Transcript MDpowerpt - Center for School Mental Health

Bringing Health Care to Schools for Student Success
School Mental Health
Capacity Building Partnership*
Maryland Stakeholder Discussion Groups
*A project funded through a Cooperative Agreement with the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH)
Promoting School
Mental Health through
Capacity Building
to
State and Local
Education Agencies
(SEA’s and LEA’s)
Project Goals
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Strengthen collaborative national efforts to
improve mental health services in schools by
increasing intersections between mental health,
health, and schools.
Develop, organize and synthesize key documents
and resources related to best practices for SEA
and LEA improvement and expansion of
effective SMH services.
Provide technical assistance, resources and
professional development to aid SEA’s and
LEA’s in implementing effective school mental
health programs.
Goal 1: Mental Health, Health
and Schools
1.
2.
3.
4.
Strengthen collaborative national efforts to
improve mental health services in schools by
increasing intersections between mental health,
health, and schools.
Expand and strengthen the capacity of
NASBHC to address the mental health needs of
the school-based health care field
Conduct a national scan of initiatives/models
that integrate mental health, health and schools.
Strengthen the mental health component of the
Coordinated School Health Program Model.
Coordinated School Health Program
Mental Health Strand
Health Education
Physical Education
Family/Community
Involvement
Health Services
Health Promotion
for Staff
Nutrition Services
Healthy School
Environment
MENTAL HEALTH:
Counseling,
Psychological
& Social Services
Goal 2: Fact Finding
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Organize key documents and resources related to
best practices for improvement and expansion of
effective SMH services.
Develop electronic toolkit of resources and tools
addressing school mental health key dimensions
to use in capacity building assistance
Conduct key informant interviews and site visits
to four states to enhance understanding of how
school mental health is operationalized at the
state and local level.
Goal 3: Capacity Building

Using fact finding knowledge, materials
and resources developed in Goals 1 & 2,
provide technical assistance, resources and
professional development to aid SEA’s and
LEA’s in implementing effective school
mental health programs.
Statewide Stakeholder Discussion
Groups: PURPOSE

to help identify successes and lessons
learned in “early adopter” states -- at both
the state and local levels -- related to
school mental health policies, programs
and services.
Statewide Stakeholder Discussion
Groups: Method
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4 “early adopter” states selected

Selection criteria:
– Shared mental health/education/family agenda
– Strong state level collaboration
– Vision of how to integrate health into school mental
health agenda

Four discussion groups per state
– Three with state and local leaders in education, family
advocacy, health and mental health
– One youth only discussion group
SBHC’s & Early Adopter States
Oregon
Ohio
Missouri
STAKEHOLDER
DISCUSSION GROUPS:
Ohio: December 2006
Maryland: February 2007
Missouri: May 2007
Oregon: August 2007
Maryland
Maryland School Mental Health
Stakeholder Discussion Groups
Process: Adult Discussion
Groups
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February 22nd and 23rd, 2007
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Three 2-hour discussion groups
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26 total participants
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–
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Mental Health: 6
Education: 9
Health: 7
Family members/advocates: 4
Results

Responses to Questions
– Themes
– Key Quotations

Challenges

Opportunities
Participant awareness of Maryland’s
vision or agenda for school mental health
 State
blueprint for children’s mental
health, with a subcommittee for
school mental health.
 Emphasis on prevention and early
intervention.
 SAMHSA grant in mid 90’s brought
national attention.
What would make it a stronger
agenda?
 Shared
ownership and buy-in of all
stakeholders
 Increased, sustainable funding and
equal distribution of resources across
the state; Funding options beyond a
fee-for-service model
 Coordinated and uniform data
collection and outcome evaluation
What would make it a stronger
agenda? (cont.)
 Advocacy
 Recognition
of schools as a unique site
for providing mental health services
 Increased coordination between
existing services, including
coordination and partnering with nonprofit organizations and universities.
 State policy reflecting investment in
school mental health
What would make it a stronger
agenda? (cont.)
 Mental
health education for teachers,
school staff/administration and parents
 Clarity/consensus on what is meant by
“school mental health”
 Social marketing and mental health
promotion
Major Themes
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There is a general goal of advancing school
mental health in Maryland, but the “vision” is
not consistent across people or jurisdictions,
does not extend to all parts of the state, and
lacks clear ownership.

Specific grants and initiatives (e.g. Maryland
School Mental Health Alliance, the Maryland
School-Based Health Care Assembly, the
Center for School Mental Health) have helped
to advance the vision of school mental health in
Maryland.
Major Themes (cont.)

Partnering with community organizations,
including universities and non-profit
organizations, has been helpful in advancing
school mental health in Maryland.

The Maryland Assembly on School-Based
Health Care has advanced Maryland’s school
mental health efforts in many ways, including
advocacy and outcome monitoring, and
provides a good example of collaborative
health-mental health care.
Major Themes (cont.)

Increased, sustainable funding (beyond
fee-for-service models) and equal
distribution of resources across the state
are essential for the advancement of school
mental health in Maryland.
Challenges

Despite Maryland’s “pockets of
excellence” in SMH there is inequity
across the state with respect to
opportunities to advance SMH.

