Project AWARE Memphis & Shelby County: The Whole-Community Wellness Network — A Coordinated System of Care for Children and Families - University Schools – An Innovative School District will lead the Project AWARE Whole-Community Wellness Network across Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee, serving school-aged youth in grades K–12, their parents/caregivers, and the teachers and school personnel who support them. University Schools enrolls 1,253 students across 5 campuses, while Tier 2–3 direct services will serve youth ages 5–19 at risk of or experiencing mental health, substance use, or co-occurring concerns, including justice-involved youth referred through Shelby County Juvenile Court. The Network will implement a coordinated three-tiered system of care through a hub-and-spoke model anchored at the Wellness Treatment, Training and Research Center and extended through community sites, telebehavioral health, and an evening Family Wellness Program. Strategies include a cross-sector Advisory Board, countywide needs assessment and resource mapping, provider agreements, universal and targeted screening with brief intervention, warm-hand-off referral pathways, psychiatric consultation and crisis coordination, telebehavioral health, and workforce development. Goals are to strengthen countywide care coordination, reduce structural barriers to care, build social and personal competencies, increase identification, referral, and connection to care, and sustain the system through financing, policy adoption, and institutional integration.
