School psychologist has roots in art

Whitefish school psychologist Robin

Bissell began her career in art education.

As a teacher in Alaska, she enjoyed

seeing students express themselves through art, but she soon

discovered a curiosity about some of her most talented

students.

“I had a curiosity about seeing kids

struggle,” she said. “I couldn’t understand why some students could

have so much skill and talent and not pass high school.”

That early curiosity prompted Bissell

to return to college and begin a career in school psychology. She’s

now in her seventh year with Whitefish schools.

The Montana Association of School

Psychologists recently named Bissell the Montana School

Psychologist of the Year Award. She officially accepts the award

next month.

Dave Means, special services director

for the district, nominated Bissell.

He said it was her work with the

Student Assistance Program, an intervention program that provides

support groups for students, last year that prompted him to

nominate her. Bissell was part of a group of administrators that

launched the program and served as its coordinator.

“She’s done some outstanding things,”

he said. “Implementing the district-wide initiative was one of

them. She recognizes a need to support those kids who are

struggling. She facilitated SAP while doing all of her other

duties.”

School psychologists perform diagnostic

tests on students and provide special education support, but they

also work with students’ social and emotional needs with the goal

of improving their education.

“Unless you create a learning

environment that feels safe, they won’t learn,” Bissell said of

students.

She said she enjoys helping students

through everyday issues so they can learn.

“I trust that everyone has the

potential to evolve and change — to work through difficult

situations,” she said. “I like to set up a space where they have

the opportunity to see that in themselves.”

Turning to school psychology was a

second career of sorts for Bissell.

While serving as an art teacher she

began taking counseling credits and eventually enrolled in a

psychology course through the University of Montana. She worked in

Bigfork for about 15 years working in both art and psychology

before moving to Whitefish.

“I always considered myself an artist,”

she said. “I never would have considered psychology, but art and

counseling overlap a lot.”

Bissell, who primarily works with

fifth- to 12th-graders, talks to students about their issues, but

she often has to be creative to get them to open up.

“With middle and high school students,

asking how they feel doesn’t always work,” she said. “Sometimes we

play games or I pull out the art supplies and ask them to draw

themselves or their family.”

When Bissell returned to college she

thought about shifting to art therapy, but chose to continue

working with children.

“I was so attached to the school and I

wanted to stay working with the kids,” she said.

“Kids are at such a wonderful place

where they want to learn. They aren’t stuck in a rut like adults

can be.”