The MHSP Program provides competitive grants to support and demonstrate innovative partnerships to train school-based mental health services providers (as defined in section 4102 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA)) (services providers) for employment in schools and local educational agencies (LEAs). The goal of this program is to increase the number and diversity of high-quality, trained providers available to address the shortages of mental health services professionals in schools served by high-need LEAs (as defined in this notice). The partnerships must include (1) one or more high-need LEAs or a State educational agency (SEA) on behalf of one or more high-need LEAs and (2) one or more eligible institutions of higher education (eligible IHE) (as defined in this notice).
Partnerships must provide opportunities to place postsecondary education graduate students in school-based mental health fields into high-need schools (as defined in this notice) served by the participating high-need LEAs to complete required field work, credit hours, internships, or related training, as applicable, for the degree or credential program of each student. In addition to the placement of graduate students, grantees may also develop mental health career pathways as early as secondary school, through career and technical education opportunities, or through paraprofessional support degree programs at local community or technical colleges.
Like good physical health, positive mental health promotes success in life. As defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.”
Support for the mental health of children and youth advances educational opportunities by helping to create conditions for students to fully engage in learning. The increases in mental health related needs, including those resulting from traumatic events such as the COVID–19 pandemic, community violence, adverse childhood experiences, the impact of social media, and more present challenges for children and youth that for many impact their overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being and their ability to fully engage in learning.
The priorities, requirements, and definitions used in this notice aim to address student mental health needs by training more school-based mental health services providers who will be available to work in high-need LEAs. While the complementary K–12 mental health program, the School-Based Mental Health Services Program (SBMH), focuses on the immediate need of hiring more school-based mental health services providers, the MHSP program is designed to increase the overall number of services providers prepared to enter the workforce. Additionally, we aim to make more awards to eligible applicants who have not yet benefited from an MHSP grant, to increase the number of services providers from diverse backgrounds or from the school communities they will serve, and to ensure that all services providers are trained in inclusive practices, including ensuring access to services for children and youth who are English learners.
In developing applications that meet the absolute priorities, we encourage applicants to consider the needs of individuals from diverse backgrounds and utilize the program's broad allowability to use funds to provide support services that will have a meaningful impact on diversifying the school-based mental health services workforce. For example, projects may pay for participants' tuition, provide a modest salary for internships, cover the cost of transportation to and from the high-need school where the participant is placed, pay for childcare while the participant is working at the high-need school, and pay for administrative expenses, such as background check fees that are necessary for placement in a participating school. Such uses of funds may be especially critical in supporting individuals from low-income backgrounds who are pursuing careers as school-based mental health services providers.
