Center for MH in Schools & Student/Learning Supports

Practitioner and Professional Development: Virtual Toolbox for Mental Health in Schools

Have you viewed the Community of Practice Interchanges?

This online toolbox compiles a sample of various brief resources developed by the national Center.  There are many additional resources accessible by clicking on the Center's Online Clearinghouse Quick Finds and the catalogue of Resources and Publications.

While this toolbox is intended as an adjunct to the book Mental Health in Schools: Engaging Learners, Preventing Problems, and Improving Schools (Corwin Press), its contents should be useful to any school practitioner and those involved in pre-and inservice professional development programs.

The toolbox reflects a broad view of mental health in schools and of the role mental health plays in the well-being of students, their families, and their teachers. Also stressed is the value of embedding mental health into a comprehensive classroom and school-wide system for addressing barriers to learning and teaching and re-engaging disconnected students as an essential facet of ensuring all students have an equal opportunity to succeed at school.

Each section of the toolbox is under continuous development.
All feedback and suggestions will be appreciated.
Send comments to Ltaylor@ucla.edu

CONTENTS The 10 Sections of the Toolbox are: Framing Mental Health in Schools Concerns and Controversies Challenges and Opportunities in the Classroom About Behavior Problems and Social and Emotional Learning Mental Health Assistance for Students at School Focusing on the Well-being of School Staff On-line Clearinghouse Quick Finds and Fact & Information Resources Online Continuing Education Modules & Guidebooks Quick Training Aids & Tutorials Tools for Facilitating Triage, Referral, & Quality of Care

Section I. Framing Mental Health in Schools Mental Health in Schools: Brief Overview https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/aboutmh/mhinschools.html Policy Framework for Fully Integrating a Mental Health Focus in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/policyframework.pdf Frequently Asked Questions About Mental Health in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/freqaskedmh.pdf Frequently Asked Questions from the Media about Mental Health in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/mediaquest.pdf Mental Health in Schools: Becoming an Integrated Part of the School Improvement Agenda (Power Point presentation with an accompanying set of PDF formatted handouts) https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/mhpresentation.htm Guidelines for Mental Health in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/guidelinesmh.htm Clarifying the full continuum https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/clarifyng.pdf Organizing, mapping, and analyzing the work https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/organizing.pdf Schools, Families, and Community Working Together: Building an Effective Collaborative https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/buildingeffectivecollab.pdf Self-Study Survey of System Status https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/toolsforpractice/supportsystemsurvey.pdf Self-Study Survey for School-Community Collaboration https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/toolsforpractice/schoolcommunitysurvey.pdf Resources for Planning Mental Health in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/planning.pdf Mental Health in Schools - A Sampling of References https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/references.htm Time for straight talk about mental health services and mental health in schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/nhinschools.pdf Mental Health in Schools Policy & Program Reports & Briefs https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/materials/policyprogram.htm

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Section II. Concerns and Controversies About Screening Mental Health Problems in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/policyissues/mhscreeningissues.pdf About School and Classroom Climate School Climate https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/schoolclassroomclimate.pdf Security Measures at Schools: Mental Health Considerations https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/hottopic/hottopic(security).htm About Evidence-Based Practices in Schools Annotated "Lists" of Empirically Supported/evidence Based Interventions for School-aged Children and Adolescents https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/aboutmh/annotatedlist.pdf Evidence-Based Practices in Schools: Concerns About Fit and Implementation https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/Newsletter/Summer07.pdf About Empirically Supported Therapeutic Relationships https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/aboutmh/therapyrelationships.pdf Countering the Over-pathologizing of Students' Feelings & Behavior: A Growing Concern Related to MH in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/pathology.pdf Making MOUs Meaningful https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/makingmou.pdf Youth Participation: Making It Real https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/youthpartic.pdf

