School-based mental health is increasingly being recognized as one of the main strategies through which the U.S. will address the youth mental health crisis in 2025, 26. To support school-based mental health providers and school administrators, the University of Kansas Medical Center is leading a new series of “School-Based Mental Health 2025, 26 ECHO” sessions. The series offers training to school counselors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, administrators, and community partners on how to develop and strengthen school-based mental health systems, with particular focus on substance use prevention and early intervention.
Topics discussed in these school-based mental health sessions include strategies such as harm reduction, how to conduct screening, vaping, opioid prevention, and ways to collaborate with local behavioral health professionals. Rather than simply providing one, off assemblies, the initiative aims to give schools practical, down, to, earth tools that can help integrate school-based mental health into everyday activities, classroom culture, and crisis response plans.
Educators share that the students are much more likely to talk about their experiences with anxiety, depression, or substance use when they see and feel that the support for school-based mental health is there and is consistent. In contrast, families who have to deal with services on their own without support, naturally, feel very isolated.
Source: University of Kansas Medical Center – School-Based Mental Health 2025–26 ECHO
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