While in-person learning opportunities are postponed until further notice, the MHTTC Network continues to offer numerous school mental health related virtual learning opportunities and other resources through its School Mental Health Initiative. The MHTTC Network provides access to a special collection of back-to-school mental health programming. In addition, they have compiled other MHTTC products and resources specific to school mental health that can be useful when coping with the effects of widespread public health crises. A compilation of school mental health resources from other organizations are also available.
Back to School After COVID-19: Supporting Student and Staff Mental Health
Educators across the world are wondering how school will look when they return for the new school year. Created by the New England MHTTC, this toolkit is designed to help guide conversations to include a trauma-informed, equitable, and compassionate lens to providing mental health supports to every member of the school community.
Closegap
Closegap is a child-facing emotional wellness platform that captures how kids feel and helps parents and educators respond.
COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Guidance for School Re-Entry
Provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics, this guide assists public health, local leadership, and pediatricians in collaborating with schools to create policies for school re-entry.
Distance Learning Engagement Monitoring Guide
Developed by the Sacramento City Unified School District, this guide assess student’s engagement with remote learning on a variety of indicators in order to maintain communication, build relationships, ensure students are safe and accounted for in this difficult time, and identify students who may need extra support.
Leveraging the Power of Social Emotional Learning as you Prepare to Reopen Schools
While much uncertainty surrounds how and when school will reopen, we know that social and emotional learning (SEL) will be critical to re-engaging students, supporting adults, rebuilding relationships, and creating a foundation for academic learning. In this guide, the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning shares a framework with actionable recommendations to help school leadership teams plan for the SEL needs of all students and adults.
Playbook for School Reopening
To assist schools in proactively addressing the health needs of the school community, a number of nationally recognized and trusted school health organizations have come together to develop a playbook for school reopening. This guide, produced by Kaiser Permanente, aims to equip school and district leaders with specific, evidence-informed guidance and operating procedures for keeping school communities mentally and physically safe as we shape a new approach to learning.
Promise in the Time of Quarantine
From Bellwether Education Partners and Teach for America, this guide profiles schools that have adopted promising practices in response to common challenges regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, offering lessons for other schools seeking to improve their distance learning models.
Promoting Youth Engagement and Connectedness Amidst a Pandemic and Civil Unrest
The Prevention Technology Transfer Network developed this list of innovations that work and barriers to consider in engaging youth in virtual program activities.
States Actions to Support Social, Emotional and Academic Development: Fostering Connectedness in the Pandemic Era
Social distancing and school closures forced by the COVID-19 pandemic present extraordinary challenges for education. While we are only just beginning to understand the impact of the last few months and what the months ahead will mean for students, families, and educators we know that the depth of students’ connectedness to school and the quality of their relationships with adults and peers in school are critical to learning and thriving in life. The Aspen institute created this list of ten actions states can do to advance policy solutions that develop, maintain, and strengthen the crucial connections and relationships that are necessary for healing and learning.
Telehealth Guidelines for School Mental Health Professionals: Strategies for Engaging Students and Building Resilience
This guide, created by the Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention provides concrete and clear tips and suggestions for providing tele-mental health.
American School Counselor Association
The American School Counseling Association’s website provides resources on telehealth ethics and many other topics for transitioning to remote counseling, and remote school mental health services.
Countering COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Stigma and Racism: Tips for parents and Caregivers
The National Association of School Psychologists provides a COVID-19 resource center, including a guide for countering stigma and racism for parents and caregivers.
Helping Children Cope with Emergencies
Managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this page provides information about the emotional impact of emergencies on children and offers tips regarding how to help them cope. It also provides common reactions based on the developmental stage of children and youth.
An initial Guide to Leveraging the Power of Social Emotional Learning as you Prepare to Reopen and Renew Your School Community
Though there is still much uncertainty about how and when schools will reopen, it is clear that social emotional learning (SEL) will be critical to reengaging students, supporting staff, rebuilding relationships, and creating a foundation for academic learning. Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning created this guide to offer actionable recommendations to help school leadership prepare for the SEL needs of all students and educators.
National Association of Social Workers
The National Association of Social Workers websites contains webinars on telehealth and other resources for social workers as well as links to wellness and self-care resources. There is also a page dedicated to school social workers.
National Center for School Mental Health: COVID-19 Resources
The National Center for School Mental Health website contains resources for technology to support school mental health. The website also provides mental health and stress managements resources for students and families.
Opportunities Labs Initiative
The Return to School Road Map is broken into three phases that outline the essential steps to keep staff and students safe and healthy when school resumes. The road map includes mental health screening.
