A new toolkit to be officially released Monday will help Colorado educators, parents, and district administrators infuse mental health support into classrooms and schools.
The 60-page online guide from the nonprofit Mental Health Colorado comes out at a time when many school leaders say they desperately need help addressing students’ mental health needs and districts have increasingly emphasized social and emotional skills.
The guide includes 10 key practices for promoting mental health in schools, including offering services in school-based health centers, reducing the stigma around mental health treatment and prioritizing suicide prevention. Besides listing effective curriculums and programs, it provides examples of how Colorado schools and districts are using proven practices.
The kit also includes suggestions on how to secure funding for school mental health initiatives.
“There are ways to do that and examples of how to do that because most people have no idea how to get the ball rolling,” said Jen Marnowski, spokeswoman for Mental Health Colorado, which advocates for the prevention and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders.
Leaders in the Jeffco and the Estes Park districts are among those who’ve expressed enthusiasm about the toolkit so far.
“It’s great. It’s the right work,” said Jon Widmier, Jeffco’s student services director.
He said the kit, which the district will pilot in two elementary schools next year, lines up with the district’s emphasis on educating the whole child.
“The mental health piece of that is huge … This is so right in line with what we’re trying to accomplish on that,” he said.
Marnowski said the genesis of the toolkit was a listening tour the organization conducted in communities across Colorado two years ago. The group’s leaders heard from parents, educators, public officials and law enforcement officers who voiced concerns about the lack of access to mental health care, the desire for more mental health support in schools, and the state’s high suicide rate.
The toolkit is meant to give districts a roadmap from addressing some of the problems community members cited.
“Kids are in school so many hours a day that’s it’s very effective to do this when they’re [there], to get them the help they need,” she said.
Widmier said he sees the kit as a useful tool for all kinds of districts.
“We’re very fortunate in Jeffco because we ‘ve got a school board that really supports the mental health needs of our students … There’s a lot of school districts out there that haven’t focused on it that much and I think this is going to be such a great resource for them as well.”