National organizations, State and local agencies, and technical assistance providers came together in 2004 and defined eight pressing problems in school behavioral health services. The National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health emerged from this meeting. Today, the Community focuses on the non-academic barriers to achievement by the collaborative work of diverse stakeholders to create a shared agenda across education, mental health and families. Twelve states, 23 national organizations, 6 technical assistance centers, and 10 practice groups work together in this Community.

Working as a Community we hope to:

• Continue to build on the developing connections;
• Use the community to reduce ‘siloed behavior’ by community members;
• Use the status of the community to bring attention to silos and invite new approaches;
• Promote promising approaches to new collaborations;
• Strengthen an infrastructure for sharing the ongoing work in states;
• Build on our prior experiences in learning with federal agencies and federal investments as partners in the Community; and
• Expand collaborative relationships with an array of technical assistance providers that serve the states.

Community Activities

• The Community Building Forum is held annually in conjunction with the Annual Conference on Advancing School-Based Mental Health. This meeting brings together key partnerships and coalitions that are focused on mental health and education to find their common agendas, build communication mechanisms and stimulate allied action.  Read about the latest conference.
  
  
  
  
• Annual Conference on Advancing School-Based Mental Health Conference – follows the Community Building Forum and focuses on topics and concerns of the community.
  
  • Community practice groups leads the conference development and proceedings with specialty tracks for each of the national practice groups,
  • Conference included a continued emphasis on youth involvement and leadership.