State Seeks Innovative Ideas to Strengthen Student, Educator Mental Health
BOSTON — The Healey-Driscoll administration announced it is looking for innovative ideas from educators, providers, and community partners on how to strengthen mental health supports for students across Massachusetts, from birth through higher education.
The Executive Office of Education (EOE) has issued a request for information to help shape a comprehensive, statewide framework for mental and behavioral health, including ideas for projects, programs, and grants. This effort will inform what investments are needed to shift how the state’s schools and places of learning partner across the community to incorporate mental health and wellness into everyday practice.
The administration is currently developing a framework that will guide a coordinated statewide strategy to strengthen mental health supports in Massachusetts, improving alignment among early education providers, K-12 schools, higher education institutions, families, and community-based service systems. In collaboration with health and human service agencies and other key stakeholders, EOE and its agencies will use this framework to identify, guide, and align collective efforts to better understand and address mental and behavioral health wellness needs among all students, from infants to adult learners, using common language, strategies, and metrics.
“This is an opportunity for practitioners, community organizations, researchers, and educators to help shape the future of student mental health in Massachusetts,” Education Secretary Stephen Zrike said. “We are looking for bold, thoughtful ideas that are grounded in evidence, centered in equity, and built to last.”
The administration is interested in high-impact ideas that meet one or more of the following criteria:
• Expands, scales, or replicates a successful existing education-based program with developed metrics and measurable impact on mental health and well-being;
• Uses evidence-based practices to improve mental health at a particular developmental stage;
• Develops infrastructure for sustainability of mental health supports, including coaching and support for systems navigation and success planning;
• Supports the development of metrics in each of the educational settings; or
• Deploys innovative tools or approaches, including proof-of-concept projects for promising practices or technology to break down silos and integrate services.