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Section III. Challenges and Opportunities in the Classroom Opening the Classroom Door to Bring in Supports Opening the Classroom Door https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/hottopic/hottopic(openingtheclassroomdoor).htm Volunteers as an Invaluable Resource https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/voluntresource.pdf Guiding and Supporting Volunteers https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/guiding volunteers.pdf Using Aides and Volunteers in Targeted Ways https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/usingaides.pdf Supports for Transition Welcoming Strategies for Newly Arrived Students and Their Families https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/welcomingstrategies.pdf Addressing School Adjustment Problems https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/adjustmentproblems.pdf Self-study Survey for Supports for Transition https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/toolsforpractice/transitionssurvey.pdf Accounting for Motivational and Ability Differences in the Classroom Personalizing Classroom Instruction https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/personalizing.pdf Turning Big Classes into Smaller Units https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/small%20classes.pdf Accounting for Diversity https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/accounting.pdf Accommodations https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/addingoptions.pdf Response to Intervention https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/responsetointervention.pdf Prereferral Intervening https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/prereferral.pdf About Motivation (add note to Practice Guide, etc.) https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/motivation.pdf

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Section IV. About Behavior Problems and Social and Emotional Learning Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Problems at School https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/promotingmh.pdf Clarifying the Full Continuum: Risk, Protective Buffers, and Youth Development Factors https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/fullcontinuum.pdf Determinants of Students' Problems https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/determinants.pdf Re-engaging Students in Learning at School https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/Newsletter/winter02.pdf Common Behavior Problems at School: A Natural Opportunity for Social and Emotional Learning https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/behaviorsocialemot.pdf Natural Opportunities to Promote Social-Emotional Learning and MH https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/naturalopportunities.pdf Intervention Focus in Dealing with Misbehavior https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/misbehavior.pdf Bullying: A Major Barrier to Student Learning https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/bullying.pdf Conceptualizing help for students victimized by bullies https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/victims.pdf Beyond Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: Re-engaging Students in Classroom Instruction https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/beyondpbs.pdf Working with Disengaged Students (Replace with new version) https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/disengagedstudents.pdf Addressing Truancy https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/addtruancy.pdf Empathy, Compassion, and Addressing Student Misbehavior    https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/empath.pdf About Resilience and Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/resili.pdf About Social Anxiety and Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/socanx.pdf Thinking Cautiously About Screening for Major Depressive Disorder in Adolescents:    The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations and Implications for Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/depress.pdf About Anxiety Attacks    https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/panic.pdf About supporting those who seem depressed    https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/dep.pdf Young people’s concerns about body image    https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/bodyimage.pdf Trauma: a barrier to learning and teaching    https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/traumainfo.pdf Addressing stigma as part of student supports    https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/stigma.pdf

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Section V. Mental Health Assistance for Students at School Types of Mental Health Assistance at Schools Forms of Corrective Intervention https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/correctivemh.pdf Overview of Practices for Problem Identification, Triage, Referral, and Monitoring Care (Replaces Developing Systems at a School for Problem Identification, Triage, Referral, and Management of Care (Practice Notes) https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/developingsystems.pdf Identifying and Clarifying Need https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/idneed.pdf Triage https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/triage.pdf Consultation and Referral https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/conref.pdf Monitoring/Managing Care https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/monitoring.pdf Interviewing and Monitoring Tools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/monitoring.pdf Addressing School Adjustment Problems https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/adjustmentproblems.pdf School Responses to Natural Disasters https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/naturaldisasters.pdf When a Student Seems Dangerous to Self or Others https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/dangerous.pdf Responding to a Student in Crisis: Psychological First Aid in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/psychfirstaid.pdf https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/respondcrisis.pdf Suicidal Crisis https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/suicide.pdf Grief and Loss https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/grief.pdf School Helping Students Deal with Loss https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/loss.pdf Involving Parents in Counseling https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/involvingparents.pdf Obesity and Mental Health https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/practicenotes/obesityandmh.pdf Prescription Drugs Abuse Among Youth https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/abuseofprescript.pdf Homework is a Mental Health Concern https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/homework.pdf Dropout Prevention https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/dropoutprevention.pdf Self-Study Survey of Crisis Response and Prevention https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/toolsforpractice/crisissurvey.pdf Self-Study Survey of Student and Family Assistance Programs & Services https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/toolsforpractice/studentfamilysurvey.pdf Additional practical tools and materials https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/addmat.pdf

