Mental health providers and school mental health champions in the Pacific Southwest region are constantly providing grief support in the field, though many are under-trained in grief response and recovery practices and some are experiencing their own grief. To address the need for evidence-based grief support in the mental health field, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC led a 6-week Grief Readiness Pilot Lab in Spring 2021 to guide school mental health practitioners to explore the topic of grief and develop Grief Readiness Plans. Then, informed by the pilot, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC offered a Grief Readiness Series for school and mental health leaders nationwide in the fall of 2021.

The Central East MHTTC, in collaboration with the Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce and the Community Behavioral Health Association of Maryland, invited organizations to apply to participate in a Workforce Recruitment and Retention Collaborative. This project educated community-based behavioral health providers in Maryland on the multiple factors contributing to the crisis in the recruitment and retention of behavioral staff. The collaborative assisted providers to identify factors influencing their ability to recruit and retain staff and develop individualized action plans. It also provided technical assistance and allowed providers to share progress and receive feedback from members of the Collaborative.

The New England MHTTC Person-Centered Recovery Planning (PCRP) Learning Collaborative project is a multi-agency learning collaborative to provide intense training, TA, and implementation support around the practice of PCRP. It began with a series of introductory webinars in December 2019 and was scheduled to conclude in December 2020; however, supports will be extended for 3 months due to significant project disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary faculty are Dr. Janis Tondora of the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health and Dr. Dan Wartenberg of Newport Mental Health.

Ventura County, CA, is home to a large Hispanic and Latino migrant population. About 60% of students in the county self-identify as Hispanic or Latino. The Ventura County Office of Education identified a need to improve culturally responsive mental health services aligned with the health beliefs, practices, and needs of Hispanic migrant students and their families. The National Hispanic and Latino MHTTC, in collaboration with the Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE), implemented targeted technical assistance to promote cultural and linguistic competence among school district staff serving Hispanic migrant children and their families.

Texas legislative changes spurred the need for schools to think differently about supporting school mental health. With over 1200 districts, Texas relies on Regional Educational Service Centers to support Local Education Agencies (LEAs) through training and technical assistance. However, Texas Educational Service Centers had varying expertise in school mental health and no organized process for supporting implementation of school mental health best practices within their region. In collaboration with the South Southwest MHTTC, Texas’ State Education Agency developed a school mental health model, based in part on the information outlined in the National School Mental Health Best Practices: Implementation Guidance Modules.

Addressing the mental health needs of individuals is critically important. Half of all mental illnesses begin by age 14 and three-quarters by mid-20s. Left unaddressed, mental health issues can lead to serious consequences for a young person’s well-being, including increased risk of dropping out of school or experiencing homelessness. Tragically, suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year-olds. Through support and partnership with the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health (IABH), the Great Lakes MHTTC committed to conducting a Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) Training Initiative to provide training to adults who work with youth on how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders.