Clinical and Related Services

Clinical and Related Services at Collier Middle School -- a NJ Alternative Middle School

Clinical and Related Services
Individual and Group Counseling: Masters-level clinicians provide individual therapy sessions to all students at least once a week as well as case management. Individualized counseling is enhanced through specialized group therapies, including social skills training.

Psychiatric Services: In response to a need identified by district staff and parents, Collier School offers psychiatric services - including prescription of medication following initial assessment - for students who are not currently seeing a psychiatrist privately.  

Positive Behavior Support and BCBA: Our Positive Behavior Support program encourages Respect, Responsibility, Safety and Kindness, and with the support of our BCBA and BCaBA, we develop behavioral plans as needed. Students may earn points each class period (points are never taken away) and we "catch them doing good" whenever possible. This data is tracked daily,allowing us to identify trends and either reinforce positive behavior or teach the skills needed to avoid challenging behavior in the future. Having such quantitative data has also enabled us to provide very clear incentives that the students understand and view as motivation. Read more about our Positive Behavior Support Program here.

Equine Therapy: Collier has developed a partnership with the Monmouth County Park System to provide 6-week equine therapy programs in both the Spring and Fall. A curriculum was developed specifically for CMS to incorporate our core values of Respect, Responsibility, Safety and Kindness in students' interaction with the horses while Collier staff help them apply it to their own social development and relationships with others.

AIM Program (Achieve, Inspire, Motivate): Our AIM program provides intensive academic and therapeutic support for students who may need an alternative to suspension.  This program is implemented by a Highly Qualified teacher who continues students' IEP goals and objectives and a Masters'-level Social Worker who will help refocus and re-engage students to return to their regular classes with peers.

Occupational Therapy: A certified Occupational Therapist on our staff provides OT in a newly renovated OT room to students whose IEP requires this service, as well as to others whom we feel would benefit from this type of therapy.

Speech Therapy:  Collier offers speech therapy in school to students whose IEP requires this service.