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DC School Behavioral Health Community of Practice

 

MTSS Training

Introduction

The DC School Behavioral Health Community of Practice (DC CoP) is offering training focused on best practices for implementing school behavioral health supports within a “multi-tiered system of supports” (MTSS) framework. MTSS is a framework tailored to meet the diverse needs of all students within a school setting. It is structured across three tiers, ensuring that interventions are matched to individual student needs.

The training provides opportunities to explore interventions across Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 levels of support. Participants can select, develop, and implement effective prevention and early intervention programs after the training. 

Who Should Attend
  • School Behavioral Health Coordinators and Clinicians from DC Public Schools and DC Public Charter Schools 
  • School Mental Health Clinicians from DBH and Community Based Organizations (CBOs)
Training

The training is open to all school-based mental health clinicians from DC public schools and DC public charter schools. The duration is estimated to be 60-90 minutes, and all modules must be completed in one session.

Throughout the training, participants will work toward three main objectives: 

  1. Understand what constitutes a comprehensive school behavioral health system.
  2. Delve into the tiers of support within MTSS framework, detailing the specific programs and practices available at each level.
  3. Learn how to customize and adjust comprehensive school behavioral health interventions to effectively address the unique needs of individuals, subgroups, or the entire school community.

At the end of the training, participants will take a required Final Assessment. Successfully passing this assessment with a grade of 85% or higher makes participants eligible to receive 1.5 SW continuing education credits (CEUs).

Take the Training

For more information, contact us at [email protected].

A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework that incorporates data and instruction to optimize student achievement while addressing their social, emotional, and behavioral needs from a perspective that emphasizes strengths. MTSS provides educators with a framework for making data-driven decisions to enhance program effectiveness, deliver high-quality instruction and interventions, promote social and emotional learning, and implement positive behavioral support strategies to ensure favorable outcomes for districts, schools, teachers, and students. This framework comprises four essential components: screening, progress monitoring, a multi-level prevention system, and data-informed decision-making.

MTSS Tiers
  • Tier 1 — Universal services and supports are available to all students regardless of existing challenges, disabilities, or risk levels for mental health problems. Interventions, delivered either schoolwide, grade-level, or classroom-based, include mental-health-promoting activities, programs to reinforce the adoption of social and emotional competencies, and efforts to promote a positive school climate and staff well-being.
  • Tier 2 — Targeted services and supports are intended for some students who have been identified, through screenings or other referral processes, as experiencing mild emotional distress or functional impairment. Early intervention services offered in this tier include small group counseling, brief or low-intensity interventions, or behavioral contracts.
  • Tier 3 — Intensive services and supports are intended for the relatively smaller number of students with diagnosable mental health concerns or who experience significant distress or functional impairment. Individualized treatment interventions as part of this tier include individual, family, or group therapy and typically also comprise students identified with special needs.