Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) proposes to pilot Training for Mental Health Equity (TMHE), a tri-level mental health training program that links mental health awareness with a foundational understanding of bias-based harm and social determinants of health to foster mental health equity. As a result, ten TMHE schools will have the structures in place, tools to employ, and community partnerships necessary to respond to the social and emotional needs of their students. Schools will be selected based on factors of need including: rates of community violence, proximity of violence to the school, COVID-19 case and death rates, current number of targeted supports available, current access to mental health partners, and the need to bolster internal systems of behavioral health referral, support, and progress monitoring. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the health and economic stability of tens of thousands of Chicago families, creating an elevated risk for trauma and emotional distress. It has been especially devastating for Black and Latinx populations for whom rates of infection, hospitalization, and deaths are disproportionately high. In CPS, the majority of students are Black/African American (35.8%) and/or Latinx (46.7%). TMHE will employ evidence-based training from national and local mental health awareness providers and span topics including: understanding the impact of trauma and the connection between minoritized status and adverse health outcomes, recognizing and responding to trauma, connecting those affected to the appropriate supports, and promoting healthy relationships. TMHE will provide Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Interface training for administrators and school-based Climate or Behavioral Health Teams (BHTs), Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) for at least 10% of school staff, and teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) for groups of students. This will be supplemented by training for administrators in recognizing, preventing, responding to, and transforming incidents of bias and discrimination; increased technical assistance and training for BHTs; Safety-Care Behavioral Health Training for select staff; and linkages with mental health partners. TMHE goals are: 1) Deliver the tri-level sequence of training to 70 district staff, 20 school administrators, 200 school staff, and 1,400 students; 2) Have a strong BHT at each TMHE school, as measured by the BHT Key Components Survey; 3) Improve administrator and staff attitudes on student mental health and the relationship between mental health, community well-being, and childhood adversity, as measured by ACE Interface pre/post surveys and # school based investigations of bias/discrimination ending in informal resolution; 4) Increase staff ability to recognize student needs for mental health support, as measured by YMHFA pre/post tests; 5) Increase student understanding of available school and community mental health resources and supports, measured through student self-referral rate; and 6) Increase TMHE schools a) utilization of an established referral structure to ensure the appropriate supports are identified for each student, and b) # students engaged in internal and external clinical services.
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).
