Rates of depression in youth are continuing to increase at a steady rate, yet these youth often do not receive mental health services (Bertha & Balázs, 2013; Thomas et al., 2011). Schools are an ideal setting to connect youth to mental health services; however, many barriers exist with respect to schools having adequate resources and access to…

School-based mental health screening has been identified as a major component of social, emotional, and behavioral multitiered systems of support models, and a promising practice that can be used to address unmet mental health needs of children and adolescents. However, there are frequently noted concerns about the feasibility of implementing…

Background: Mass school shootings have created fear in the American public. The results of this fear have been the hardening of schools, lockdowns, and active shooter drills, yet the mass shootings have not ended. The goal of this study was to analyze the mental health awareness of K-12 public schools teachers in Texas with a goal to identify the…

In response to an unprecedented demand for services, college counseling centers have been forced to innovate new strategies to meet student demand and protect staff from burnout. One private university developed a unique Comprehensive Collaborative Care Model. Drawing on the tradition of collegiate recovery communities, this model includes the use…

Mental health has a substantial effect on student academic performance. As the need for mental health resources in Texas significantly outpaces availability and access, schools are often the best location for students to connect with necessary mental health services and community support. The Texas Education Agency and its partners, including the…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most students in the United States experienced full school closure followed by a hybrid of online and in-person learning before ultimately returning to fully in-person instruction in the Fall of 2021. I investigated the experiences of three high school choir teachers during the 2021-2022 academic year to examine their…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a profound impact on millions of families in the United States. While Hispanic families represent the most rapidly growing demographic group within this population, little research explores their unique experiences in coping with the family impacts of ASD. This phenomenological study explored the lived…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare mental health and stress in K-5 teachers at a Southeast Texas elementary school based on gender, years of experience, and race. It was guided by the following research questions: How does the relationship between gender among male and female elementary teachers relate to stress assessment…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional school accountability systems, particularly those reliant on standardized testing. This study investigates how three Texas school districts responded to pandemic-related needs and adapted their locally developed Community-Based Accountability Systems (CBAS) to maintain accountability in the absence of…

Parents, particularly mothers, of autistic children may be especially vulnerable to the negative effects of COVID-19. The current longitudinal study examined changes in psychological distress (anxiety, depression, stress) and marital functioning of mothers and fathers of autistic children across three time points between April and October 2020,…

Recent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) scholarship emphasizes that differing ACEs affect the onset and course of psychopathology, and that sociopolitical context contributes to ACEs experienced by marginalized youth. Guided by the Immigration-Related Adverse Childhood Experiences Model, we explored the associations between different…

Objective: The interrelationships between cannabis use disorder (CUD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms, and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) were examined. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 363) who reported using cannabis within the past six months were recruited. Method: Mediation analyses was conducted to examine if…

Over the past 4 years, the Region 14 Comprehensive Center (R14CC) has provided capacity-building support to the state education agencies (SEAs) in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas via technical assistance (TA), a process through which R14CC designs and implements projects that build SEA capacity to carry out evidence-based policies and programs. In…

Digital transformation--which goes well beyond adopting new technology--requires a comprehensive approach that addresses organizational change, strategic alignment, and employee engagement. The Region 14 Comprehensive Center (R14CC) and its partners are at the forefront of this transformation for state education agencies (SEAs). The goal is to…

Mental health conditions were seen to rise during the COVID-19 pandemic as individuals lost loved ones due to the pandemic, lost jobs, and in many cases had to care for elderly and other loved ones. For students, the pandemic also brought the additional challenge of having to transition to online learning. In this study, we investigated the…