We describe challenges to measuring the type and quantity of mental health programs, practices, and resources that schools provide to students, as well as variation in these resources. We conducted interviews and surveys with school and district staff representing 55 middle and high schools in MetroWest Massachusetts with the goal of collecting…

Background: While adolescent mental health needs have continued to rise, schools have become a central location for adolescents seeking support for mental health needs, and approximately 96% of public schools in the United States report providing some form of mental health care to students. This study aims to explore school social workers' current…

Schools face an unprecedent demand for mental health services. Student mental health problems can be addressed via a continuum of mental health evidence-based practices (EBPs) integrated within school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). However, integrating mental health interventions with PBIS can be challenging. The…

Schools have an important role to play in adolescent suicide prevention. This article describes universal screenings for depression and suicidality as one component of the Signs of Suicide (SOS) program in middle and high schools following the suicide death of a student in the past few years. Of the students screened (N = 7,429), 11.0 percent of…

Evidence suggests that youth progressively experience mental health needs and discover mental health symptoms for the first time in adolescence. Schools have come to the forefront of providing mental health services, as adolescents spend most of their day in the academic setting. The current study aimed to examine individual and school-level…

Background: This study describes the experience of implementing a screening, monitoring, and referral to treatment (SMARTT) initiative at an urban middle school school-based health center. Methods: Retrospective data were collected for adolescents screened with the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17-Y. At-risk adolescents having unmet health needs…

The primary purpose of this research study was to evaluate the efficacy of BASE, a self-paced online mental health education preventive intervention with middle school students. Two hundred ninety-five adolescent students were randomly assigned to receive BASE modules (n = 156) in a regular education classroom setting over a 5-week period or to a…

Effective mental health services require accurate assessment of psychosocial impairments linked to mental health concerns. Youth who experience these impairments do so within and across various contexts (e.g., school, home). Youth may display symptoms of mental health concerns without co-occurring impairments, and vice versa. Yet, nearly all…

The negative consequences for victims and perpetrators of school violence are significant, multifaceted and, if left unchecked, can have personal costs that may last well into their adult lives. Universal violence preventive interventions may not be sufficiently effective in mitigating problems among middle school youth who exhibit risk of violent…

Despite an increase in mental health needs for Black adolescents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017; Moyer, 2018; Pettiti et al., 2017;) in the past few years, many middle schools in urban areas have not responded to the mental health demands that Black students require, and many urban school districts do not provide adequate…

Region 14 Comprehensive Center and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) are collaboratively implementing projects to address high leverage problems such as instructional leadership professional development, school-based mental health supports, and evidence-based reading instruction. This profile provides a summary of these selected projects and an…

We know little about why school administrators choose to adopt preventive mental health interventions within the context of school-based prevention trials. This study used a qualitative multiple-case study design to identify factors that influenced the adoption of a trauma-informed universal intervention by urban public school administrators…

This dissertation aims to elucidate that current school-based mental health services need a more LGBTQI+ affirmative stance to counter and disrupt the heteronormativity, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that LGBTQI+ students regularly encounter at school. Many LGBTQI+ students continue to be harassed, bullied, and discriminated against;…

Adolescents are most likely to receive mental health services in schools compared to other settings; however, few studies have examined barriers to mental health help seeking at school for ethnic minority adolescents. The current mixed-methods study utilized surveys and semi-structured interviews to explore the mental health literacy (MHL),…

Introduction: Schools have become a primary setting for providing mental health care to youths in the U.S. School-based interventions have proliferated, but their effects on mental health and academic outcomes remain understudied. In this study we will implement and evaluate the effects of a flexible multidiagnostic treatment called Modular…