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Schools are an ideal place to provide mental and behavioral health services. It is where youth and adolescents create healthy relationships with themselves and others. Schools also have systems in place at the local, state and federal level to facilitate the expansion of these services like funding, existing partnerships, and community outreach. Possible mental and behavioral health services include:
- Placing trained professionals (i.e. psychologists, counselors and social workers) within the school.
- Embedding early identification protocols.
- Collaborating with faculty and staff to foster a positive school climate.
- Building and maintaining partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs) to provide services to the school community.
This allows students to not only get the support they need, but have a better understanding of just what mental health is. In schools with comprehensive mental and behavioral health supports, students are more likely to be able to recognize risk factors and in turn find and receive adequate care.
The current youth mental health crisis has contributed to a significant increase in the amount of interest, need and funding for school mental health support systems. However, mental health challenges can be difficult to define, diagnose, and address, partly because it isn’t always clear when an issue is serious enough to warrant intervention. The CDC's Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model is a good place to start.
The Center for Health and Care in Schools has been working in the school mental and behavioral health space for more than 10 years. We are pleased with the increased national recognition of the importane of providing these supports in schools. Much of our current work is within the District of Columbia, supporting the expansion of school behavior health services in K-12 public and public charter schools. Please see below to learn more about our work.
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