Mental Health Playlist Initiating

MENTAL HEALTH - Initiating

Professional Development > Learning Paths > School Mental Health Readiness

According to the literature, 3.8 million U.S. children have unmet mental health needs. Of children with an identified mental health need, only a little bit over half, 51% get the mental health support they need. Of those students, 58% get that help in schools. There is also a shortage of mental health providers, and many barriers to people finding linguistically and culturally appropriate services on top of other barriers that we know exist in school communities. For many students, schools are the first and only setting in which they receive behavioral health supports. This is why this topic is so critical for schools and districts.

The resources below are recommended for schools or districts starting in this work. Your school or district may be exploring this work and wondering where to begin. These resources focus on Tier 1, which is foundational mental health literacy.

You are ready for the “initiating” stage of the Mental Health Pillar if you are thinking about establishing structures for supporting mental health but need to provide the rationale for this approach to your community and learn more about best practices for comprehensive school mental health systems.

The School Mental Health Quality Assessment is designed for schools to assess the comprehensiveness of the school mental health system and identify priority areas for improvement. The assessment covers seven domains: 1) Teaming; 2) Needs Assessment and Resource Mapping; 3) Mental Health Screening; 4) Mental Health Promotion – Tier 1; 5) Early Intervention and Treatment – Tier 2 & 3; 6) Funding and Sustainability; and 7) Impact. The assessment is best done as a team that has broad and diverse participation to ensure meaningful assessment, successful planning, and implementation. There is also a version that can be used at the district level.

Need to put info on how/where to take SMHQ for RSSI

This report from the Baker Center for Children & Families highlights the current strengths and barriers related to promoting healthy outcomes for students living with mental health concerns, and explains the implications for policy, systems, and practice. It also provides actionable recommendations and strategies to ensure that all children and families have access to the services and supports they need in order to thrive.

link to PDF Baker_Center_-_Mental_Health_and_Schools_Report_-_April_2023.pdf

This course from American Institutes of Reseach explains how school mental health supports and services work to address social, emotional, and behavioral challenges that interfere with learning should provide individual, family, and group counseling, consultation for school staff, and mental health promotion and prevention programming. Includes information on: best practices for building partnerships and collaboration; shared leadership teams; youth, family and community engagement; evidence-based programs, evaluation and outcomes.

Developing a Comprehensive Mental Health Program in Your School-Community – Overview

University of Washington school psychologist Dr. Janine Jones and her husband Dr. Brent Jones, superintendent of a large public school district, discuss the biggest challenges schools are facing, where more research is needed, and what feels hopeful.

Tackling mental health issues in schools: What will it take?

In 2024, Leadership Fellows from School Crisis Recovery & Renewal, realized that they were leading through crises professionally that they were experiencing personally. This phenomenon was missing from school crisis leadership literature. They conducted 10 interviews with school leaders from Arizona, Southern California, and Northern California. Interviewees, from mental health counselors to HR directors to state leads of suicide prevention and more, shared their experiences going through the crisis they themselves led. This guide comes from this work and provides a way to talk about what it feels like to be both experiencing and leading the response to a crisis.

link to PDF SCRR_LeaningInAndLeadingOutToRenew.pdf

These guides from the National Center for School Mental Health provide information to help school mental health systems advance the quality of their services and supports. There is a unique guide for each of the seven domains of the SMHQ Assessment: teaming, need assessment and resource mapping, screening, teaming, Tier 1, Tiers 2 and 3 (services and supports), funding and sustainability, and impact. Each guide contains background information on the domain, best practices, possible action steps, examples from the field, and resources.

link to PDF School Mental Health Quality Guides | University of Maryland School of Medicine

Recent national surveys of young people have shown alarming increases in the prevalence of certain mental health challenges— in 2019, one in three high school students and half of female students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, an overall increase of 40% from 2009. This 2021 Advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General is a public statement that calls our attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. This Advisory offers recommendations for supporting the mental health of children, adolescents, and young adults.

link https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-youth-mental-health-advisory.pdf

Comprehensive school mental health systems provide an array of supports and services that promote positive school climate, social and emotional learning, and mental health and well-being, while reducing the
prevalence and severity of mental illness. This 2019 guide from National Center for School Mental Health offers collective insight and guidance to local communities and states to advance comprehensive school mental health systems. Contents were informed by examination of national best practices and performance standards, local and state exemplars, and recommendations provided by federal/national, state, local and private leaders.

link https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/media/som/microsites/ncsmh/documents/bainum/Advancing-CSMHS_September-2019.pdf

There is growing reliance on schools to promote and support the mental health of their students. While the impacts and outcomes for schools and districts that have successfully incorporated a wide-reaching and
inclusive approach to school-based mental health can be profound, many are challenged to provide more
than basic levels of assistance. This 2021 guide from the American Academy of Pediatrics outlines how a comprehensive school mental health system (CSMHS) includes a full array of supports and services that promote positive school climate, social and emotional learning, and mental health and well-being, while reducing the prevalence and severity of mental illness. It also provides examples from seven high functioning school districts doing this work.

link MH in Schools_June 2021

This website is packed with information on mental health-related topics. Their team creates high quality mental health literacy information, research, education and resources. Our materials are provided in a variety of mediums that include videos, animations, brochures, e-books, face-to-face training programs, and mental health literacy curricula for elementary and high schools. Materials are specifically designed to meet the needs of children, youth, young adults, families, educators, community agencies and health care providers.

link Mental Health Literacy

Look to this website of the Behavioral Health Services department of the Boston Public Schools for ideas and inspiration on building a comprehensive school mental health program. This program is comprised of licensed behavioral health providers supporting all BPS schools. The mission is to ensure that students have a safe and supportive school environment where they can be successful. The BHS department is comprised of over 100 school psychologists and over 50 graduate students, which support all BPS schools to provide student-level services (e.g. counseling & interventions) and systems-level services (e.g. climate team facilitation). The comprehensive role (aligned with NASP Practice Model) of BHS staff within schools is intentionally supported to ensure access to high-quality, equitable behavioral health services for all BPS students.

link cbhmboston.com/about-us

This document provides an overview of the key elements of school-community partnerships and specific action steps for states, districts, and communities to foster effective collaboration between schools and community health and behavioral health partners. It also includes an example of a template to use for a Memorandum of Understanding to guide the work with community partners, and information on Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) And the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

links

Effective-School-Comm-Partnerships-to-support-SMH-Final.pdf

There’s a lot happening in the world that can make everyday life feel overwhelming for young people. Bookmark these sites for information and handouts for parents, caregivers, teachers and youth to build knowledge around mental health, sign to watch for, as well as tools and skills to teach children and youth cope with the challenges they face today.

links

Center for Youth Mental Health | NewYork-Presbyterian

https://parentguidance.org/

https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/media/som/microsites/ncsmh/documents/bainum/FREDLA_Tip-Sheet-for-Families_Final.pdf

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/other/dbasse/wellbeing-tools/interactive/