Options for identifying students at high risk for mental health problems

The author will introduce a new SAMHSA guide, Identifying Mental Health and Substance Use Problems of Children and Youth: A Guide for Child-Serving Organizations that presents the principles for planning and implementing processes to identify children at high risk for these conditions. She will focus on the supplement for schools that discusses how these principles can be applied in schools.

Schools' options for meeting the needs of students at high risk for mental health and substance abuse problems range from low resource efforts such as including mental health or substance abuse screening in disciplinary reviews to more ambitious efforts, such as implementing a formal screening program. The prevention pyramid can help schools define goals for an identification initiative based on the types of students served and community concerns.

Schools have two basic options for identifying at risk students: training school personnel on signs of mental health problems or using validated screening tools administered to the student. Resources and well-tested implementation models of each option will be described. The considerations involved in selecting an appropriate screening tool will be discussed, and a short list of screening tools with well established validity and reliability will be provided. Implementation tasks will be discussed in the context of the school environment and its legal responsibilities.

Finally, the presenter will identify resources in the community that can be partners with schools to provide assessment and treatment for students who are identified with possible mental health problems.