Guilford County Schools, one of the largest districts in the country and North Carolina, is always striving to make its schools the best place to learn, work, and grow. When it comes to the mental health and wellbeing of their nearly 70,000 students across 124 urban, suburban and rural schools, this is no exception.

Dr. Whitney Oakley, Superintendent of GCS shared, “the mental health space is now very much part of public education” and “ultimately bridging the gap that exists between a student's education and their health, whether it's physical health or mental health, provides equity. When we think about educational achievement, you can't have one without the other.”

Guilford launched their Better Together 5-year strategic plan in 2023 which reinforced their commitment to student wellness and safety, supported 400 teachers through the National Youth Mental Health First Aid program, and planned for the ESSER funding cliff by securing grants and partnerships to continue expanding their mental health supports, like the PRISM Project (Prioritizing Resources to Impact Student Mental Health).

Superintendent Oakley also recognizes the connection between mental health and absenteeism, leveraging additional mental health services to bring down their spike in absenteeism post-pandemic. Those mental health services include teletherapy through Daybreak, where Guilford was the first district in the state to have such a partnership. Not only do their mental health services support goals for student achievement and attendance, but including teletherapy in those services solves for some common barriers to care that their families experience.

The mental health leadership team at GCS includes Dr. Alex Tabori, Ph.D. the Executive Director of Mental and Behavioral Health Services, and Dr. Kimberly Steinke, the Chief Exceptional Children and Student Services Officer. Both have held various positions at the district and Dr. Oakley shared they are able to do “bigger things, faster.”

Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 serves just over 7,000 K-8 students just outside of Chicago, IL. As the first district in Illinois to implement Daybreak’s programs, Kristin Schmidt, Director of Social Emotional Learning, believes this partnership will fill a much-needed gap for students and families.

She believes that, “By intervening early and providing tailored support, we anticipate a reduction in disciplinary actions, absenteeism, and the need for special education referrals as a result of these efforts.”  District 47 supports the belief that students’ social and emotional well-being provides the foundation needed for all learning to occur, recognizing that students’ success can suffer when they are experiencing mental health issues. 

The mental health team at District 47 seeks partners in mental health who share their goals of increasing equitable access, reducing absenteeism and disciplinary action, and who value strong integration with the on-the-ground team. 

San Lorenzo Unified School District in Alameda County, California, serves 10,500 students from diverse communities. The district’s mental health team has built a multi-tiered system of support that provides equitable access to mental health service across their community.

The district has leveraged the benefits of teletherapy in their MTSS to connect their community to a broader team of diverse clinicians, and make it easier for students and families across the district to get connected to care where language, stigma, transportation, or financial barriers may otherwise prevent them from accessing support.

With 42% of their student population identifying Spanish as their primary language, it was essential that students and their families could work with therapists in-language for culturally competent care.

We commend the team at San Lorenzo for creatively weaving together multiple grant and funding streams to sustain their mental health programs and partnerships to support their students long-term.