Our History

The National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH) was founded in 1995 as one of two national centers to advance mental health in schools, one under the direction of Dr. Mark Weist at the University of Maryland and the other under the leadership of Dr. Howard Adelman and Dr. Linda Taylor at University of California, Los Angeles. Early learning from school mental health clinical programs in Baltimore City (beginning in 1989) and several exemplar states across the country provided foundational knowledge of best practices and policies and informed the NCSMH’s original framework to advance school mental health at school, district, state, and national levels.

In 2011, under the direction of then Co-Directors, Dr. Sharon Hoover and Dr. Nancy Lever, the NCSMH became the only Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded national school mental health center. In 2014, the NCSMH and the School-Based Health Alliance jointly received HRSA funding to conduct the School-Based Health Services National Quality Initiative, with the goals to grow the number of school-based health centers and comprehensive school mental health systems, and to improve the overall standard of services. Activities included developing a national census and a set of standardized national performance measures for school mental health quality and sustainability.

In 2015, the NCSMH launched the School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE) System, a free, public-access, web-based platform that offers schools, districts, and states a workspace and targeted resources to support school mental health quality improvement. SHAPE has been used by over 20,000 schools and districts across all 50 states to drive high quality comprehensive school mental health systems. In the last decade, the NCSMH has worked with federal agencies, national organizations, researchers, advocates, policymakers, youth, families, and many other groups to advance best practices and policies in school mental health.

The NCSMH’s recent efforts include:

• • Classroom WISE, an online training series developed in partnership with the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC);
  • The School Mental Health Report Card, developed in collaboration with Inseparable;
  • 30 years of the Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health;
  • The SAMSHA-funded NCSMH/MHTTC National School Mental Health Best Practices: Implementation Guidance Modules for States, Districts, and Schools;
  • A Youth Leadership Academy funded as part of a CDC national learning collaborative;
  • A national technical assistance center of Medicaid in schools;
  • From Crisis to Action: A Guide for State & Local Leaders on Youth Mental Health; and many more!

In 2025, a new leadership structure was developed following the retirement of Dr. Sharon Hoover who remains Faculty Emeritus. Dr. Jill Bohnenkamp and Dr. Brittany Patterson are the NCSMH Co-Directors, with Dr. Nancy Lever in a new role as Executive Director. In addition to these positions, the leadership team at the NCSMH includes faculty members: Dr. Tiffany Beason, Dr. Elizabeth Connors, Dr. Aijah Goodwin, Dr. Jerica Knox, Dr. Sam Reaves, and Dr. Cindy Schaeffer; Conference Director Dr. Sylvia McCree Huntley; Medical Director Dr. Sarah Edwards; and Clinical Directors Jennifer Cox, LCSW-C, Nikita Parson, LCSW-C, Rikki Spiegler, LCSW-C, and Dr. Dana Royster. The NCSMH team also includes clinicians and staff members with expertise in pedagogy, research, policy, training, and direct service.

Since its inception, the NCSMH’s mission has been to reduce barriers to learning and promote success for all students. The NCSMH has long recognized the importance of providing services and supports to children, adolescents, and families directly in schools as part of a multi-tiered system of support. Much of the success of the NCSMH stems from its efforts to bridge research and practice while focusing on pre-service training and professional development. The NCSMH provides leadership to and learns from its own school mental health programs, as well as from other programs and system leaders across the country. The work of the NCSMH has always been and continues to be informed and strengthened by frontline practices.