West Virginia Expanded School Mental Health
Expanding access to mental health services for all students in West Virginia.
What is the Expanded School of Mental Health?
Expanded School Mental Health (ESMH) is a multi-tiered system of support where schools, families, and strategic community partners work together to enhance student mental health in schools.
It is a framework that:
- includes the full continuum of prevention, early intervention, and mental health treatment
- serves all students
- builds upon core programs/services being provided by schools
- emphasizes shared responsibility between schools, mental health providers, and community partners
Resources
If approaches are in place to support positive mental health of students, then academic achievement increases. These resources are provided to support student mental health.
Get Connected
Connect with the West Virginia Expanded School Mental Health to learn more about the framework and become an advocate for student mental health in your community.
FAQs
Here are the answers to the most common questions we receive about the Expanded School Mental Health framework and student mental health.
The mental health of our students in West Virginia is directly impacted by how well our mental health agencies, schools, parents and the community at large collaborate with each other.
Learn about the three tiered approach of the ESMH Model
Schools, families and strategic community partners assume a shared responsibility to provide mental health support for ALL students. ESMH includes prevention; early intervention and treatment that are natural.
In 2022, there are 93 funded Expanded School Mental Health schools. 75 sites are funded by WV DHHR Bureau for Behavioral Health and 18 sites are funded via WV Project AWARE SAMHSA grants. Additional sites are self-implementing via diversified funding to deliver a three-tiered system of supports.
The number of sites implementing ESMH continues to grow.
Schools who utilize the Expanded School of Mental health model will receive positive outcomes from the students such as:
Improved academic performance
Increased graduation rate
Improved school attendance
Improved school functioning/behavior
Improved social-emotional well-being
Reduced barriers to learning