SCSC's Licensed School Nurse (LSN) and Mental Health Coordinator provides leadership to public, parochial, and charter schools, to strengthen the educational process and academic outcomes through comprehensive school-based assessment that aims to ensure optimal physical and mental health for children and youth in school and early childhood settings.
The LSN works with state and local public health and education stakeholders to identify needs, gaps, resources, and priorities related to school health and early childhood, and to identify, develop and/or disseminate information and resources about best practices.
The Health Services Assessment Tool for Schools (HATS)
Developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics
HATS assesses the quality and comprehensiveness of school health services, the level of infrastructure to support those services, and the strength and implementation of school health services policies and protocols.
After completion, the local team will be supported to develop a strategy and action plan to expand access to physical, mental, and behavioral health services in schools, improve the delivery of school health services, and/or enhance the management of chronic health conditions in schools. SCSC's LSN can provide HATS as a standalone plan or be in support or part of an overall school improvement plan.
School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE)
SHAPE is a web-based platform that offers schools a workspace and targeted resources to support school mental health quality improvement.
SHAPE is used to identify areas of need and provide resources and support to increase the quality and sustainability of comprehensive school mental health services.
SCSC's LSN will:
- Guide districts on how to assemble a multidisciplinary school team involved in school mental health efforts.
Then as a team...
- Complete one School Mental Health Profile, which collects information and provides a snapshot of the multi-tiered services and supports, staffing, financing, and data systems in your school mental health system.
- Complete the School Mental Health Quality Assessment (individually or as a team). This assessment is designed for teams to assess the comprehensiveness of their school mental health system and to identify priority areas for improvement.
Your team will receive free, custom reports based on your responses. Schools are encouraged to use their report results to navigate the extensive resources library.
SCSC's regional coordinator can help school districts use these tools to identify areas of strength and weakness, then strategically plan to address areas of weakness and track improvements over time.
