students. In crowded school buildings, however, quiet, private places for students to take video calls are in short supply. To ensure they didn’t miss appointments, counselors drove students mid-school day to off-campus therapists when possible, while other students were assigned empty classrooms.

“We were finding rooms that were open, any space we could, but it wasn’t quiet,” Andreas said. “It didn’t feel private.”

In a conversation with a friend who works in Seattle, Andreas learned how “hush pods” were used in the corporate world to solve a similar problem, furnishing bustling office environments with portable sanctuaries for workers seeking quiet refuge.

Office hush pods originated in the mid-2010s, with the Finnish manufacturer Framery claiming to put the first pods on the market. The portable, phone booth-like pods are made with laminated glass and insulation layers that create a soundproof environment. Inside, users have space to sit at a desk, accompanied by quiet fans, power outlets, and natural LED lighting. The pods have since taken off and today can be found in universities, libraries and some modern hostels.

“Boy, this might also work for behavioral health,” Andreas recalled thinking.

He approached Cinnamon Salway, the BPS prevention coordinator. Finding some on Amazon for $6,000 a pod — compared to other models listed at $25,000 each — Salway presented the idea to Rebecca Rappold, the BPS superintendent. Using money left over from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) and funds from federal Impact Aid, the school district purchased six StreamingPods, allowing each school in the district access, from elementary through high school.

At the beginning of September, the maintenance crew installed the pods in quiet corners located near counselors’ offices. Hearing feedback from students requesting more privacy, Salway added a frosted tint to the glass.

“My thinking was mental health access,” Salway said. “But after getting them here, there’s so many ways the pods are being used.”

Initially, some older high school students expressed reservations about using the pods, and were reluctant to ask teachers for permission due to the perceived stigma. In response to the feedback, administrators unlocked the pods at the high school.

“Counselors and admins thought it would be a good idea to keep it locked,” Salway said. “But as soon as we unlocked it, it hasn’t been a problem — no words, no stigma.”

Now, when it’s not being used for scheduled appointments, she’ll find students using it to study, cool down, or just take some needed space.

Many Browning students experience stressful adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs. In Andreas’ 25 years as a BPS school counselor, he’s witnessed a wide range, from substance abuse to high rates of suicide in the community. He referred to the baseline importance of safety and a sense of belonging in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

“Until those basic needs are met, jobs and schools aren’t really important,” Andreas said.

Telehealth appointments were already beginning to gain popularity in school-based health centers, primarily in rural areas pre-2020, with a 12% nationwide increase in use between 2007 and 2016. That skyrocketed with the COVID-19 pandemic, and many providers and schools have continued with telehealth services because of the increased access.

In Browning Public Schools (BPS), school counselors work with telehealth providers from community partners including the Indian Health Service, Blackfeet Tribal Behavioral Health and private therapists in the community. School counselors will talk with parents when something happens at school, for example, and provide referrals to community partners.

Once they’ve selected a telehealth provider, parents complete an information sharing agreement that allows the telehealth therapist to share details about the student with the school counselor. That includes letting counselors know when students have telehealth appointments so that the counselor can schedule out the pod, and when a student is having a mental health crisis.

“The nice thing about this is redundancy,” Andreas said. “If a mental health provider is concerned, they can email or text me.”

Salway’s heard from kids who say it makes them feel safe and secure during private therapy appointments, and from telehealth providers who are stoked about having a safe, HIPAA compliant space, with a counselor on the ground to help. Hardly a month in, they’ve begun collecting data, observing how the pods are used and trying them at different grade levels.

“If there’s anything that we can do to have better access because it’s such a rural area…this is an alternative way to get those services,” Salway said. “I’m hoping that this will decrease suicidal ideation and moralize that people do suffer from mental health.”

Andreas compared health resources as the first in a two-step dance between mental health and school.

“To be frank, in the U.S. we’re going to need more approaches like this,” Andreas said. “I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of mental health growth until we integrate the two. Learning isn’t going to come before wellbeing.”

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