Education and Systems of Care Approaches: Solutions for Educators and School Mental Health Professionals
by Sebian, J., Mettrick, J., Weiss, C., Stephan, S., Lever, N., & Weist, M.
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 All children and youth are more likely to succeed in school when they feel safe, valued and connected to caring adults and their peers. There are many strategies that schools can implement to develop and sustain a positive and supportive climate that promotes social and emotional well-being and reduces risk factors. Additionally, a systematic approach includes a process to identify youth who have or are at risk of mental health disorders. Those children and youth identified with serious emotional challenges often benefit from supports and services that are intensive and are provided by multiple systems in the community.
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School-Based Mental Health: An Empirical Guide for Decision-Makers
The "Yellow Book" provides a discussion of barriers to school-based services with the intention of improving service effectiveness and capacity. Reviews the history of mental health services supplied in schools, implementation of serviced, and provides an overview of the evidence base for school-based interventions. Includes recommendations for evidence-based mental health services in schools.
Safe and Sound: An Education Leader's Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs
Based on a three-year study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) in the U.S. Department of Education, Safe and Sound is the most comprehensive and inclusive guide to SEL programming available. This guide provides a road map for schools and districts that are launching or adding social, emotional, and academic learning programs.
The School Mental Health Connection – Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine
The School Mental Health Connection is designed for anyone who is interested in school mental health. The resources emphasize practical information and skills based on current research, including prominent evidence-based practices, as well as lessons learned from local, state, and national initiatives.
Fact Sheet on School Mental Health Services – The Bazelon Center
This document is a handy reference guide that highlights the range of mental health disorders that school-aged children and youth have, the role that public schools play in the identification and provision of mental health services, the linkages with community-based mental health providers, coordination and referral practices, the service need, funding, and so on.
Way to GO: School Success for Children with Mental Health Care Needs
The report and a companion folder with six fact sheets document how states and school districts have successfully combined school-wide positive behavior support (PBS) with effective mental health services to foster a school environment that is conducive to learning and improves children’s lives.
Illinois Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS) Network
The mission of the Illinois PBIS Network is to build skills and capacity of PBIS district and school-based leadership teams through training, coaching and technical assistance. The focus is assisting schools in developing structures for teaching expected behaviors and social skills, creating student behavioral and academic support systems, and applying data-based decision-making to discipline, academics and social/emotional learning at the school, district, regional and state levels.
Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature by Dean Fixen et al.
The purpose of this monograph is to describe the results of a far-reaching review of the implementation literature. Every aspect of implementation is fraught with difficulty, from system transformation to changing service provider behavior and restructuring organizational contexts. Given the importance of implementation, the purpose of this review is to create a topographical map of implementation as seen through evaluations of factors related to implementation attempts.
SharedWork.org
The IDEA Partnership Communities of Practice are focused on advancing policy and practice in four key areas: (a) the intersections of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA); (b) school behavioral health services; (c) interagency transition, and (d) teacher quality. As partner organizations work together and with States, districts, local sites and individuals, they form Communities of Practice whose members learn from each other and take action together in coordinated ways. (Read more about this collaborative work at the IDEA Partnership website at http://ideapartnership.org.)
Hawaii Department of Education website
SAMHSA Systems of Care
Learn about Systems of Care and the Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program.
Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health
Check out the TAP website for resources, events and related system of care technical assistance.
Thinking Outside the Box: A visit with Jim Koller and Karen Weston |
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Schools are essential partners in a comprehensive, coordinated system-of-care. No one child-serving system can effectively provide the services and supports needed. Family driven and youth guided policies and programs are essential to the design of effective individualized plans. Schools benefit when they are engaged with cross system collaborations in a system-of-care. This brief addresses the importance for educators to be part of a systems-of-care approach. As part of an overall school strategy addressing universal, selective, indicated and treatment interventions, a system-of-care can help schools achieve improvements in key outcome areas for children and their families.
The Problem
With an estimated 20% of children having a mental health disorder and 1 in 10 youth having a serious mental health problem that is severe enough to impair how they function at home, school, or in the community, there is tremendous need to target services effectively and efficiently for youth and their families.
When untreated, mental health disorders contribute to school failure, family conflicts, drug abuse, violence, and even suicide. Alarmingly, 75% to 80% of children and youth in need of mental health services and supports do not receive them. Evidence suggests that the needs of children with emotional and behavioral difficulties have not been sufficiently addressed by school reforms such as the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and that their school outcomes are poorer than children with other disabilities. Only 1% of school children are classified as having an emotional disability and receive services under IDEA, giving cause for concern regarding the plethora of children not being identified or treated in the schools or within other community agencies. It is imperative that educators and mental health providers work together to create positive, supportive environments where children and youth can be identified and connected to needed support services that have the potential to increase individual and school wide academic achievement.
System of Care Approaches and Schools
Systems of care approaches provide a framework for youth, families, schools and community partners to design and implement individualized services and supports that help children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families achieve their desired goals. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, is the federal entity that administers the Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program (Systems-of-Care). By definition, a system-of-care is a coordinated network of community-based services and supports that are organized to meet the challenges of children and youth with serious mental health needs and their families.
Families and youth work in partnership with public and private organizations within the community to design individualized mental health services and supports that are effective, build on the strengths of individuals and the families, and are culturally and linguistically competent. Systems-of-care help children, youth and their families function better at home, in school, in the community and throughout life. In the context of a larger school wide effort, systems of care approaches benefit the entire school community. Students, families, teachers and other school personnel have access to the supports and services within the community. Systems-of-care approaches should ideally be designed to fit into a broader and systemic plan for the school and community. This is critical to a successful school mental health strategy and contributes to the successful achievement of the primary goal of schools, that of promoting learning and achievement of students.
The framework discussed in this brief can help guide school personnel and their partners towards a systematic approach that is school wide and effectively integrates a systems-of-care approach within the school and in collaboration with other child serving systems. Systems-of-care approaches are valued for their effectiveness in providing multi-level strategies to effectively support the whole child, the family, the school community, and the larger community. Decision makers are encouraged to integrate system-of-care values and principles within the school climate and at all levels to successfully serve children, youth and their families who require more complex and intensive services and supports across multiple service systems and agencies.
Within a school setting, the incorporation of systematic approaches across the mental health continuum is needed. This includes strategies to promote mental health, programs to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors, prevention programs, early identification and intervention programs, treatment programs, and more intensive services for students presenting more significant needs. This whole school approach, essentially, a public health approach can be effective in creating safe, productive and successful environments for learning and academic success.
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