Building Comprehensive School Mental Health Systems: CE Course
Learn how school psychologists and other school-based professionals can help build coordinated, equitable, data-informed, and sustainable systems that support student mental health and well-being.
- 5 Continuing Education Hours
- 7 lessons
- 36-question assessment
- Online self-paced
Course Description
Schools play an increasingly important role in promoting student mental health, identifying concerns early, and connecting students and families with appropriate supports. Effective school mental health services, however, require more than individual interventions. They require coordinated systems that integrate prevention, intervention, collaboration, and data-based decision making.
This course examines the development of comprehensive school mental health systems and the important role psychologists can play in their design, implementation, and evaluation.
Participants will examine evidence-based strategies for promoting student mental health and well-being across a school or district. Particular attention is given to aligning mental health initiatives with existing multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), strengthening relationships and school connectedness, improving access to mental health services, supporting staff well-being, and developing effective referral and intervention systems.
Throughout the course, participants are encouraged to consider how these strategies can be applied within their own professional roles and school communities.
Comprehensive school mental health involves more than responding to students after problems emerge. Effective systems combine mental health promotion, prevention, early identification, intervention, referral, and collaboration within the broader educational environment.
Learning Objectives
- After completing this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify evidence-based strategies that schools can use to promote student mental health and well-being.
- Describe how comprehensive school mental health practices can be integrated within a multi-tiered system of support.
- Analyze school mental health practices related to connectedness, staff well-being, student skill development, and access to services.
- Apply principles of collaboration, prevention, referral, and data-based decision making when planning school mental health supports.
Topics Covered
School Mental Health Systems
Examine the characteristics of coordinated school mental health systems and how mental health promotion and intervention can be incorporated into everyday school practices.
MTSS & Mental Health
Explore how mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention, and intensive services can align with multi-tiered systems of support.
School Connectedness
Examine practices that help students develop supportive relationships with peers and adults and strengthen their sense of belonging within the school community.
Student Skills
Consider strategies for helping students develop social, emotional, and behavioral competencies that support mental health and academic success.
Access to Services
Review approaches for identifying students who need additional support and connecting students and families with appropriate school and community mental health services.
Staff Well-Being
Examine why the mental health and well-being of educators and school personnel are important components of a comprehensive school mental health system.
Course lessons
Every lesson is open to preview. Enroll to take the final assessment and earn your certificate.
Primary Course Reading
Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools: An Action Guide for School and District Leaders
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2023
The primary reading for this course is the CDC’s comprehensive action guide for school and district leaders. The guide presents six evidence-based strategies that schools can use to promote and support student mental health and well-being.
Intended Audience
This continuing education course is designed for school psychologists, psychologists, educational psychologists, counselors, social workers, administrators, behavior analysts, special education professionals, and other professionals involved in supporting the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents in educational settings.
Course Format
This is an asynchronous home-study continuing education course. Participants independently complete the assigned reading, instructional content, learning activities, and course assessment. No live attendance is required.
CE Credit Determination
This asynchronous home-study course is approved for 5 continuing education hours.
The amount of continuing education credit awarded for this course was determined using the Mergener Formula, a methodology used to estimate the instructional time required to complete independent-study continuing education programs.
The calculation takes into account the amount and complexity of the assigned instructional material and the course assessment. The course also includes applied learning activities throughout the lessons that require participants to analyze scenarios, interpret information, make professional decisions, and apply course concepts to school-based mental health practice.
Child & School Psychology CE maintains documentation supporting the calculation and assignment of the 5 continuing education hours awarded for successful completion of this course.
Copyright, Attribution & Educational Use
Original course content © Child & School Psychology CE. All rights reserved.
The course organization, original instructional commentary, learning activities, assessment questions, and other materials developed by Child & School Psychology CE may not be reproduced, distributed, republished, or commercially used without permission.
This course uses Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools: An Action Guide for School and District Leaders , published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2023, as a primary educational resource.
The CDC Stacks record identifies this publication as Public Domain. Child & School Psychology CE does not claim copyright ownership of the CDC publication.
The CDC publication is used as an independent educational source. Reference to the CDC or inclusion of CDC materials does not imply that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsors, endorses, approves, or is affiliated with Child & School Psychology CE or this continuing education course.
Participants may access the original publication directly from the CDC at: CDC Stacks .
CE Program Information & Disclosures
- Instructional level: Intermediate
- Target audience: Psychologists, school psychologists, and other professionals who work with children, adolescents, families, and schools.
- Format and schedule: Asynchronous, self-paced online home study. No live sessions; complete the course at any time during your access period.
- Access period: 1 year from enrollment.
- Cost and refunds: Full refund within 30 days of purchase if the course has not been started. See our refund policy.
- Instructor / content developer: Jaime Flowers, Ph.D., NCSP, LEP, BCBA
- Conflict of interest: Dr. Flowers is the owner of Child & School Psychology CE and receives revenue from course sales. No other relevant financial or nonfinancial relationships are reported.
- Commercial support: This program receives no commercial support.
- Accessibility: Need an accommodation? See our Accessibility & Accommodations page.
- Questions or complaints: See our CE Complaint & Grievance Procedure.
Limitations and Risks
Limitations of the content. Much of the guidance on comprehensive school mental health systems comes from expert consensus, implementation frameworks, and federal guidance rather than controlled trials of whole systems. Effect sizes from meta-analyses of school-based services vary by intervention type, implementer, and outcome measured. Funding, staffing ratios, Medicaid billing rules, and state policy on consent and service delivery differ widely, so the models described may need substantial adaptation to local conditions.
Risks. Applying these frameworks without enough staff, training, or referral pathways can produce universal screening without the capacity to respond to students who are identified, which raises ethical and liability concerns. Universal screening and data sharing across education, health, and community partners also create privacy risks under FERPA, HIPAA, and state law if consent, records management, and confidentiality procedures are not clearly established. Psychologists should practice within their competence and avoid expanding services into areas such as crisis or psychiatric care without proper supervision and collaboration.
References
Primary reading
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health, & RTI International. (2023). Promoting mental health and well-being in schools: An action guide for school and district leaders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/136371
Supporting references
- Durlak, J. A., Mahoney, J. L., & Boyle, A. E. (2022). What we know, and what we need to find out about universal, school-based social and emotional learning programs for children and adolescents: A review of meta-analyses and directions for future research. Psychological Bulletin, 148(11–12), 765–782. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000383
- Hoover, S., & Bostic, J. (2021). Schools as a vital component of the child and adolescent mental health system. Psychiatric Services, 72(1), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201900575
- National Center for School Mental Health. (2019). Advancing comprehensive school mental health systems: Guidance from the field. University of Maryland School of Medicine. https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/Resources/Foundations-of-School-Mental-Health/Advancing-Comprehensive-School-Mental-Health-Systems/
- Sanchez, A. L., Cornacchio, D., Poznanski, B., Golik, A. M., Chou, T., & Comer, J. S. (2018). The effectiveness of school-based mental health services for elementary-aged children: A meta-analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 57(3), 153–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.11.022