Assess, access, address: an action plan for student mental health usdhhs samhsa tiss nofo opportunity no

SM-23-025 project abstract summary guilford county schools in greensboro, north carolina, is submitting the project assess, access, address: an action plan for student mental health with collaborative partners kellin foundation and north carolina for community and justice (nccj). The goal of the project is to increase student access to evidence-based, culturally relevant trauma support services and mental health care by improving internal capacity to identify and triage student need and strengthening the external service continuum with community providers. The project will include a cohort of six pilot schools, in elementary-middle-high feeder patterns to create greater opportunities for service consistency for families. Schools will be chosen at the beginning of the FY 2024 school year, with selection based on school community risk factors related to adverse childhood experiences (aces), including poverty, violence, hunger, crime, and health data and school poverty, violent incident, and suicide assessment data. Measurable goals are to 1) increase the number of students formally screened for trauma risk in GCS from 0 to approximately 4,500 per year; 2) increase the number of students receiving trauma-informed mental health care coordination and/or treatment from 0 to approximately 250 per year; 3) increase the number of GCS staff in pilot schools trained in trauma-informed educational practices from 0 to approximately 300. The project will serve approximately 250 unduplicated students and families each year, or a total of 2,512 individuals over the four-year project team. The project population of focus will be the 67,979 students in guilford county schools. The geographic catchment area will be guilford county, in central north carolina, a nearly 645-square-mile county encompassing urban, suburban, and rural areas. Guilford county schools (GCS) the third-largest local education agency (LEA) in north carolina, has 126 schools with diverse student demographics: 42%, black; 27.5%, white; 18.1%, hispanic; 6.9%, asian; 5.5% all other. Guilford county is a longtime refugee resettlement community, as reflected in the fact that 121 world languages/dialects are spoken in the LEA. Approximately 63% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a common indicator of poverty. The district, a member of the council of the great city schools, is one of the 50 largest urban school districts in the united states. Grades included are prek-12, and children range in age from roughly 5 to 18. GCS will invest through this project in a universal screening tool to be used with all pilot school students. The district will hire a project director and evaluator positions to manage the grant and data collection and reporting, respectively. Kellin is a national traumatic stress network (nctsn) clinic, one of only two in north carolina. Kellin will hire a care coordination lead, care coordinator, peer support specialist, an elementary clinician/counselor, and middle-high level clinician/counselor, and act as the nexus of the school district and community providers, further screening students for trauma and providing a warm handoff referral to community providers. Kellin will lead development and implementation of required staff training and family/community engagement activities. Nccj will host sessions with students focused on removing stigmas and barriers for students. Nccj's goal is to help raise student awareness of mental health issues that may affect them and their peers, to encourage them to share their thoughts and experiences, and to guide them to use their voice to ask for support. Nccj will make particular effort to connect with vulnerable groups already struggling or isolated (including bipoc & lgbtq+ youth) before covid-19.