Abstract
The purpose of CONNECTing Schools to Care IV Students (CONNECT IV) is to expand and sustain the statewide infrastructure and service delivery system in Connecticut through expansion and integration of trauma-informed comprehensive school mental health supports with the existing community-based network of care to work collaboratively to provide support and services for youth with or at risk for Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED).
CONNECT IV applies successes from three previous Systems of Care (SOC) awards and a current Project AWARE grant through a partnership between the statewide family organization (FAVOR), the Administrative Services Organization (Carelon), the Statewide Coordinating Center for School Mental Health and SOC (CHDI), the local evaluation team (Yale), 11 partnering state agencies, and the CT Department of Children and Families (DCF), the lead applicant who has the mandate for children’s behavioral health care. Using CT’s established framework for trauma-informed Comprehensive School Mental Health, this grant provides an opportunity to ensure that youth with and at risk of SED/behavioral health needs are linked to equitable and appropriate locally-based care across the service array by adding school mental health coaching support for implementation, supports for staff wellness, and recovery-oriented safe spaces for students, all grounded in a school-family-community partnerships approach.
The population of focus for this grant includes all Connecticut (CT) youth with serious emotional disturbance (SED) with or at risk for: use of hospital emergency departments for behavioral health crisis, suicidal ideation, clinical high risk for psychosis or early/first episode psychosis, and increased school discipline sanctions (e.g., suspensions & expulsions) for behavioral health difficulties. Connecticut is the 29th most populated state with 3.6 million residents and ranks 22nd on the Diversity Index with 12% Black/African American, 69% White, and 22% Hispanic/Latino. About 20% (736,717) are under age18, with English learners at 8.3%. Children with SED are estimated at 10% (73,000). Annually, more than 1,300 children/youth receive Wraparound care, yet schools too often rely on emergency departments and other restrictive settings. There is a need to increase use of community-based services and to provide seamless transition of students needing behavioral health intervention from schools to community-based providers.
Through a phased-in, tiered approach to implementation, all 206 Connecticut school districts will have universal access to prevention/early intervention resources; some schools (up to 120 in 4 years) will have access to selected supports for training, coaching, and implementation to guide service enhancement; and a few schools (up to 54 in 4 years) will receive intensive support for implementation of services and quality improvement activities to improve access and outcomes within the school mental health system and broader statewide SOC. A total of 3,200 children/youth will receive Wraparound/Care Coordination as a result of this grant (700 in years 1 and 2, 900 in years 3 and 4).
With this request of $1,500,000 annually, CONNECT IV will meet the following four goals: 1) Expand the infrastructure for an integrated school- and community-based behavioral health network of care; 2) Expand school and family awareness, knowledge and access to information about behavioral health, trauma, and crisis response; 3) Build capacity of Connecticut’s schools to access and utilize community-based behavioral health resources and supports for school mental health; and 4) Implement and sustain equitable and comprehensive school mental health supports.
