Overview: The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has received an 18-month $299,316 federal grant designed to strengthen access for students and their families to mental health services in schools. The grant from the United States Department of Education is one of 20 this year, from 84 applications nationwide. Maryland’s project will involve five local school systems: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, St. Mary’s, and Washington counties. Schools selected must have an active Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Program. Three schools from each system will be identified to participate in this project. The School Mental Health Integration grant will focus on a full continuum of mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention, treatment and crisis intervention in schools. It is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills related to making appropriate referrals, and will improve the links among school teams, families, youths, health care providers and the larger public mental health system. Using the existing structure of the PBIS teams and the “zone” concept of categorizing kids (green, yellow, and red zones representing the proportion of kids requiring different levels of prevention/intervention) as a starting point, the program will work to better integrate mental health systems into the PBIS structure for students with more intensive mental health needs (red and yellow zone kids). The project will be helpful in developing tools and resources for students and families who need assistance in mental health and behavioral concerns. It is planned that the tools and resources developed will ultimately be able to be shared with all of Maryland’s school systems. The grant establishes a Maryland School Mental Health Alliance. The Alliance partners include the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)-both Student Services and Special Education, with the University of Maryland’s Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action (CSMHA), the Governor’s Office for Children, the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Prevention and Early Intervention, the Mental Health Association of Maryland, the Mental Hygiene Administration/Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services, the Maryland Coalition of Families for Children’s Mental Health, and the Maryland Assembly of School-Based Health Care. |
