Efforts to improve School Behavioral Health in South Carolina

In 2011, in recognition of significant emotional and behavioral needs of children in SC, particularly of students with emotional disabilities, the South Carolina School Behavioral Health (SCSBHC) Community was formed to foster a unified agenda for effective prevention, early intervention, and treatment of student EB problems. The SCSBHC capitalized on the universal natural environment of schools and focused on achieving outcomes valued by families, health, and educational systems. In this work, the term school behavioral health (SBH) is used to convey PBIS and SMH working systematically together, as in the ISF. A major goal of the SCSBHC was to help the SBH agenda in SC to become more coherent and to involve all disciplines and systems (e.g., education, mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, disabilities, primary health care) to work together to improve the depth, quality and impact of SBH services in the state. In 2014, SCBHC created an annual conference offering professional development opportunities for educators and practitioners to build capacity for effective SBH. With the support of an engagement award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and recommendations from this federal funder, the team at the University of South Carolina and collaborators throughout the state (including SC state departments of education and mental health) expanded the conference toward a regional southeastern U.S. focus. The recently-formed Southeastern School Behavioral Health Community (SSBHC) builds on the work of the SCSBHC and now enables multiscale learning and collaboration with 11 other states in the southeast region. This community enables SC’s leadership in this area to be showcased and integrates lessons learned, insights and resources from these other states. 

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