VISION
The vision of the Contra Costa County Wellness in Schools Program (WISP) is for all students in the County to access
needed behavioral health services and supports in a timely manner. This grant program was established to strengthen
mental health partnerships between county mental health or behavioral health departments, community based
organizations, and local educational entities in order to increase access to mental health services and remove barriers
to better serve our students and families in their mental health needs.
It is anticipated that Wellness in Schools Liaisons will:
- Establish new partnerships with mental health service providers
- Improve or develop systems to create sustainable best practices and protocols
- Share best practices for school-based mental health, through a "Community of Practice"
- Improve timely access to, and reduce barriers to accessing needed services
- Increase linkages to mental health services for school districts
- Increase training on mental health topics to educators, administrators, parents/families, and students, to improve awareness and understanding of mental health topics, and knowledge of how to navigate mental health services
- Reduction in negative student outcomes (e.g. chronic sadness, thoughts of suicide, chronic absenteeism, school failure, etc.)
MISSION
The mission of the WISP is to:
- Build capacity of the County's school to identify and address student behavioral health.
- Establish a more uniform awareness of the range of existing behavioral health services and supports available to students and their families/caregivers in the County
- Create increased understanding of how to access those services and supports
- Foster an appreciation for the importance of mental health wellness and a community that welcomes seeking mental health help
- Increase communication and collaboration between BHS, the COE, and school districts.
OBJECTIVES
The program will fulfill this mission by:
- Providing all County school districts with uniform access to a range of behavioral health-related trainings and technical assistance
- Supporting parents/caregivers of students with identified behavioral health concerns through group-based training and individual navigation assistance
- Disseminating communications to destigmatize mental health needs and to build more uniform awareness among school staff, parents, and students.
- Establishing a school-based mental health support that will serve as a key venue for building linkages between behavioral health services, the County Office of Education, Youth Services, school districts, CBOs, Contra Costa Crisis Center, and other key partners.