How SBHCs Can Address Social and Emotional Health Issues School-Wide Beyond Clinic Walls

School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) are uniquely situated at the intersection of education and health.  In addition to providing high quality primary care, SBHCs have excelled in addressing the behavioral health needs of children and adolescents within the trusted space of the school building. This has primarily been done within the context of individual, one-on-one clinical encounters. A select number of SBHCs were invited to go beyond providing interventions to students individually and test ways to enhance school climate overall for all within reach. During this presentation, perspectives will be shared on how SBHCs move beyond their clinical walls into the school hallways to impact the daily environment for all students and school employees. Participants will hear the compelling stories, experiences, and themes from staff participating in School Based Health Alliance’s Hallways to Health initiative, a multi-faceted learning collaborative aimed to build the capacity of SBHCs to infuse population health components in their services and scope of reach.

Participants will learn about a series of strategies spearheaded by the SBHCs which include:

1. implementing gender-specific healthy youth relationship groups for boys and for girls based on Futures Without Violence and Expect Respect framework, utilizing volunteers from local Schools of Public Health
2. launching a school-wide pro-respect anti-bullying program for middle school-aged children
3. utilization of Youth Advisory Council at a high school in the development and delivery of stress relief curriculum to peers through classroom presentations
4. assessing how the clinic staff can assist school employees with Mental Health First Aid training

This session will feature 1) analysis of qualitative and quantitative data collected from SBHC staff that participated in the Hallways to Health quality improvement initiative;  2) lessons learned from SBHC staff and school wellness team members, facilitating an understanding of the experiences from their school-wide efforts to promote social-emotional health, and 3) how each participant can apply the learnings from these initiatives in order to develop effective strategies for planning and implementing similar initiatives that enhance the intersection of health and education. Participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of the collaboration it takes to bring SBHCs and educational partners together into a meaningful and intentional partnership resulting in an increased capacity to elevate school climate and emotional well-being.