Improving Coordination and Access to Comprehensive School-Based Mental Health Services in California: A Preliminary Landscape Analysis

The Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15 CC) and the Regional Educational Laboratory West (REL West), both housed at WestEd, collaborated with the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California State Board of Education (SBE) to conduct an initial landscape analysis to understand the current state of school-based mental health referral pathways in California. School-based mental health referral pathways provide the infrastructure (processes, resources, and procedures) for identifying, referring, and monitoring whether students, families, and educators are linked to appropriate mental health services within a network of school and community partners. This landscape analysis is based on (1) quantitative, descriptive analyses to explore factors such as student demographics, school climate survey data, and staffing ratios; (2) interviews with district, county, and state leaders on the current state of school-based mental health referral pathways in California; and (3) a document scan of existing research, tools, and guidance on referral pathways. These analyses explored the following: (1) variations in the numbers of school-based mental health service staff per student by geographic region, county, district enrollment, student demographics, and student mental health outcomes; (2) how schools are implementing comprehensive mental health service systems focused on the whole person; (3) how educational agencies are partnering with behavioral health and other youth-serving agencies and organizations to provide students with mental health services and supports; (4) what current mental health referral pathways look like within California schools and between schools and partnering community agencies; and (5) what policies and resources support school-based mental health referral pathways in California.