For student mental health programs to be successful, district leaders must look for strategies to change organizational supports and adult behavior.
This effort is underway through a statewide network of school district leaders that is revolutionizing student mental health by moving beyond temporary “band-aid” programs to build a permanent safety net that ensures students don’t fall through the cracks.
The Rhode Island School Superintendents Association is part of a project aimed at revolutionizing how district leaders approach student mental health. It emphasizes building leaders’ capacity to develop their own skills, systems and teams, says Brenda Santos, director of Rhode Island research partnerships at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University.
The Student Mental Health Network consists of 11 public school districts that receive one-on-one coaching and collaborate to identify problems and implement effective mental health strategies.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations about adult behavior change because we know that is what’s needed to lead changes to student mental health,” says Hannah Frank, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University.
Finding solutions to shared problems
Frank and her colleague, psychiatry professor Ruben Martinez, each coach districts in monthly, one-on-one implementation-focused sessions, while also hosting collaborative learning meetings that bring together all 11 districts.
Frank and Martinez start by helping leaders identify “bottlenecks” in mental health programming by tracking a student’s journey from the moment they’re identified with a need until they actually receive services.
“One district might be very successful in universal screening and the other might be having a challenge,” Martinez explains. By connecting these districts, the network hopes to ensure that a student’s access to care isn’t determined by their zip code.
The network specifically helps schools implement universal screening to catch issues early and facilitates direct referrals to certified community behavioral health centers and local clinicians.
Erica Dickson, director of student services at the Jamestown School Department, says the network is helping her gain the skills to “build capacity” within her small district of about 400 students.
“As a small department, high-level behavioral needs arise infrequently, making it challenging to keep every specialized resource available for professionals at the exact moment it’s needed,” she says.
Meanwhile, a lack of federal funding post-pandemic amid high support staff turnover is creating problems for districts across the state. Too often, when a school receives a grant, it eventually “cliffs,” says Martinez.
“We find that it happens quite a bit because there aren’t always established plans to sustain whatever was put into the schools and institutionalize it so that it can be part of the regular day-to-day,” he says.
To combat this, the researchers help districts “centralize knowledge” through manuals and databases so that essential processes do not disappear when a staff member resigns. Leadership instability is a “big risk” for network members, Santos says.
One district that’s part of the network, according to Martinez, relies on “community-rich” support for its high-risk students. Local partners, including the fire department, housing agencies and mental health centers, meet regularly with school leaders to coordinate care for specific students.
“If there’s someone identified who has a challenge that can be addressed at multiple levels, like housing and mental health, that’s when they start to get involved,” Martinez says.
As the project enters its second year, the researchers hope to build a national blueprint for this work. They’ve identified key “ingredients” for success, including shared goals across “vertical teams” of superintendents and principals and providing a venue for districts to learn from one another.
“Year one felt very much like year zero in that we were all getting to know each other,” Santon says. “We’ve been learning together and we’re ready to support districts in making meaningful progress on their goals this year.”
More from DA: How to elevate an award-winning math strategy
