This brief focuses on the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) and its efforts to transform schools into centers of wellness. SCOE serves 13 school districts with nearly 250,000 students, prioritizing mental health professionals in every school and creating systems for all adults to contribute to supporting a school-community continuum of…

Background: Youth mental health needs have worsened following COVID-19. Rising demand for school mental health services is straining capacity. Several states have added policies requiring mental health education, yet these vary widely and barriers to operationalization exist. Purpose: This paper explores the onerous landscape of mental health…

Background: Mental health care is critical to improving mental health but factors associated with student utilization are poorly understood. Methods: Data were from high school students (N = 2933; mean age = 15.7 ± 0.6) enrolled in a California cohort. We examined associations of sociodemographic factors, substance use, and mental health symptoms…

Objective: To understand the feasibility of using telehealth for mental health services among college students. Participants: College students (N = 16) attending a university in Southern California, 18 years or older, and living in the residential halls. Methods: Two face-to-face semi-structured focus groups were conducted using a semi-structured…

Project Cal-Well is a cross-agency mental health initiative led by the California Department of Education focused on building capacity for sustainable school-based mental health systems in local educational agencies (LEAs) throughout California. As part of a series highlighting the work of Project Cal-Well partners in Cohort 2 (2019-2024), this…

The California Department of Education's Project Cal-Well aims to promote awareness of student mental health and improve access to mental health services for youth, families, and school communities. This brief introduces a series of Project Cal-Well Legacy Briefs that highlight successes achieved by Project Cal-Well partners. WestEd developed the…

This overview highlights Del Norte Unified School District's (DNUSD) approach to enhancing student mental health services via Project Cal-Well. DNUSD is committed to fostering positive school environments and has expanded its Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Committee to further this goal. The district has launched various mental health…

This brief outlines how the Stanislaus County Office of Education (SCOE) supports the educational and mental health needs of 25 school districts in the county. SCOE partnered with three school districts--Hughson Unified, Patterson, and Turlock--to enhance their school-based mental health programs for approximately 22,000 students. The brief…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools shone a spotlight on the issue of student mental health. Rates of depression and anxiety among youth skyrocketed, resulting in an increase in emergency room visits related to youth mental health. While children and youth were reporting the need for behavioral health supports prior to the pandemic,…

This brief details the significant strides made by the Paradise Unified School District (PUSD) in establishing robust school mental health systems to facilitate healing and recovery. PUSD, which serves the rural communities of Paradise, Magalia, and Stirling City--areas deeply affected by the 2018 Camp Fire--has launched several key initiatives…

This demonstration brief provides teaching and learning stories from districts and schools implementing PBIS with an integrated systems focus and is organized across the following areas: (a) the context of the school/district, (b) the changes made in the systems, (c) the impact of the changes made in the systems, and (d) next steps to improve the…

Throughout the research conducted for WestEd's recent brief, "Schools Can't Do It Alone: Developing Sustainable Systems of Care for School-Based Behavioral Health in California," local educational agencies (LEAs) expressed a need for technical assistance (TA) in a variety of areas to improve student behavioral health outcomes. Needed…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how community college student-athletes who reside in the central California area describe how mindfulness training has influenced their psychological well-being. The conceptual framework comprised mindfulness-acceptance and commitment (MAC) to provide the theoretical foundation. MAC…

The problem addressed in this study was that social and emotional strategies are not provided at the school level, which affects teachers' mental well-being, causing them to feel occupational burnout. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators have been compelled to adapt to new teaching modalities, contributing to heightened stress…

In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each of its twelve schools in order to bolster district capacity to support student mental health and wellbeing. Stanford's John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (Gardner Center) conducted a Year 1…