MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING MHPET SCREENING/ASSESSMENT CAPACITY BUILDING USEFUL LINKS FAQs

School Mental Health Capacity Building Partnership (SMH-CBP)

In May of 2006, NASBHC received a five-year cooperative agreement with the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Division of Adolescent Health (DASH) to build capacity of state and local education agencies to provide effective and sustainable school mental health services to young people. The aim of this initiative is to disseminate model mental health policies, programs, and services to education agencies in order to improve access to high quality, school-based mental health services. 

As part of this initiative, NASBHC has developed the following documents and resources (click on link to review related documents):

• A matrix of national organizations  that provide school mental health capacity building assistance and a  list of capacity building assessment tools  that builds the capacities in five key areas: planning, collaboration cultural competence, quality improvement, and surveillance
• Overviews, summaries, and materials from site visits to Maryland , Missouri, Ohio, and Oregon with best practices and lessons learned related to school mental health at both the state and local levels.
• A document "Top Ten Critical Factors to School Mental Health: What Early Adopters Say" (and one pager) that summarizes common themes and strategies that emerged in the four site visits.
• A document and brochure "What Students Have to Say about Mental Health" that communicates the most pressing concerns directly from the perspective of youth from Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, and Oregen.  A brochure of this document is available by contacting Alicia Newell

In the upcoming year ('08-'09), NASBHC will create professional development and training resources to support state and local education agencies in the following four core knowledge areas:

• Developing statewide school mental health planning efforts
• Demonstrating the connection between mental health and school related outcomes
• Addressing mental health through the Coordinated School Health Program model.
• Using the Mental Health Planning and Evaluation Template to improve the quality of school mental health services.

NASBHC is implementing this cooperative agreement in collaboration with the following partners:

Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action at the University of Maryland

Center for School-Based Mental Health Programs at Miami University in Ohio

Center for Advancement of Mental Health Practices in Schools at the University of Missouri-Columbia

Federation of Families of Palm Beach County, Inc.

For more information and materials related to this project, please contact Laura Hurwitz, LCSW, Director of School Mental Health Programs, 202-638-5872, Ext. 205