Active Minds provides short and long-term recommendations, in this policy statement, to support college and university leadership with prioritizing mental health and helping the campus community heal and recover from the impact of COVID-19 and national civil unrest.
Responding to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak Through Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
One of the key principles of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is to focus on building prosocial skills, not simply attempting to eliminate challenging or problem behavior. The Center on PBIS encourages all schools to continue that focus, as well as other key principles of PBIS, as they address the COVID-19 pandemic. The website provides a few simple recommendations that educators can embed across a continuum of supports.
Second Step
Second Step, a Social Emotional Learning program (SEL) has made many of their materials and lessons free of charge during this COVID 19 crisis. They are designed to be used at home by parents, teachers, and mental health providers through daily check-ins or advisory groups. They also provide a remote learning guide for SEL instruction as well as several free webinars for parents and educators.
Talking with Children about Coronavirus Disease 2019: Messages for Parents, School Staff, and Others Working with Children
Parents, family members, school staff, and other trusted adults play a critical role in helping children make sense of what they hear in a manner that is honest, accurate, and minimizes anxiety and fear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has created guidance to help adults engage in conversations with children about COVID-19 in a manner that allows children to avoid getting and spreading the disease.
Talking with Children: Tips for Caregivers, Parents, and Teachers
During Infectious Disease Outbreaks Developed by SAMHSA, this fact sheet provides parents, caregivers, and teachers with strategies for helping children manage their stress during an infectious disease outbreak. It describes potential reactions among youth and the support adults can provide.
Teaching Tolerance
The Teaching Tolerance website has many lessons and strategies for combatting racism and prejudice in the classroom including issues that may result when reaching remote and during COVID-19.
Telehealth Toolbox for School Personnel
The Mid-America MHTTC released the Telehealth Toolbox for School Personnel which includes a series of handouts that provide concise and direct advice for diving into telehealth. In developing these guides, specialists drew from hundreds of questions received from across the country during the Telehealth Learning and Consultation (TLC) Tuesdays webinar series, clinical research, and experience working with children and adolescents via telehealth.
7 Ways to Support Kids and Teens through the Coronavirus Pandemic
The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital provides guidance for families to help children at different developmental levels, including seven helpful tips for parents to use in supporting their kids and teens through the coronavirus pandemic.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Coronavirus Resource Library
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Coronavirus Resource Library contains resources for parents, patients, and clinicians to help with the impact of COVID-19.
American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academic of Pediatrics’ website provides tips for parents to handle the stress of COVID-19 as well as tips for promoting adjustment and helping children cope with stress.
Child Mind Institute
The Child Mind Institute provides several resources for supporting children and teenagers, dealing with stress and anxiety, and a sign-up for daily tips to support families and educators through the pandemic.
Child Welfare Training Toolkit
The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child welfare developed this toolkit to educate child welfare workers about substance use and co-occurring disorders among families involved in the child welfare system.
Comprehensive Integrated 3-Tiered Model of Prevention (Ci3T)
Ci3T provides resources to help families and educators transition into the world of online and continuous learning. They provide teleteaching tips for educators to design and implement successful learning experiences.
Devereux Center for Resilient Children
The Devereux Center for Resilient children promotes social and emotional development, fosters resilience, and builds skills for school and life success in children birth through school-age, as well as promotes the resilience of the adults who care for them.
Helping Children Cope with Changes Resulting From COVID-19
The National Association of School Psychologists website has resources for helping children cope with changes.
Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for the TANF Program
Health and Human Services Office of Family Assistance provides updated guidance on the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program in which they identify strategies for states and tribes to respond to the needs of their families experiencing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 emergency.
Mental Health and COVID-19: Information and Resources from Mental Health America
To aid individuals and communities during this time, Mental Health America has compiled a range of resources and information. Specifically, there are resources on mental health information for disease outbreaks, tools and information on anxiety, for parents, and for caregivers.
Mitigating the Implications of Coronavirus Pandemic on Families
The Research to Policy Collaboration developed this resource for vulnerable families.
Parents Lead
Parents Lead website has resources for different developmental stages and ages as well as different circumstances such as co-parenting or older children moving back home.
Resources for Supporting Children’s Emotional Well-Being During the COVID 19 Pandemic
From Child Trends, this website clearly and concisely covers the current COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to children and their parents and caregivers. This publication has a wealth of resources for parents and other caregivers ranging from how to stay healthy and talking to children about the pandemic to staying socially connected and engaging in self-care.
Second Step
Second Step, a Social Emotional Learning program (SEL) has made many of their materials and lessons free of charge during this COVID 19 crisis. They are designed to be used at home by parents, teachers, and mental health providers through daily check-ins or advisory groups. They also provide a remote learning guide for SEL instruction as well as several free webinars for parents and educators.
