Official Site of The State of New Jersey
As Chair of the National Governors Association (NGA), New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy prioritized concerns around youth mental health which led to the development of the "Strengthening Youth Mental Health Initiative." This initiative was a collaborative endeavor of over 500 stakeholders and resulted in the creation of Strengthening Youth Mental Health: A Governor’s Playbook.
"The Strengthening Youth Mental Health Initiative consists of four pillars that address the core challenges to a system that supports youth and helps their mental well-being. Altogether, the four pillars address the continuum of youth mental health, helping states to address the needs of youth in crisis today, while ensuring that systems focus on holistically supporting youth mental well-being to help future generations succeed" (NGA, 2023).
The four pillars are:
- Addressing prevention and building resilience: Supporting youth with the necessary tools to respond to stressors and challenges, reducing the risk of mental health conditions, and proactively identifying and managing existing conditions to prevent crises.
- Increasing awareness and reducing stigma: Promoting awareness of mental health knowledge and resources, and decreasing the social, self and structural stigma around youth mental health challenges.
- Ensuring access and affordability of quality treatment and care: Removing the barriers to care, including unaffordable costs, lack of insurance coverage and a depleted workforce to ensure that high-quality, trauma-informed and culturally relevant care is accessible to youth in appropriate places, spaces and timeframes to meet their needs.
- Training and supporting caregivers and educators: Expanding training and supports so that those caring for and interacting with youth daily have the understanding and tools to identify mental health needs to access relevant supports.
The New Jersey Department of Education continues to prioritize school-based mental health services. In 2022, the NJDOE released the New Jersey Comprehensive School-Based Mental Health Guide which identified that "to build and sustain a comprehensive school mental health system [it] requires diverse sources of funding. Schools and districts must continuously seek new funding opportunities from federal/national, state and local sources, so adequate funding can be allocated at each tier. Schools and districts also need to examine what current practices are ineffective or repetitive and should be discontinued, so funds can be redirected towards implementation of effective practices. Evaluating and documenting the impact of practices is necessary for local financial decisions, but also to inform district and state level policies that impact funding and resource allocation" (NJDOE, 2022). A comprehensive list of current projects, initiatives and proposed activities to support youth mental health, aligned with the four pillars, are provided below.
DREAMS Project
The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF), in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), leads the DREAMS Project (Developing Resiliency with Engaging Approaches to Maximize Success) which provides a cohort of school districts with a year-long training series for school staff on trauma-informed supports. Additionally, school leads will become certified trainers in the Nurtured Heart Approach to further support a transformative trauma-informed and healing-centered method of improving positive relationships amongst both staff and students, as well as building students’ Inner Wealth™ to support the development of safe and supportive learning environments.
Teen Mental Health First Aid
In collaboration with the NJ Department of Human Services (DHS), this project provides training to support high school students in recognizing and responding to mental health warning signs within themselves and their peers. The Teen Mental Health First Aid program aims to build mental health awareness to identify early signs of mental needs and equip participants with tools they need to effectively support those around them.
Youth Suicide Prevention Training for Educators and Other Personnel
All public school teachers are required to complete two (2) hours of training in suicide prevention once every 5 years. The July 2023 amendments now require additional school district personnel to complete a one-time training program on suicide awareness and prevention.
Comprehensive Health & Physical Education Student Learning Standards
- Supports students to lead lives focused on wellness and develop habits that promote a healthy and productive lifestyle.
- Educates students on personal growth and development, emotional health, disorders, and treatments.
- Provides comprehensive health and physical education practices to support students’ life-long wellness journey.
NJ Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S)
The New Jersey Department of Children and Families oversees the NJ4S which includes 15 regional hubs designed to support statewide delivery of prevention services to schools. The hubs will provide also deliver mental health services locally when needed and connect students and their parents/caregivers with other community services to support student social, emotional, and mental health and well-being.
Implementing the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program
- In December 2022, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) was awarded the School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMHS) Grant from the United States Department of Education. The total award for this 5-year grant period is over $14 million (excluding state matching funds). These funds will provide New Jersey with the resources required to increase the number of qualified school-based mental health professionals (SBMHP) in Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), demonstrating an increased need for school-based mental health services. The program will not only focus on expanding the number of mental health professionals working in school districts, but it will also help diversify the cohort of professionals who provide school-based mental health services to students while supporting activities to increase the recruitment, retention, and expertise of school-based mental health professionals.
- As of June 2023, the NJDOE selected 11 LEAs to participate from varying geographical areas in New Jersey. Each of these LEAs has an Institute of Higher Education (IHE) partner who will support their overall project design while creating a pipeline of SBMHP in high-needs LEAs.
Enhancing School-Based Mental Health Services Project
- This project will provide training, technical assistance, and individualized coaching to 50 school districts to support their efforts to establish and operate comprehensive school-based mental health services systems.
- School districts not selected for the project will have the opportunity to participate in multiple statewide trainings for educators on addressing students' immediate mental health needs and promoting long-term support.
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Potential Funding Opportunities
- Incorporate trauma-informed practices and social-emotional learning into classroom instruction.
- Implement school climate improvement plans based upon assessment of need to foster a safe, supportive environment that promotes positive student development and well-being.
- Create partnerships with appropriate mental health providers to perform risk assessments for students in crisis and to directly link students to appropriate community-based services.
- Support or enhance suicide prevention programming.
- Create and/or enhance a designated space in the school building for students to access that promotes wellness and proactive coping strategies (e.g., Calming Corner, Peace Place, Wellness Room, etc.).
- Invest in use of digital tools to enable students to repot mental health issues and be connected to help.
- Partner with experts to develop mental health curricula materials.
- Designate certificated staff and/or contracted providers to assess students who show signs of mental health concerns, including trauma.
- Purchase valid and reliable assessment tools to assist in identifying students’ mental health needs.
- Purchase evidence-based interventions to support identified student needs.
- Provide staff (e.g., consultants, additional counseling staff, aides) to assist with transition of students who may have been placed in out-of-school setting for Tier 3 intervention as they return to their home school.
- Increase the number of school-based mental health providers.
- Contract with a mental health provider to provide individual and group therapeutic services to identified students.
- Contract with mental health professionals to provide professional learning to support high need student populations.
- Provide certificated staff for home visits to follow-up on students who are identified through early-warning systems.
- Develop a systematic approach to reduce chronic absenteeism and obtain evidence-based interventions.
- Purchase or subscribe to a HIPAA-compliant platform for identified school-based mental health staff to store counseling notes and information.
- Provide staff to implement mentoring programs, group interventions, check-in/check-out systems, and/or in school skill building groups for students who are identified as needing additional social-emotional mental health supports.
- Provide professional development opportunities for educators in areas such as:
- Suicide prevention.
- Trauma informed & healing centered supports.
- Social and emotional learning.
- Comprehensive school-based mental health systems.
- Supporting positive behaviors and developing plans for behavior interventions.
- Crisis intervention skills.
- Provide workshop opportunities for families in areas such as:
- Stress management and well-being.
- Parenting strategies.
- Parenting groups based on the identified needs.
- Cultural diversity and inclusion.
- Fostering resilience and other healthy coping strategies.
- Note: LEAs may find it helpful to establish partnerships with mental health agencies to provide workshops to families.
- Fund substitutes to cover release time for staff to attend trainings and participate in local County Children’s Interagency Coordination Council (CIACC), County Ed partnerships, and/or Youth Services Advisory Councils.
- Contract with a provider to offer faculty/staff well-being support groups.