Anne Arundel School Mental Health Initiative

The purpose of the Anne Arundel County’s School Mental Health Intervention is to develop evidenced-based practices and a cost effective model of providing mental health services to students who are at risk. Specifically, this pilot will support the capacity-building and service provision of “red zone” students with emotional disabilities in the county’s current Emotionally Disturbed (ED) Specialty classes/programs, while also providing an intensive training dimension to the county’s multi-agency Community Resource Initiative – CRI (Systems of Care outreach). The core program will operate in four schools: Glendale Elementary, Odenton Elementary, Chesapeake Bay Middle, and Chesapeake Senior. This pilot’s focus is on interventions that enhance the system’s capacity to serve youth with emotional difficulties while building independent and productive citizens through school-based, family and community supports. By the end of its first year, the project hopes to accomplish: improved school and behavioral functioning for participating students, reduced number of children referred to and placed in highly restrictive settings, improved attendance and graduation rates for students with emotional disturbance, reduced behavioral sanctions/suspensions, system cost savings (for Anne Arundel County Public Schools and Maryland State Department of Education).

Click here to see a brochure for the Anne Arundel School Mental Health Initiative.