Advancing effective school behavioral health

Abstract

Reviews the development of the Southeastern School Behavioral Health Community (SSBHC, see), a regional community of practice focused on improving and expanding school behavioral health (SBH) programs involving clinicians from the mental health system joining schools' multitiered systems of support (MTSS). The community was strengthened by a Eugene Washington Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and this support also enabled the conduct of eight focus groups, each including diverse representatives (e.g., teachers, mental health clinicians, family members, youth, systems leaders) in locations around South Carolina. Focus groups included five critical theme areas focusing on improving collaboration, school-wide strategies, cultural humility, overall program quality, and implementation support. Three final focus groups focused on priority populations of students connecting to juvenile justice or child welfare systems, or from military families. This introductory chapter to the book briefly reviews these eight themes, reviews methodology for qualitative analyses of focus group data, and discusses the advancement of SBH in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.