Research & Evaluation

The NCSMH leads innovation in comprehensive school mental health systems designing and evaluating cutting-edge programs, practices and policies to advance high impact outcomes for youth, families, educators and communities.

*An asterisk indicates that a project is complete.

Maryland AWARE II

Project Title:

Maryland Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education II (MD-AWARE II)

Project Staff:

Sharon Hoover, UMB Principal Investigator
Nancy Lever, Training and Technical Assistance Lead
Tiffany Beason, Trainer
Jerica Knox, Postdoctoral Evaluator
Taneisha Carter, Evaluation Specialist

Funding Source:

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Project Partners:

Project Description:

MD-AWARE II supports three local school systems in Maryland, Baltimore City Public Schools, Talbot County Public Schools, and Caroline County Public Schools, in enhancing student and family access to a multi-tiered system of evidence-based practices to support school mental health. The goals and objectives MD-AWARE II are:

Partnering agencies will use a train-the-trainer model to disseminate interventions such as Youth Mental Health First Aid, ACE Interface, and Persuade. Refer to school staff and community members. These interventions support trainees’ ability to identify and refer youth and families that may benefit from mental health resources.
Family Navigators will be integrated into each school system to connect students and families with resources including mental health supports.
Clinicians working within each school system will receive training in evidence-based interventions for students who have experienced trauma such as Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) and Bounce Back. Trainings will also be available in the evidence-based practices Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT).
Telepsychiatry services for students and families will be implemented or expanded in each school system.
District leadership teams will use the School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation system (SHAPE; theshapesystem.com) to develop and implement strategic plans to improve high-quality sustainable school mental health.
The Maryland Educational and Behavioral Health Community of Practice will serve as a state advisory group for MD-AWARE II. Each district will develop a local advisory group to review policy and make recommendations to support school mental health.

Resources for team members.

Contact:

Taneisha Carter, tacarter@som.umaryland.edu

Maryland Healthy Transitions (MD-HT)

Project Title:

Maryland Healthy Transitions (MD-HT)

Project Staff:

Sharon Hoover, UMB Principal Investigator
Sylvia McCree-Huntley, Outreach & Education Lead
Perrin Robinson, Lead Evaluator
Cameron Sheedy, Evaluation Coordinator

Funding Source:

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Project Partners:

Maryland Behavioral Health Administration

Project Description:

MD-HT is a five-year grant funded by SAMHSA through the Now Is The Time initiative. The target population is transition-aged youth (TAY) between the ages of 16-25 with a serious mental health condition that impairs functioning. University of Maryland Baltimore conducts the program evaluation, in addition to providing outreach and education support. Each TAY works with a Transition Facilitator to create an individualized treatment plan. MD-HT goals include supporting TAY in in successfully transitioning to adult roles through supported employment, supported education and linking TAY to relevant services and supports. Healthy Transitions providers and staff can view our provider resources page. If you are looking for information on the outreach & education, visit Training & Technical Assistance. View the Healthy Transitions Leadership Team.

Contact:

Perrin Robinson, probinso@som.umaryland.edu

Outreach & Education Newsletters:

The Mental Health Training Intervention for Health Providers in Schools (MH-TIPS)

Project Staff:

Sharon Hoover, Principal Investigator
Jill Bohnenkamp, Co-Principal Investigator
Elizabeth Connors, Co-Investigator

Project Partners:

National Association of School Nurses, Center for Mental Health Services in Pediatric Primary Care at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sacramento State University School of Nursing

Project Description:

The Mental Health Training Intervention for Health Providers in Schools (MH-TIPS) is an innovative in-service training and implementation support system for school nurses and other school health providers aimed at enhancing their competence in managing the needs of students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties that interfere with learning. MH-TIPS was developed by the NCSMH in partnership with the National Association of School Nurses and the Center for Mental Health Services in Pediatric Primary Care at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The MH-TIPS training program includes core training content components linked to the context of school health providers with respect to student mental health issues including:

Strategies and Skills to Promote Positive and Supportive Interactions for Student Mental Health Issues
Mental Health Identification and Assessment
Mental Health Referral and Resource Mapping
Mental Health Crisis Response and Safety Assessment
Mental Health Intervention Best Practices for Delivery by School Health Providers
Psychotropic Medication

The entire MH-TIPS training course is available online at https://mdbehavioralhealth.com/training. The MH-TIPS Interactive Online Platform includes:

Implementation training videos
School health provider mental health video vignettes
Downloadable resources and tools
Frequently asked questions
Interviews with experts
Opportunity to earn continuing education credits

Publication on MH-TIPS:

Bohnenkamp, J. H., Hoover, S. A., Connors, E. H., Wissow, L., Bobo, N., & Mazyck, D. (2018). The mental health training intervention for school nurses and other health providers in schools. The Journal of School Nursing, 1059840518785437. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059840518785437

Contact:

Jill Bohnenkamp, jbohnenk@som.umaryland.edu.

Promising School Staff and Resource Officer Approaches for Reducing Harsh Discipline, Suspensions and Arrests (Project ASSIST)

Project Staff:

Cindy Schaeffer, Principal Investigator
Sharon Hoover, Co-Principal Investigator
Jill Bohnenkamp, Co-Investigator
Yourdanos Bekele, Senior Clinical Research Assistant

Funding Source:

U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Comprehensive School Safety Initiative – “Demonstration, Evaluation, and Validation Tests for School Safety”

Project Partners:

Cecil County Public Schools

Project Description:

Cecil County Public Schools is partnering with the NCSMH to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention package in reducing exclusionary discipline practices. Interventions include trauma support for students, training in de-escalation techniques for school staff and school resource officers, implementation of a graduated discipline and restorative practice model at secondary schools, and training for school resource officers on child development and mental health. Outcome measures will include suspension/expulsion rates, referrals to juvenile justice, and ratings of school climate. NCSMH is coordinating implementation with a team from Cecil County Public Schools and will be evaluating the effectiveness of the interventions as well the providing a cost-benefit analysis.

