Project aware improving mental health practices across communities together (impact) - central susquehanna intermediate unit is working to address the increasing needs of student mental health in…

Project aware improving mental health practices across communities together (impact) - central susquehanna intermediate unit is working to address the increasing needs of student mental health in their 5-county service region, located in central pennsylvania. Behavioral and mental health concerns have been significantly impacting students in the 17 school districts and 3 career and technical centers served by csiu since pre-pandemic and student needs have only been exacerbated by the ripple effects of isolation, loss, and changes in learning modalities throughout covid-19. Through the work of project aware impact (improving mental health practices across communities together), csiu will partner with the pennsylvania department of education, the office of mental health and substance abuse services, the office of safe schools, geisinger behavioral health, and community resource agencies to create sustainable infrastructures of support to address the growing mental health needs of students and staffing shortages in school-based mental health. To meet this challenging goal, the project aware impact team will provide school specific action plans and associated resources to all participating districts which explicitly reflect 1) a three-tiered model for providing supports to promote positive behavioral health supports, targeted services to those who need more support, and indicated-intensive services for those in need; 2) a workforce capacity-building plan aligning the echo learning model to increase the mental health awareness and literacy of school staff, administrators, parents, and community-based partners who interact with students to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health issues and link them to appropriate services; 3) referral pathways via SAP and geisinger telehealth services to ensure that students in need of services receive necessary school-based and/or community mental health, substance use, and CO-occurring supports and services; 4) a geisinger bridge clinic intervention plan to ensure that school personnel can respond immediately if a school-aged youth requires crisis-level medical intervention and that parallel structures exist in the healthcare system to support the student during and following clinical intervention; and 5) a clear description of the alignment of each building's behavioral health action plan with their respective school safety and threat/violence prevention plan. As per project aware impact's goals and objectives, IT is anticipated that in the 5-county service region of csiu, upwards of 1,768 students will receive clinical services via geisinger telehealth with 4 follow-up appointments, approximately 800 students will receive care via geisinger bridge clinic, and at least 1,250 students will receive evidence-based mental health and resiliency training and suicide prevention education annually. This will amount to over 15,172 students served throughout the life cycle of project aware impact, in addition to the potential to increase the mental health knowledge and skills of over 1,000 educators and school leaders across a rural 5-county region.