Initiatives
As a Coalition, we collaborate with local and regional partners on projects like these:
These 2-3 page spotlights provide valuable opportunities to learn about the school mental health programming in districts and collaboratives in Wisconsin. In collaboration with WAFCA and the Department of Public Instruction, over a dozen programs have had their moment in the spotlight to share lessons, insights, and successes. Check out these Spotlights to learn more about the great work and collaboration happening in school-based mental health throughout our home state!
- NEW: Building Bridges Dane County 2024
- NEW: Wisconsin Well Be’s Consortium 2024
- STRIDE of Door County 2022
- Seeds of Health of Milwaukee 2022
- Stanley-Boyd Area School District 2022
- Blair-Taylor, Whitehall, and Independence Schools 2022
- Marshall Public Schools 2022
- Mineral Point Unified School District 2022
- Wisconsin Rapids Area Middle School 2021
- Neenah Joint School District 2021
- School District of La Crosse 2021
- Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District 2021
- Ellsworth Community School District 2021
- Racine Unified School District 2019
- Arrowhead Union High School 2019
- Lakeland Area School Consortium 2019
6th Annual Growing School-Based Mental Health Summit
The 6th Annual Growing School-Based Mental Health Summit was held on June 21st, 2022 in LaCrosse, WI, with online attendees joining us from across the state. Resources from our keynote and breakout sessions are below:
Reframe, Renew, Reconnect – Welcome and Keynote
Presented by: Future Cain, Founder and CEO, The Future of SEL
DBT Steps-A as a Universal SEL Curriculum for Middle and High School Students
Presented by: James Mazza, Professor, DBT in Schools
Mission Possible: Breaking Down Barriers with a Collaborative Approach
Presented by: Jamie Ganske, Director of Mental Health and Resiliency, Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District
How Far is Our Reach? Using Data to Assess School Climate and Culture
Presented by: David Cipriano, Associate Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin
School Based Consultations: What They Are, How to Do, How to Get Paid
Presented by: Dana Ballewske, Professional Services Group, Inc.
Supporting the LGBTQ+ Population: A District-wide Approach
Presented by: Byron Holz, GSA Co-Advisor, La Crossroads-Logan High School
Innovative Prevention and Early Intervention Community Partnerships
Presented by: Curt Teff, Alicia Place, Shaundel Spivey, and Bridget Todd-Robins
Becoming Trauma-Responsive: It’s More Than Just Head Knowledge
Presented by: Leah Featherstone, Psy.D. and Dana Ballewske, Professional Services Group, Inc.
Family Engagement Strategies in the COVID Era
Presented by: Dr. Robyn Sperling and Cindy Janacheck, Families and Schools Together
Finding Funding: Building Sustainability through Philanthropy
Presented by: Steve Goldberg, WEA Member Benefits & Julie Hueller, Racine Collaborative for Children’s Mental Health
Diving into Wisconsin’s Updated Mental Health Framework
Presented by: Julie Incitti, MSW, CAPSW and Jessica Frain, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Connect Strength
Panel of Peer Leaders and Adult Advisors of Sources of Strength
Thank You to our Sponsors!
Premier Sponsor “WEA Member Benefits“
School Mental Health Works! is a quick-dip podcast featuring dialogues on school mental health in Wisconsin. The series highlights the successes and challenges experienced by a range of partners as communities collaborate and show that school mental health works!
You can listen or learn more by visiting our Podcast page!
The pandemic required that providers shift quickly to telehealth to support the mental health of students and families. This training was provided by the Coalition and WAFCA in April 2021 to support providers not only with legal requirements for telehealth and how to maintain confidentiality—but also how to set up a space for telehealth, how to improve engagement with clients of all ages using technology, and how to approach more sensitive topics facing students (like abuse and suicidality).
The training inspired the creation of a resource guide on Effective Teletherapy Practices with Youth.
This six-part training and consultation series, as well as the two-page guide, were made possible with funding support from the Great Lakes Mental Health Technology Transfer Center.
DBT STEPS-A (Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents) is a unique SEL curriculum that offers a preventive, universal approach for teaching emotion regulation skills and coping strategies to middle and high school-aged adolescents. The curriculum provides easy-to-use manualized lessons and student handouts for implementation by general education teachers.
In collaboration with staff from WAFCA, the Coalition provided a series of DBT in Schools training opportunities and consultation hours to selected applicant schools three years in a row: throughout the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 academic years.
Learn more about the initiative and impact in this case examples report!
The following schools have implemented DBT in Schools via this initiative.
- Dr. Rosa-Minoka Hill School, Green Bay Area Public Schools
- Riverview School, Silver Lake J1 School District
- Oak Creek High School, Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District
- Parkview Middle School, Ashwaubenon School District
- Audubon Technology and Communication Middle School, Milwaukee Public Schools
- Arcadia High School, School District of Arcadia
- Bullen Middle School, Bradford High School, and Hillcrest Alternative High School, Kenosha Unified School District
- Wauwatosa West High School, Wauwatosa School District
- Williams Bay Middle School, Williams Bay School District
This multi-part initiative and the case examples report were made possible with funding support from the Great Lakes Mental Health Technology Transfer Center.
The reality of public school education is that it can be exhilarating and rewarding while also bringing stress. We know that supporting staff wellness can act as a foundation for healthier schools and students. The Coalition partnered with WAFCA and Rogers InHealth to offer free training in the Compassion Resilience Toolkit in 2021. The content of this training and “toolkit” is strongly informed by research and best practices related to resilience, positive psychology, compassion fatigue, organizational psychology, and mindfulness. School teams of 3-6 individuals were trained to become Compassion Resilience facilitators, leading best practices in their buildings.
The following districts engaged in Compassion Resilience facilitation via this initiative.
- School District of Belleville
- Green Bay Public Schools
- Marathon Schools
- McFarland School District
- Middleton Cross Plains School District
- Milton School District
- Milwaukee Public Schools
- Onalaska School District
- Oshkosh Area School District (2)
- Southwestern School District
- Stoughton Area School District
- Verona Area School District
- Viroqua Area Schools
This initiative was made possible with funding support from the Great Lakes Mental Health Technology Transfer Center.