Inequities may reflect disparate allocation
of resources, limited opportunities for
information sharing and dissemination, and
fragmentation of efforts across districts
and regions.
Challenges (cont.)

Lack of shared ownership by key stakeholders-including mental health, education and families--of a
statewide vision for school mental health.

Lack of organizational infrastructure or responsibility
by any one state agency for school mental health
programs.
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Lack of feasible, sustainable funding models to support
comprehensive SMH services. Fee-for-service delivery
models and lack of funding to support quality assessment
and improvement limit advances in quality.
Challenges (cont.)
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Demands on schools to achieve academic
results hinder efforts to advance SMH,
especially when the connection between
academic success and mental health is not made
explicit.
Lack of definitional clarity and consensus
around what is meant by “school mental health”.
Lack of quality, interdisciplinary pre-service
training for mental health providers and
educators.
Challenges (cont.)

Limited meaningful youth involvement in the
planning, implementation and evaluation of
school mental health activities.

Lack of coordinated and uniform data
collection that incorporates both psychosocial
and academic barriers
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Limited staff professional development time
which is important in defining and clarifying
roles of school personnel
Opportunities
Connect and mobilize Maryland’s
initiatives around school mental health
to create momentum and develop a
unified, statewide vision for SMH.
 This statewide vision should inform state
policy around children’s mental health,
including SMH as an integral, mandated
component.

Opportunities (cont.)
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Expand upon Maryland’s strong school-based health
center foundation to develop increased support for
health-mental health partnerships in schools.

Build and expand upon models of family
partnerships, such as those led by the Maryland
Coalition of Families for Children’s Mental Health

Utilize Maryland existing models of university and
non-profit partnerships to enhance school mental health
linkages and efforts statewide.
Opportunities (cont.)

Utilize Maryland’s existing dissemination
networks, including the CSMHA, the MSMHA,
MASBHC and MSDE, to distribute existing
resources statewide and to establish learning
communities across SMH stakeholder groups.

Maryland’s strong base of universal
prevention and early intervention
programming in schools can serve as a
foundation for statewide implementation of
secondary and targeted intervention.
Opportunities (cont.)

Work towards shared ownership of and
participation in the school mental health
agenda by all stakeholders (including
families, educators, health and mental
health).
Maryland Youth
Discussion Groups
Youth Discussion Group
PURPOSE:
 to identify, from a youth perspective, the
most effective strategies for providing
mental health services in schools and for
engaging youth in the development of
school mental health policies and
programs.
Youth Discussion Group: Method
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March 27, 2007
One 1.5-hour discussion group
Nine participants
– Ages 14-17 from Prince Georges and Anne Arundel
Counties
– All were members of “Kiamsha” youth empowerment
group for African American Youth
– 8 attended public school, 1 attended private school
Youth Discussion Groups:
Process
SAMPLE QUESTIONS:
1.
2.
3.
How can adults at your school make all
students feel supported both in school as well
as other areas of their life?
What can schools do to better understand the
different cultures or backgrounds a student
comes from?
How well do you think that adults in your
school respond to students with mental health
problems?
Youth Discussion Groups:
Findings
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Adults should listen to students and value their
opinions in order for them to feel supported in
school and areas of their life.
Teachers who come from the same culture
and/or background as their students may better
understand them.
Teachers tend to ignore students’ mental health
problems, unless they are especially serious.
Teachers should ask students questions about
their mental health problems by pulling them
aside to better understand them.
Youth Discussion Groups:
Findings (cont.)
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Students are most trusting of adults who are
open with them and who do not talk to the
student’s parent or another teacher about “their
business.”
Students aren’t consistently aware of where
they can go to get help; however they are aware
of some conditions that would require help
(e.g. self-harm)
One barrier to getting help may be fear that
their information will be shared with others.
Students would have an easier time asking for
help if they knew that their teachers were
trained about certain issues.
Youth Discussion Groups:
Findings (cont.)
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Schools should have a confidentiality contract
signed by the counselor and student.
Programs outside of the classroom make you
feel better about yourself, give you access to
scholarships, provide opportunities for positive
relationships and help reduce stress.
Students would be more likely to participate in
an activity with adults (e.g. committees) if
there are incentives such as: field trips, money,
food, community service hours.
Students can provide a perspective on school
mental health that adults cannot since they have
direct experience in schools and are familiar
with how things are currently.
Youth Discussion Groups:
Final Question
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“If you could tell the principal or superintendent one
thing that they could do (to help students) what would
it be?”
Create a safe environment where students do not feel
alone and they know that are supported by teachers.
Increase awareness about mental health problems.
Have more direct involvement with the students and
schools.
Support the teachers.
Offer more programs for students.
Listen to students’ problems.
Try new things.
Discussion Groups: Next Steps
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Provide summaries to states to use in their own
advocacy and capacity building efforts.
Develop cross-state case study highlighting
themes of all four states
(Fall 2007)
Incorporate findings from case study into
school mental health capacity building process
for SEA’s and LEA’s
(Spring 2008)
Bringing Health Care to Schools for Student Success
Laura Hurwitz
School Mental Health Project Director
[email protected]
202-638-5872, x205
1-888-286-8727 - toll free