Thursday, April 25, 2024
4/25/2024
The Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s “Beyond Co-Location: Integrating and Embedding Education and Mental Health Systems” address the Project AWARE initiative by building collaborative partnerships between state and local systems to promote the healthy development of school-aged youth and to prevent youth violence through an integrated multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) framework. The population served through this initiative is K–12 students and school staff in the Sunnyside, Wahluke, and Yakima School Districts located in central Washington. These districts are some of the most diverse in the state, with high rates of poverty and students identified as English language learners. Data also indicate considerable mental health related issues, including 30 percent to 43 percent of youth across the three districts reporting current depression and 18 percent to 22 percent having contemplated suicide in the past year (HYS, 2018). In addition to state level efforts to integrate state mental health and MTSS initiatives, develop a sustainable regional mental health support network, and document practices that are scalable to apply to other regions in Washington State; the specific goals of the proposed project are to: 1. Increase awareness of mental health issues among school-aged youth; 2. Train school personnel and other adults who interact with school-aged youth to detect and respond to mental health issues; and, 3. Connect school-aged youth who may have behavioral health issues and their families to needed services. Utilizing the core feature of the MTSS framework, project activities will be implemented through one system that establishes and leverages key partners and stakeholders. The SHAPE system and other data sources will be used to identify school mental health (SMH) needs. Teams will also conduct a needs assessment to identify SMH needs, resource mapping, and literacy activities for school staff, including trainings in Youth Mental Health First Aid and Sources of Strength. Through the school-based MTSS Integrated Systems Framework teaming process, community-based mental health (MH) providers and school employees will function collaboratively to assess, refer, triage, case manage, and monitor student progress. School staff will be responsible for the delivery of Tier 2 services, in consultation with MH providers. For Tier 3 services, community-based MH providers will be embedded into the school system to deliver SMH services that are culturally and developmentally appropriate and evidence-based. To meet project goals, objectives will be to measure student level indicators such as absenteeism, suspension/expulsion, and student engagement; as well as the number of school buildings with established MTSS teams utilizing the SHAPE System, the number of social emotional learning professional development opportunities offered, and the number of school and community partners participating in mental health prevention and awareness trainings. Across the three districts, the project will serve nearly 26,000 school-aged children and their families and over 3,000 school staff; thus, reaching an estimated 60,000 persons each year, with nearly 72,000 persons engaged by the end of the grant.
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).
