Last week, the CSMH Co-Director, Dr. Sharon Stephan, had the honor of presenting a keynote at a statewide Summit on School-based Mental Health (SMH) in Connecticut. The purpose of the summit was to showcase models in Connecticut that have collaboratively improved educational and mental health outcomes in order to identify common goals and determine action steps to pursue in 2012.
The summit, attended by close to 200 stakeholders, brought together state leaders in SMH as well as several distinguished guests including:
Stefan Pryor, Commissioner, CT State Department of Education
Joette Katz, Commissioner, CT Department of Children and Families
Dr. Fred Volkmar, Director, Yale University Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine
To view entire video coverage of the event, click "Watch Now" at:
17th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health The 17th Annual Conference will be held October 25-27, 2012 at the Marriott Hotel (75 S. West Temple) in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Conference is sponsored by the Center for School Mental Health (CSMH) and the IDEA Partnership (funded by the Office of Special Education Programs [OSEP], sponsored by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education). The conference emphasizes a shared school-family-community agenda to bring high quality and evidence-based mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention to students and their families in general and special education in schools. The theme of this year’s conference is "School Mental Health: Promoting Positive Outcomes for Students, Families, Schools, and Communities." The conference features twelve specialty tracks and offers speakers and participants numerous opportunities to advance knowledge and skills and to network related to school mental health practice, research, training, and policy. To read more about this exciting conference and the Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health, please click here.
School Health Interdisciplinary Program (SHIP) The School Health Interdisciplinary Program (SHIP) Conference offers over 30 intensive training sessions and outstanding plenary sessions for youth serving professionals and families invested in student health, mental health, and wellness. The 2012 SHIP Conference will be held at the Sheraton North Hotel in Towson, Maryland (July 29 - August 2, 2012). Please click here for the SHIP 2012 save-the-date. A pre-conference for child care staff and caregivers will be held July 29, 2012, please click here for the pre-conference save-the-date.
New Resources from the Center for School Mental Health:
Health Care Reform: What School Mental Health Professionals Need to Know This CSMH policy brief provides an overview of health care reform and the implications for school mental health. The brief highlights important changes to health care under the Affordable Care Act and its potential impact on mental health services for children and families. There is also a list of helpful resources and websites related to health care reform. To read the brief, click here.
Homeless Youth and School Mental Health Issue Brief This issue brief provides a description of homeless youth by presenting the causes of homelessness, educational experiences of homeless youth, and mental health issues of homeless youth. Importantly, the brief provides suggestions for how schools and teachers can help homeless youth. To read the brief, please click here.
The Impact of School Mental Health The CSMH research report, The Impact of School Mental Health: Educational, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes, provides a one page summary of key highlights of the impact of school mental health and a more detailed nine page summary of the literature, including empirical findings and a reference list. To read this Impact document, click here.
Data Matters: Volume 1, Issue 2 (December 2011) The second issue of Data Matters (released December 14, 2011) reviews literature documenting the value of using measures that are briefer than traditional measures of children’s mental health outcomes. We also highlight a few brief outcome measures that are psychometrically sound and feasible within the context of providing mental health services in schools. Next, we address the importance of measuring academic outcomes when considering the impact of school mental health services. Drs. Kern and Walker of the University of Washington co-authored our Community Spotlight section, discussing the relationship between the use of school-based health centers and academic outcomes. Lastly, the issue includes a few citations and abstracts of recent literature on school mental health evaluation and outcomes assessment. To read the second issue of Data Matters, please click here.
Thought Leader Dialogue: Advancing Integrated Mental Health and Education Research The Center for School Mental Health, in collaboration with the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS), co-hosted a meeting in Charleston, South Carolina with participation from mental health and education researchers, education leaders, and federal and private foundation funders. The purpose of the meeting was to identify action steps to promote a coordinated research agenda that a) encourages collaboration between education and child emotional/behavioral health stakeholders, and b) supports the application of emotional/behavioral health and education research findings to educational practice. After the Thought Leader Dialogue, the CSMH and CHHCS collaborated to create a list and description of national datasets and databases on children’s health, mental health, and education. Please click here for the summary table. For more information on the Thought Leader Dialogue, please click here.
Important Resources:
Advances in School Mental Health Promotion An academic journal emphasizing the interconnectedness of research, policy, training, and practice in the field of school mental health. Click here to subscribe to Advance in School Mental Health Promotion.
Healthcare Reform Updates Link here for helpful resources to navigate your way through the implications of healthcare reform for students and families, schools and the mental health community.
SchoolMentalHealth.org A website dedicated to providing practical school mental health resources for clinicians, educators, families, and youth.
Sharedwork.org This website is the primary communication mechanism for the National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health and its 12 practice groups.
Please Provide the CSMH with Feedback The Center for School Mental Health is very interested in collecting data to evaluate the usefulness, impact, and reach of our conferences, trainings, consultations, products, and overall work across local, state, national, and international levels. Please take 5 to 10 minutes to respond to an online survey by clicking here.
