Research has pointed to a critical need for primary prevention and intervention strategies. This has only been magnified since the COVID-19 pandemic and with the shortages of school-based mental health providers. Active Minds is a national organization dedicated to "changing the conversation about mental health" (Active Minds, n.d.-b) by…

All four authors of this article are active in the movement toward more comprehensive school mental health (SMH) services involving community mental health staff joining school employees to increase the depth and quality of programs and services within the multitiered system of support (MTSS; Garbacz, 2019; Mellin & Weist, 2011; Weist, Lever,…

Bullying is associated with many adverse outcomes, including increased risk of substance abuse, delinquency, suicide, truancy, mental health problems, and physical injury, as well as decreased academic performance; even those witnessing bullying in school are at an increased risk of experiencing negative mental health effects (Rivers et al., 2009)…

This article is the second in a series addressing comprehensive suicide prevention programming in the school context. In this article, the authors discuss the importance of the student voice and the value of data collection in the development of this type of crisis prevention, intervention, and postvention. In the articles that follow this one,…

In 2010, Scott Huebner authored an article in "Communiqué" in which he suggested that happiness was a neglected but important topic in education in general and school psychology in particular (Huebner, 2010). At the time, there was a rapidly developing, but still rather modest body of evidence to support the contention. The purpose of…

According to the Pew Research Foundation (2019), as many as 60 million Latinxs/Hispanics are living in the United States, constituting approximately 18% of the population. This figure is expected to grow to 119 million by 2060 and constitute 28.6% of the population (Mental Health America, 2020). Between the years 2000 and 2017, Latinx/Hispanic…

Efforts to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) are well underway, as states submitted their state plans to the Department of Education in September 2017. The entire education policy and advocacy community has been combing through the state plans to get an idea of how states will tackle efforts to improve student outcomes under the new…

Bipolar disorder has been one of the more hotly contested revisions for the new "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM-5"; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). At the heart of the "DSM-5" debate has been the fundamental question, "Is the diagnosis of bipolar disorder…

Approximately 20% of children in the United States experience significant mental, emotional, or behavioral symptoms that would qualify them for a psychiatric diagnosis (Burns et al., 1995; Costello et al., 2003). Unfortunately, only 15%-30% of these children receive any type of help or support (Ringel & Sturm, 2001; United States Public Health…

School psychologists are uniquely trained to deliver high quality mental and behavioral health services in the school setting to ensure all students have the support they need to be successful in school, at home, and throughout life. School psychologists are uniquely positioned in schools to facilitate the development, delivery, and monitoring of…

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. This is a great time to highlight the importance of mental wellness and school-based mental health services to children's positive learning and development. There is heightened urgency to the imperative to advance school-based mental health and school psychologists' expertise as essential to the…

On Friday, March 11, 2011, one of the worst disasters in the world hit the country of Japan. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, forever changing the lives of the people and the state of the country. Not only were lives lost and homes destroyed, the tsunami that followed caused numerous nuclear accidents around the Fukushima…

As professionals who often know the most about psychology in school settings and education in clinical settings and because of the importance of addressing both academic and mental health needs in anxious youth, school psychologists are uniquely positioned to assist anxious students. School psychologists possess a dynamic skill set that can be…

This article provides an overview of the joint "Resolution on Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity in Children and Adolescents in Schools" that was adopted by the American Psychological Association's (APA) Council of Representatives (CoR) and the National Association of School Psychologists' (NASP) Leadership Assembly during the…

A public health crisis is looming in US schools. Millions of children do not receive mental health services, are poorly bonded to supportive educational communities, and fail to develop important social and emotional competencies. Considering these problems, many of which relate to students' school functioning, efforts are needed to support…