Six Ways to Help Your Child Manage Their Anxiety During COVID-19
This resource for parents and caregivers is designed to help manage children’s stress and anxieties during COVID-19. This tip sheet was made possible through a partnership between the American Psychological Association and the National Parent Teacher Association.
Talking with Children about Coronavirus Disease 2019: Messages for Parents, School Staff, and Others Working with Children
Parents, family members, school staff, and other trusted adults play a critical role in helping children make sense of what they hear in a manner that is honest, accurate, and minimizes anxiety and fear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has created guidance to help adults engage in conversations with children about COVID-19 in a manner that allows children to avoid getting and spreading the disease
Talking with Children: Tips for Caregivers, Parents, and Teachers
During Infectious Disease Outbreaks Developed by SAMHSA, this fact sheet provides parents, caregivers, and teachers with strategies for helping children manage their stress during an infectious disease outbreak. It describes potential reactions among youth and the support adults can provide.
Coronavirus Pandemic and Rights of Students with Disabilities
Disability Rights Texas produced this resource to highlight some key special education requirements that may assist families and individuals in ensuring that a student with a disability continues to receive a free and appropriate public education.
Do2Learn provides thousands of free pages and resources for social skills and behavioral regulation activities and guidance, learning songs and games, communication cards, academic material and transition guides for employment and life skills.
Free Resources for Autism Assessment and Care Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders provides free resources for autism assessment and care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resources are available to families and early intervention providers and diagnosticians. Links are updated as new information surfaces.
To navigate the complex problem of conducting special education assessments and evaluations remotely, the National Association of School Psychologists published this resources that provides concrete steps and recommendations to help towards meeting the goal that students get timely and thorough evaluations to develop education programs that meets their needs.
PBIS Rewards is a Software-as-a-Service solution that provides an automated schoolwide PBIS management system. The website presents many tips and resources for continuing to implement positive intervention and behavioral supports PBIS and has been updated to adapt to remote learning scenarios.
PBIS World website lists a variety of behaviors and in-depth descriptions a student may be exhibiting and offer various intervention to try across the tiered spectrums. Behavioral intervention and tips are also listed by Tiers 1, 2, and 3.
This toolkit produced by Easter Seals and Illinois Autism Partnership can help parents create structures to support children at home during this time of uncertainty. For a child with autism, visual supports can help to decrease anxiety and increase independence across all settings. This toolkit provides tips that you will need to help structure a child’s day at home, no matter his/her age.
U.S. Department of Education Press Release, Secretary DeVos Releases New Resources for Educators, Local Leaders on K-12 Flexibilities, Student Privacy, and Educating Students with Disabilities During Coronavirus Outbreak. Resources include:
This online webinar, developed by National Association for School Psychologists (NASP) offers guidance from special education administrators as to how to conceptualize the delivery of school psychological services for students with disabilities.
National Child Traumatic Stress Network
The National Child Traumatic Stress network provides activities, resources, and guides to help cope with stress during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Understanding Trauma Webinar Series: Conscious Discipline
In support of COVID-19 response, the “Understanding Trauma” webinar series is available at no cost for 90-days. This three-Part webinar series from Dr. Becky Bailey disrupts the cycle of trauma by bringing new awareness to our current trauma epidemic and building healthy, healing relationships through self-regulation, connection, and resilience interventions.
Coping with Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Developed by SAMHSA, this fact sheet provides tips for coping with stress during an infectious disease outbreak. It describes common signs of stress and how to recognize when to get help.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
The Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning website provides many different resources related to self-care and social emotional learning, including a weekly webinar on wellness and self-care and social and emotional learning lessons for students.
Comprehensive Integrated 3-Tiered Model of Prevention (Ci3T)
Comprehensive Integrated 3-Tiered Model of Prevention (Ci3T) provides resources to help families and educators transition into the world of online and continuous learning. They provide teleteaching tips for educators to design and implement successful learning experiences.
Reach out
The Reach Out website contains different online courses for students and teachers on dealing with stress, wellness, anxiety, and coping strategies as well as peer support forums.
RULER
The RULER website has tips for managing anxiety as well as several live and recorded webinars on social emotional learning and self-regulation.
Tools for Educators during a Public Health Crisis
The Northeast and Caribbean MHTTC has a two-page downloadable, printable document that provides tools for educators during a public health crisis. It provides tools for taking care of oneself, staying informed without stressing out, recognizing what stress can look like, and teaching strategies.
Virtual Learning Guide
The Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center created this guide to support both learners and leaders who use virtual platforms to support the school mental health workforce. As we shift to new forms of distance learning, this guide provides timely, relevant, and useful tips and suggestions.
