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Coalition for Cohesive Policy in Addressing Barriers to Development & Learning
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In the Fall of 2003, SAMHSA began reshaping its efforts in order to pursue an action agenda related to the recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. In the Winter (2003-2004), the members of the Coalition for Cohesive Policy in Addressing Barriers to Development and Learning agreed to join with the Policy Leadership Cadre for Mental Health in Schools in taking on tasks aimed at moving policy for mental health in schools forward by helping influence SAMHSA's planning.
Background
As the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health recognizes, any effort to enhance interventions for children's mental health must involve schools. Indeed, school involvement is key to the transformation of how mental health interventions are delivered in the U.S.A. Fortunately, schools already provide a wide range of programs and services for all students who are not succeeding, and many of these interventions are relevant to mental health and psychosocial concerns. However, schools could and will need to do much more if the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are to produce the benefits the public desires.
In Fall of 2003, SAMHSA asked the two national Centers focused on mental health in schools to do some work to advance efforts related to the Commission's recommendations.
Current Work
As a first step, a draft brief was prepared by the staff of the two national centers that were established as part of the DHHS initiative to advance mental health in schools. The specific intent of the brief is to apply the extant body of knowledge related to mental health in schools in ways that will contribute to operationalizing the recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. The underlying message is that efforts to transform how mental health interventions are delivered can and should capitalize on the needs of and opportunities presented by schools. Three topics are covered from the perspectives of enhancing mental health in schools:
- Why Mental Health in Schools is an Imperative
- What Needs to be Done to Meet the Imperative
- Where All This Fits into the New Freedom Commission's Recommendations
The Coalition and the Policy Leadership Cadre agreed to play a role in providing feedback related to the initial drafts of both the brief and the resource synthesis and currently are doing so. Beginning in December, a subgroup of Cadre members were identified to constitute a work group. By January 2004, they along with all other Cadre and Coalition members were sent documents to review. All feedback is being integrated as it is received and final working drafts of the documents will be prepared in April.
By April, the gap analysis of the resources will be done, and Coalition and Cadre members will provide feedback on the gap analysis and related recommendations.
The latest drafts of each document are online (click below):
- Integrating Agendas for Mental Health in Schools into the Recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (pdf format).
- Resource Synthesis (pdf format)
Click here for the list of current members of the Policy Leadership Cadre for MH in Schools (pdf format)
Return to Coalition for Cohesive Policy in Addressing Barriers to Development & Learning home page.
| This page is hosted by School Mental Health Project-UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools WebMaster: Perry Nelson (smhp@ucla.edu) |
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