Promoting Positive Mental Health in Rural Schools

Publication Date: August 12, 2019

Developed By: Mountain Plains MHTTC

This article provides resources specific to addressing the unique mental health training and technical assistance needs of schools serving rural and remote communities. School administrators, faculty, and support staff are facing increasing pressure to respond to a host of unmet mental health needs of students in K-12 and higher education. In response, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released a resource to assist states and schools in addressing mental health and substance use disorders. Underscoring the purpose of the document was a recognition that schools, communities, and families often lack “comprehensive treatment and services for children and youth.” That is particularly true in rural communities.

Vigo County School Corporation is a Project AWARE grantee, finishing up their first year of increasing awareness, capacity, early identification/intervention, and student/family access to mental health supports through school and community-based initiatives. One pillar of their work to increase awareness has been Youth Mental Health First-Aid training in partnership with Hamilton Center, Vigo County's local Community Mental Health Center. As of September 18, a total of 209 adults took part in the full-day training. Participants included behavior interventionists, school counselors, social workers, deans, educational assistants, administrators, teachers, and all secondary PE/Health teachers all who now have concrete strategies and awareness to better assist students who may be in the early stages of developing a mental health problem or are in a mental health crisis. For more information, please contact Megan Kirk, Project AWARE Coordinator.

September 30

• Safer Schools: It's All About Relationships
• Digital Harm - A Persistent Vulnerability For School Safety
• Virginia Tech: A Survivors Perspective
• Trauma Informed Schools and School Safety
• End of the Road? The Correctional Education Model for Indiana
• Is Perception Reality? Brain-Based Learning Strategies to Build Relationships to Reach, Teach, and Protect Diverse Learners
• Victim Services Response to Mass Casualty

October 1

• Social-Emotional Learning Competencies and Toolkit
• Volunteer and Parent Training Program

School social workers do NOT have to meet the new 15 PGP hours of Professional Development requirement. Anyone who renews with an IPLA valid license (LSW or LCSW) is exempt from this requirement. When renewing your license, choose the "Renew with Valid IPLA License" on the DOE Licensing site and it will take you to the appropriate application in LVIS.

National Alliance on Mental Illness of Indiana (NAMI) is offering Youth Mental Health First Aid for FREE for any organization serving Indiana youth. This is a savings of $75-150/ individual! If you are interested, please contact Richard Dixon at 317-928-9399 ext. 108 or email at rdixon@namiindiana.org.

Please join your fellow school nurses for two days of learning, networking and collaborating at the Annual Indiana Association of School Nurses Conference. The conference will take place on the north side of Indianapolis in Noblesville, IN on November 6 and 7. Speakers will be discussing the following topics: Vaping, Human Trafficking, Legislative Updates, GI/Ostomy/Incontinence, Infectious Diseases, Seizures and School Safety. For more information and a link to register, please click here.

The SHAPE System was introduced last month in SEBW Monthly. Please click on the SHAPE System link to create an account. Once logged into the account, you can access resources by clicking on the SHAPE Resource Center tab which can be found at the top of the page. The Resource Center houses publicly available resources representing key components of comprehensive school mental health. Teams are encouraged to use custom reports from the Quality Assessment to navigate the Resource Center and guide the selection of appropriate resources. The resources can be filtered by the following criteria/domains:

• Teaming
• Needs Assessment/Resource Mapping
• Screening
• Mental Health Promotion Services and Supports
• Early Intervention and Treatment Services and Supports
• Funding & Sustainability
• Impact

To successfully improve attendance, chronic absence must be incorporated into overall school improvement plans. Principals should organize a leadership team to:

• monitor data to determine who is most affected
• develop, implement, and galvanize support for a multi-tiered strategy
• use data to understand and address common barriers to attendance
• connect chronically absent students with needed supports

To view a self-assessment tool click here.

Join the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and Regional Educational Library Midwest (REL) for a webinar on supporting students’ social-emotional learning on September 27, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. focusing on how educators can support social-emotional learning into their academic day. For registration and additional information, please read here.

Please join IDOE and IYI for a webinar on September 26: Suicide Prevention Across the Continuum 12:00 – 1:00 pm (EST) Register at IYI.org/webinar

Chronic Absenteeism IDOE Toolkit

Indiana School Social Work Association

Indiana School Counselors Association

Indiana Association of School Nurses

Attendance Works

SEL Center - The Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety

August

Email: LTruitt1@doe.in.gov
Website: www.doe.in.gov/SEBW
Location: 115 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: 317-233-6016
Twitter: @LisaTruitt_SEL