In Session is an education-centered podcast where we speak with changemakers working towards safe supportive learning environments within their communities, co-hosted by Annie Knowles and Brianna Cunniff at the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments. Our guests include state and local education agencies and their partners - all grant recipients from the Department of Education, using their funding to advanc ...
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As the United States contends with a mental health crisis, schools are implementing universal mental health screenings to identify students needing support. These screenings are part of a systematic process to identify students’ strengths and needs to better inform school based mental health intervention efforts. One of NCSSLE’s Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP2019) grantees, Sodus Central School District in New York State, has successfully implemented a district-wide universal screening process that has helped improve their intervention efforts and better support students. On this episode of “In Session,” we talk to Hennessey Lustica and Rob Lillis from Sodus Central School District about the district’s universal mental health screening efforts. This conversation is guided by NCSSLE’s Annie Knowles and Brianna Cunniff. To learn more, read Sodus’ Grantee Highlight. 1:10 - Introductions 4:30 - Defining Universal Screening 8:30 - Survey Questions 10:23 - Successful Implementation 22:15 - Lessons learned and challenges 26:36 - Impacts 31:49 - Future Plans For all questions or feedback, you can email ncssle@air.org. Thanks for listening! Please note, the contents of this podcast do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does it imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.
As districts and states across the country grapple with the effects of trauma exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health crisis, and more, many have shifted to a trauma-informed care approach to promote healing environments for students and staff. One of NCSSLE’s Project Prevent Cohort 3 (P2C3) grantees, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), has made particularly noteworthy progress in implementing this approach district-wide. On this episode of “In Session,” we speak with Naomi Handley, Rachel Hamm, and Leandra Torra, P2C3 grant recipients from Jefferson County, KY, about the district’s extensive trauma-informed care training approach. This conversation is guided by NCSSLE’s Annie Knowles and Brianna Cunniff. Learn more about JCPS at their website, and read their Grantee Highlight for more information about their trauma-informed plans. 0:45 - Welcome & Introductions 1:28 - Why JCPS puts emphasis on Trauma-Informed Care 7:24 - The process for districts to create a system and provide Trauma-Informed Care to schools 10:41 - How this work connects to their Project Prevent Grant 12:25 - School Specific Plans 16:14 - Challenges they have encountered 23:30 - Successes and impacts they have seen on the school community 28:52 - What comes next for this Trauma-Informed Care work 35:18 - Closing For all questions or feedback, you can email ncssle@air.org. Thanks for listening! Please note, the contents of this podcast do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does it imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.
To maintain a strong school-based mental health workforce that meets the growing needs of students, districts across the country are partnering with local universities to place interns in schools, thereby creating a pipeline of school-based mental health staff. Thoroughly supporting and effectively engaging with these interns is essential to prepare and, ultimately, sustain the workforce. On this episode of “In Session,” we speak with Dr. Rosie Rincon Hernandez & Gianna Merriam, Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP2019) grant recipients from Tulare County, CA about their effort to build the capacity of and effectively engage school based mental health interns. This conversation is guided by Annie Knowles and Brianna Cunniff. Visit Tulare County’s website and read their Grantee Highlight for more information about supporting school-based mental health interns. You can also view their helpful diagram of the Overlapping Roles of Support Staff that use that is discussed in the episode. 0:47 - Introductions and their “Why” for doing this work 2:35 - How Tulare County has created a robust internship experience 7:21 - Practices they have implemented to ensure the internship program is quality and sustainable 14:15 - Sustainability for interns 15:27 - Impacts they have seen with the internship program 20:31 - How they have clarified roles and responsibilities 26:11 - Greatest success and lessons learned 32:43 - Closing & takeaways For all questions or feedback, you can email ncssle@air.org. Thanks for listening! Please note, the contents of this podcast do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does it imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.
As the United States contends with a mental health crisis, schools have been actively working to hire, train and retain school mental health professionals. When interviewing potential professionals for the job, schools look for candidates that connect well with students. One way to ensure this connection is to engage students in the hiring process. One of NCSSLE’s Project Prevent grantees, the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) in Hartford, CT has done this by implementing student-led interview panels as part of their clinician hiring process. On this episode of “In Session,” we speak with Sixmaritt Pagán Peña, a Project Prevent (Cohort 2 and Cohort 3) grant recipient from the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) and Rashelly, a 10th grader at the Academy of Computer Science and Engineering, about the district’s student-led clinician interview panels. This conversation is guided by NCSSLE’s Annie Knowles and Brianna Cunniff. Learn more about CREC at their website, and read their Grantee Highlight for more information about the student-led interview panels. 1:00 - Introductions 1:56 - Background Information 2:59 - Student Experience and Feedback 4:44 - Formulating Questions for the Interviews 6:13 - Prioritizing Student Voice 9:19 - Impact on Students and the Hiring Process 11:31 - Next Steps For all questions or feedback, you can email ncssle@air.org. Thanks for listening! Please note, the contents of this podcast do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does it imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.
On this episode of “In Session,” we speak with Frank Rider, a seasoned Technical Assistance Specialist (TAS) at NCSSLE, about the capacities Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and State Education Agencies (SEAs) need to improve their school mental health programs and systems. As he nears the end of his 40 year career, Frank shares his expertise with the field at large. Specifically, he discusses common characteristics of successful change initiatives, advice for new grant managers, and what he has learned over the course of his impactful career. This discussion will be helpful for both new grantees (P2C3 and others) and those grantees who are nearing the end of their grants (MHSP 2019, P2C2, SBMH 2020, TR). This conversation is guided by NCSSLE’s Annie Knowles and Brianna Cunniff. 0:45- Welcome and introduction 2:16- Common characterstics of technical assistance (TA) recipients who have successfully facilitated change initiatives 4:28- Key characteristics of a compelling impetus for change 6:00- Recognizing the important phases of systems change for successful change initiatives 7:45- Primary advice for first time grante managers 10:43- Secondary piece of advice for new grant leaders 14:06- Lessons learned 17:29- Suggestions for technical assistance providers aiming to support successful grant funded systems change initiatives 19:08- Defining SAMHSA and GPRA 20:34- Challenges and questions for grant managers close to the end of the grany cycle 24:10- Taking an initiative to the "next level" 27:21- What Frank has learned from successful change agents through his TA work 31:14- Final takeaways and closing For all questions or feedback, you can email ncssle@air.org. Thanks for listening! Please note, the contents of this podcast do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does it imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.