Good afternoon,
During the 2019 legislative session, Senate Bill 2149 established the requirement for each school within a district to designate an individual as a Behavioral Health Resource Coordinator. The Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Division is required (identified in Senate bill 2313) to provide resources on mental health awareness and suicide prevention to the behavioral health resource coordinator at each school. Those resources must include information on identifying warning signs, risk factors, and the availability of resources in the community.
You are receiving this email because you have been identified as the Behavioral Health Resource Coordinator for your school and we wanted to take the opportunity to say Hello and Welcome!
Recently, the Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Division awarded the Central Regional Education Association (CREA) the contract to collaborate with all of you. Regardless of your geography and corresponding Regional Education Association, the mission of the DHS and CEA collaboration is to understand the behavioral health needs of students and families in schools in order to provide appropriate resources aligning each need with a focus on mental health awareness and suicide prevention. This collaboration will be an opportunity for schools to connect and network with others, receive information and resources, be linked to other available supports, and participate in training opportunities with CREA ultimately supporting the behavioral health resource coordinators at each school.
Through the recently established Behavioral Health in Education Resources and Opportunities Technical Assistance Center (B-HERO), CREA will develop a web resource hub and disseminate evidence-based content to include webinars, toolkits, templates, training, and technical assistance resources to support the behavioral health of students and families in the school on topics including, but not limited to:
• Substance use disorder prevention and treatment
• Mental illness prevention and treatment
• Suicide prevention
• Anxiety, coping, resilience
• Behavioral health support during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Restorative practices
• Behavioral health service reimbursement options
• Evidence-based curriculums
• Multi-tiered systems of support
• Professional development
• Community behavioral health resources by region of the state
For CREA and DHS to gain a better understanding regarding the behavioral health needs of your students and their families, and to start these critical conversations, you can anticipate a follow-up message requesting knowledge of your needs soon.
Additionally, if you are no longer serving in the role of the Behavioral Health Resource Coordinator, know the name/email of the educator who is serving as the BHRC, or have transitioned to another school since Spring of 2019, please let us know this information at your earliest convenience.
We are looking forward to this collaboration and the great work this will bring in 2021.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
Melissa Spelchen, PhD
Project Coordinator
Behavioral Health in Education Resources and Opportunities Technical Assistance Center
(B-HERO) Central Regional Education Association