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Section VI. Focusing on the Well-being of School Staff Be Concerned About Staff Mental Health and Well-Being https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/staffmh.pdf

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Section VII. On-line Clearinghouse Quick Finds and Fact & Information Resources QUICK FINDS: A topical set of resources that is readily accessed through a menu (direct website addresses are provided). The menu of over 130 specific Quick Finds covers topics related to disaster response, classroom management, motivation (including engagement and re-engagement in classroom learning), social and emotional development, and much more. Some of the Quick Finds provide links directly to staff/stakeholder development and training aids and tutorials and continuing education modules. https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/quicksearch.htm FACT & INFORMATION RESOURCES, AND BRIEF AIDS Center developed brief fact and information resources https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/materials/trainingpresentation.htm#fact

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Section VIII. Online Continuing Education Modules & Guidebooks Addressing Barriers to Learning: New Directions for Mental Health in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/contedu/conted.pdf Addressing Barriers to Learning: A Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health in Schools https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/ceaddressing/ceforchange.pdf Enhancing School Staff Understanding of MH and Psychosocial Concerns: A Guide https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/enhancingschoolstaff.pdf Mental Health in Schools: New Roles for School Nurses https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/Nurses/unit1.pdf Fostering School, Family, and Community Involvement: in the series, Safe and Secure: Guides to Creating Safer Schools. https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/publications/44 guide 7 fostering school family and community involvement.pdf Sustaining School and Community Efforts to Enhance Outcomes for Children and Youth: A Guidebook and Tool Kit https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/sustaining.pdf School-Community Partnerships: A Guide https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/guides/schoolcomm.pdf Mental Health and School Based Health Centers https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/MHSBHC/wholemhsbhc.pdf Common Psychosocial Problems of School Aged Youth: Developmental Variations, Problems, Disorders and Perspectives for Prevention and Treatment (Guidebook) https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/psysocial/entirepacket.pdf

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Section IX. Quick Training Aids & Tutorials Assessing & Screening http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/assessmentandscreening.pdf Attention Problems in School http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/assessmentandscreening.pdf Behavior Problems at School http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/behaviorproblems.pdf Bullying Prevention http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/bullyingprevention.pdf Case Management in the School Context http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/casemanagement.pdf Classroom Changes to Enhance and Re-engage Students in Learning https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/classchange_tt/classroomfull.pdf Community Outreach: School-Community Resources to Address Barriers to learning https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/Commout_tt/communityfull.pdf Confidentiality http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/confidentiality.pdf Crisis Assistance and Prevention: Reducing Barriers to Learning https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/crisis_tt/crisispdf.pdf Re-engaging Students in Learning https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/reengagingstudents.pdf School-Based Crisis Intervention http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/schoolbasedcrisisinterv.pdf School Interventions to Prevent and Respond to Adolescent Affect and Mood Problems http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/affectandmood.pdf School Staff Burnout http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/schoolstaffburnout.pdf Students & Family Assistance Programs and Services to Address Barriers to Learning https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/student_tt/studentfamfull.pdf Suicide Prevention http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/suicideprevention.pdf Support for Transitions https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/transition_tt/transitionsfull.pdf Violence Prevention http://www.smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quicktraining/violenceprevention.pdf

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Section X. Tools for Facilitating Triage, Referral, and Quality of Care Tools to Facilitate Triage https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/triaging.pdf Tools to Enhance Client Access to Information about Referral Resources https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/clientinfo.pdf Tools to Assist Clients with Referrals https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/referral.pdf Tools to Aid in Assuring Quality of Care https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/quality.pdf

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