Shannon Gronau, a school counselor from the Milford School District, is the state’s 2024 Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year.

Secretary of Education Mark Holodick and Speaker of the House Valerie Longhurst made the announcement at a statewide banquet honoring the district and charter network behavioral health professionals of the year.

The Mispillion Elementary School counselor said by building strong relationships with students, she’s able to understand how to best support them.

Gronau told the story of a student who “hated school.

“This feeling manifested in many negative ways like attendance issues and aggression. Their parent considered pulling them from school,” she said. “To help I had to understand the student’s needs by building a strong, positive relationship.”

Through check-ins and weekly counseling, she helped the child build coping and anger management skills. She realized the student didn’t feel connected at school and didn’t have healthy morning and night routines at home. She also learned the student’s mother had died, and her family was grieving.  Gronau helped connect the student to therapy, worked with the child’s teacher on classroom behavioral techniques and met with the child’s parent to help develop good morning/nighttime routines. She also worked with the school’s family interventionist to connect the family with needed community resources.

As their work together progressed, she offered the student the opportunity to help her run a small group to help other girls in the school also feeling a lack of connection. Today the student is flourishing at school and home.

“From this experience, I saw true growth because the student believed in their ability to do well and had someone that believed in them,” Gronau said.

Teaching leadership development is one of Gronau’s passions. She created a peer leadership group project that trains fourth and fifth grade students to mentor first graders who need a positive connection at school.

“Students thrive when they believe in their unique abilities and are given the opportunity to be a role model for younger students,” she said.

Her assistant principal, Ashley Ganley, said Gronau is beloved by her students.

“Walking the halls, you can see the hugs and waves she receives. The students trust her and confide in her,” Ganley said. “During her workday, Shannon can be found providing individual and group counseling. Her students learn valuable self-regulation skills in small groups or whole classes, which is so needed in today’s classroom and society.”

The Delaware State Behavioral Health Professional of the Year (BHPY) program is administered by the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE). The program recognizes outstanding service by school employees who are health care practitioners or human service providers who offer services for the purpose of improving an individual’s mental health. The Delaware Charter School Network also is invited to participate. Employees considered for the award include:

• School counselors
• School social workers
• Licensed clinical social workers
• School psychologists
• School nurses

From those nominated at a local level, one behavioral health professional of the year moves forward to represent each district or the charter school community in the state program. Each district/charter network winner receives a $2,000 personal award from the winner’s district or charter school. The state program then chooses one person annually to serve as Delaware’s Behavioral Health Professional of the Year. State winners receive an additional $3,000 personal award from DDOE as well as $5,000 to be used for the educational benefit of his or her students.

Learn more about all the 2024 District/Charter Behavioral Health Professionals of the Year here.

Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006

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