Contact:

Yourdanos Bekele, ybekele@som.umaryland.edu

This project is currently paused due to COVID-19.

SBIR Student Health Assessment, Response, and Evaluation (SHARE)

Project Title:

SBIR Student Health Assessment, Response, and Evaluation (SHARE)

Project Staff:

Sharon Hoover, UMB Principal Investigator
Sam Reaves, Faculty
Jerica Knox, Postdoctoral Fellow
Karah Palmer, Senior Research Project Coordinator

Funding Source:

National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH)

Project Partners:

3C Institute

Project Description:

SBIR Direct to Phase II project, SBIR SHARE, is a collaboration between the 3C Institute (3C; 3cisd.com) and the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH; schoolmentalhealth.org) to support the iterative development and testing of a novel technology-based software platform—SHARE (Student Health Assessment, Response, and Evaluation)—to increase access to and use of psychometrically sound mental health and mental health-related assessment measures by mental health staff in schools. SHARE will be customized to facilitate service delivery in schools through an iterative, user-centered process with school mental health (SMH) providers and school and district administrators. SHARE will be specifically designed to minimize practical and logistical barriers to routine use of mental health assessment in schools.

Contact:

Karah Palmer, karah.palmer@som.umaryland.edu

*Improving Student Mental Health through Classroom-Based Social-Emotional Learning (SELF)

Project Staff:

Kris Scardamalia, Co-Principal Investigator
Sharon Hoover, Co-Principal Investigator

Funding Source:

Betty Huse Foundation

Project Description:

This new initiative builds on previous work by the NCSMH in partnership with the Baltimore County Public Schools to identify the “common components” of evidence-based SEL and Positive School Climate programs. This project will develop a modularized SEL curriculum designed with teachers’ specific needs in mind, primarily lack of preparation time and lack of non-academic classroom time. The modular approach increases the flexibility in choice of lesson topic and provides customization of the SEL schedule for weekly lessons. Increased flexibility is hypothesized to increase teacher usage of the curriculum. This design will be evaluated for the acceptability and feasibility in a small group of local elementary schools.

Contact:

Kris Scardamalia, kscardamalia@som.umaryland.edu

*Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)-Promoting Student Wellness

Project Staff:

Mark Weist, University of South Carolina, Principal Investigator
Sharon Hoover, UMB Principal Investigator
Brittany Patterson, Co-Investigator
Jen Cox, Clinical Supervisor
Sam Reaves, Research Associate
Karah Palmer, Project Coordinator

Funding Source:

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Project Description:

The purpose of this project is to conduct a randomized trial of two packages of school-based, evidence-based interventions, one with enhancements in family and educator engagement, to determine the relative impact on student outcomes. The study involves a partnership with 20 middle schools, 10 in Maryland and 10 in South Carolina, with interventions supporting students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Intervention schools will have educators implementing mental health literacy and parent leaders working to enhance family engagement and reduce mental health stigma.

Contact:

Brittany Patterson, bpatterson@som.umaryland.edu

*Promoting School Safety: A Comprehensive Emotional and Behavioral Health Model (EBH-CRP)

Project Staff:

Sharon Hoover, Co-Principal Investigator
Jill Bohnenkamp, Co-Principal Investigator
Eric Slade, PhD, Co-Investigator
Cindy Schaeffer, Co-Investigator

Funding Source:

U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Comprehensive School Safety Initiative- “Developing Knowledge about What Works to Make Schools Safe”

Project Partners:

Baltimore County Public Schools

Project Description:

Baltimore County Public Schools is partnering with the NCSMH to conduct a randomized controlled trial of the impact of the Comprehensive Emotional and Behavioral Health Crisis Response and Prevention Intervention (EBH-CRP) on school safety. The EBH-CRP intervention is a comprehensive training, organization and support protocol for schools and communities to strengthen their ability to serve students’ mental health needs. The services included in the EBH-CRP intervention will include universal prevention, early identification, assessment and service linkage, crisis response and post crisis relapse prevention. NCSMH is the research partner for this trial and will evaluate the impact of this large scale, multi-faceted mental health focused intervention on school safety outcomes.

Contact:

Jill Bohnenkamp. jbohnenk@som.umaryland.edu

*Kaiser Permanente Resilience in School Environments (KP RISE)

Project Staff:

Sharon Hoover, Principal Investigator
Jill Bohnenkamp, Co-Investigator
Dana Cunningham, Social Emotional Evaluation Liaison
Joanna Prout, Research Manager
Sam Reaves, Research Associate
Karah Palmer, Research Coordinator
Yourdanos Bekele, Research Assistant

Funding Source:

Kaiser Permanente

Project Partners:

Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Project Description:

In collaboration with Kaiser Permanente, the NCSMH is performing an evaluation of the Resilience in School Environments (RISE) nationwide by collecting information about the implementation and effectiveness of trauma-informed training and policy in a total of 40 schools. The evaluation includes measures of staff and student well-being, school climate, and the extent to which school policies and procedures align with recommended practices for trauma-informed care.

Contact:

Karah Palmer, karah.palmer@som.umaryland.edu