School Age Committee
Co-Chairs:
Maria McCabe and Coleen Cicchetti Staff: Colette Lueck
History:
The ICMHP Strategic Plan identifies the following role for the School Age Committee; Promote increased collaboration and partnerships between schools, school-based mental health programs, community mental health agencies, health care, juvenile justice, substance abuse, developmental disability agencies, and others to promote optimal social and emotional development in children and youth, and children’s access and the opportunity to participate in these coordinated systems, in accordance with existing Illinois and federal confidentiality, consent, reporting, and privacy laws and policies.
Strategies and Action Steps:
1. Ensure that school districts, schools, and other relevant entities implement programs,
policies, and services that support social and emotional competencies, promote mental
health, and prevent risky behaviors, in accordance with existing Illinois and federal
confidentiality, consent, reporting, and privacy laws and policies. a. Incorporate mental health education in all school health curricula and requirements;
integrate social and emotional education across subjects and grades; and incorporate a
developmental social and emotional education curriculum for grades pre K-12.
b. Build the capacity of schools to maintain and/or expand their existing athletic, fine arts,
and other extracurricular programs.
c. Provide families/caregivers with learning opportunities related to the importance of their
children’s optimal social and emotional development.
d. Train school personnel, including administrative, academic, pupil support, and ancillary staff,
in age-appropriate social and emotional competencies and how to promote them.
e. Ensure children and youth have access to out-of-school programs that demonstrate best
practice, promote children’s healthy social and emotional development, provide academic
enrichment, and include children and youth in the planning.
f. Establish partnerships with diverse community agencies, including non-traditional
organizations, to ensure a comprehensive, coordinated approach to addressing children’s
mental health, and social and emotional development.
2. Support school districts’ efforts to establish school-based health/mental health centers,
and promote schools partnering with other agencies to provide school-based mental
health services.
The School Age Committee is comprised of a broad based of community and school based mental health professionals, including school counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses and after school providers. It has been meeting bi-monthly for the past five years via v-tel with sites in Chicago and Springfield.
Accomplishments:
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Development of Guidelines for School-Community Partnerships (Guidelines)
- Development of dissemination and training plan to support utilization of the Guidelines
- Development of a three tiered model for school based mental health
- Survey research of existing school based mental health programming to assess alignment with the principles and values of the three tiered model for school based mental health
- Survey of school counselors, psychologists, social workers and community mental health providers regarding characteristics, practice context and practice choices
Current Activities:
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Finalizing a Report with recommendations, based on previous research, entitled School Based Mental Health: Assessing the Present and Looking Towards the Future
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