Sunday, November 24, 2024
11/24/2024
Project Abstract Summary Louisiana’s School Mental Health Support Project (SMHSP) is a collaborative effort of the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), the Louisiana Department of Health-Office of Behavioral Health (LDH-OBH), the Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and the regional mental health service provider organizations, to enhance and expand mental health services for school-aged youth and families that are experiencing mental health issues that are impacting the quality of their life. The three partner LEAs are Jefferson Parish Schools, St. Bernard Parish Schools, and Monroe City Schools which are representative of small, medium and large school districts in rural and urban geographical regions. The partner LEAs were selected due to their out-of-school suspension rate over the past three years that were more than 2 times the national average, specifically for student subgroups disproportionally impacted by exclusionary discipline practices. The foundation for SMHSP is the incorporation of trauma informed practices in schools to instill an understanding of the impact of current and past experiences on the school-aged youth’s current behavior and mental health. This practice promotes positive, pro-active engagement strategies to increase student engagement which supports the development overall mental health. The SMHSP model is based on the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) framework which promotes increasing awareness of mental health issues through education at the lowest level, to providing more intensive direct services for school-aged youth at the highest level. The SMHSP will also use Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curricula and data based decision making to provide a clear framework to address mental health and behavior issues while promoting a healthy school climate and culture. The goals of SMHSP are: 1. Increase awareness of mental health issues impacting students and families through a comprehensive workforce development plan for partnering LEAs and participating school. 2. Establish a network of mental health providers to increase student access to services in the school and community. 3. Ensure partner LEAs will implement a screening and referral process to identify and address potential mental health needs of school-aged youth. 4. Ensure three partner LEAs are providing direct services to students with mental health needs and their families no later than January 30, 2019. Objectives to accomplish these goals include: the development and implementation of comprehensive workforce development plans at the state and local levels; promoting increased collaboration between the LEAs and the mental health provider organizations; contracting with an in-state university to develop and implement a comprehensive data collection and performance measurement system; provide technical assistance to the LEAs to implement project objectives and activities with fidelity. Funds from this project allocated to the LEAs will be used to increase the number of mental health providers and mental health services for students. During the initial year of the project, 1463 students will be served in the participating schools with an estimated .25% increase in subsequent years for a total of 2783 students overall.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
