1. MSBA School-Based Health Center Task Force
Community Mental Health Centers as Partners In Schools

2. Community Mental Health Centers

3. What we are doing within the schools in our communities?
Services Provided & Access
Meet with districts to discuss who we are, what we provide (Direct Care plus Information/Education)
Establish improved referral process and feedback loop for some districts, attend events in their community to discuss mental/behavioral health
Establish formal partnerships with some districts, sit on their PBS teams and streamline the referral process
Suicide Training, Response, Postvention Efforts

4. What we are doing within the schools in our communities?
Successes
Over 5 years, developed partnerships with 8 school districts, and began providing more support to 4 school districts in Region
Creative responses to help school districts learn more about mental health signs/symptoms and early intervention
Decrease negative stigma in communities around mental health treatment.
Offer staff/personnel support as well as consult

5. What we are doing within the schools in our communities?
Challenges
Lack of awareness
DMH contract restrictions with billing services, age limitations, diagnosis criteria
Staff availability and caseload sizes
Parental consent, accuracy with reports, Releases of Information
Threat Assessments/Crisis Response
Health insurance restrictions

6. Describe how initial discussions began with the schools.
Outreach efforts on the part of CMHC
School districts sharing their experiences with CMHC to other school district personnel
Problems/Complaints, Difficult cases
Explaining CMHCs, informing that we are contracted with DMH and what that means for the services we can/cannot provide, cost of service, etc.
CMHCs ask schools about:
Mental/behavioral health needs in their school community
Gaps that their school district cannot fill
Historical experiences with CMHC
Resistance or acceptance of mental health treatment/education

7. How schools can approach the community mental health centers to begin partnering.
Invite CMHCs to be participants in your meetings/events/trainings/conferences about mental/behavioral health.
Call your local CMHC and ask for a meeting to discuss how they can support your school district.
Include Superintendents, Administrators, Mental Health Staff, Nursing Staff, Behavioral Health Staff, Family-Outreach/Home School Communicator Staff, Special Education Staff, etc.

8. Cost to districts and MOUs.
Memorandum of Understanding are agreements that outline the standards by which both entities will follow to forge a working relationship with one another.
MOUs are not contracts
Contracts outline arrangements that may exchange funds, payment, etc. and generate a cost to the school district.

9. Questions? Lori Wheelhouse Rachel Jones, LPC
Community Clinical Manager
Director of Youth Services – Central Region
Tri-County Mental Health Services, Inc.
Burrell Behavioral Health
3100 NE 83rd Street, Suite 1001
3401 Berrywood Drive, Suite 104
Kansas City, MO  64119
Columbia, MO 65202
(direct line)
(phone)
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@RachelJonesLPC