Effective School Solutions (ESS), the country’s leading provider of school-based mental health services for K-12 school districts, and Amy Kennedy, Education Director for the Kennedy Forum, have published An Inflection Point for School-Based Mental Health: Key Steps States Can Take to Serve All Students.

The pandemic brought the mental health struggles young people are facing front and center. Now is the time for both State Education Associations and Local Education Associations to take a more proactive and prescriptive approach in putting consistent mental health best practices into action. Fortunately, there are key policy steps that states, and school districts can put in place to ensure resources are used in the most effective and efficient way to get teachers, students, and families the support and services they need. They include:

• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). Embrace MTSS, a proactive, holistic tiered system of support, designed so that all students have equitable access to high-quality instruction and interventions to meet their needs.
• Universal Mental Health Screening. Implement universal mental health screening programs in schools and allow community-based mental health providers to deliver mental health services in schools.
• Sustainable Funding Paths. Identify permanent and sustainable funding streams for mental health service delivery.
• Data. Create a School-Based Mental Health Scorecard to measure key performance indicators by district across the state.

Duncan Young, CEO of ESS, stated, “We’re excited to partner with Amy Kennedy and The Kennedy Forum on this set of guidelines for enhancing the role that K-12 school districts can play in serving as points of delivery for impactful mental health care.  As our society gradually emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, schools must play a critical role in the mental health and wellness of our students.”

Amy Kennedy, Education Director, The Kennedy Forum, stated “The youth mental health crisis we’re facing is far from new. Yet, we also know there are measurable actions that states can take now to benefit students both during and following the pandemic to build a greater capacity for young people to prosper, learn, and cultivate long-term improved health.”

Please click here to read An Inflection Point for School-Based Mental Health: Key Steps States Can Take to Serve All Students.