The Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework: Rural, Suburban, and Urban Districts Using ES3 Grant to Impact Wellness


By Liz Krubsack, School Mental Health Consultant and Jess Frain, School Mental Health Consultant, Department of Public Instruction and Katie Berg, SNS and ES3 Grant Statewide Coordinator, CESA 1

As discussed in the previous article, The Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework:  Shifting Perspectives about Mental Health, building and sustaining a Comprehensive School Mental Health System (CSMHS) requires schools to establish a shared understanding of mental health within the school community and a shared commitment to systems change. With this shared understanding and commitment in mind, schools can better approach the work of integrating mental health supports into existing academic and behavior support systems.

While integration can be easily understood in theory, it can be difficult to find entry points within the active structures of the school. Educators often find themselves lost in trying to align competing frameworks, strategies and plans, and find it difficult to translate these big-picture approaches to day-to-day classroom practices aimed at helping students develop functional skills. However, with new funding opportunities available to school districts to enhance mental health and well-being services in schools, districts across the state are applying innovative strategies for integrating CSMHS in their school communities.

The Enhancing Social and Emotional Skills in Students with IEPs (ES3) grant provides public school districts with opportunities to identify and support the beliefs, skills, and systems needed to improve outcomes for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). With a focus on supporting students with neurodiverse needs, districts enhance their ability to promote social and emotional well-being, a key component of mental health, by changing classroom and schoolwide practices.

One urban school district in Wisconsin leveraged ES3 grant funding to expand their districtwide coaching system to include SEL coaches, to enhance the capacity of their educators to support student well-being. Previously, the district only provided coaching for literacy and math; with the shift to include SEL coaches came a new opportunity for all staff to support the whole child. The district was able to enhance an existing system in their district by shifting their approach to job-embedded support for staff to include all aspects of student growth.

Another ES3 funded district, a small rural Wisconsin community, identified a need to increase the sense of belonging among students with the most divergent communication needs. In order to address this, the district started by building awareness and understanding of the connection between communication and belonging.  The district incorporated alternative communication systems in their community spaces, such as visual representation like communication boards on their playground for all to use. This focus on changing everyday practices to better serve students with the most divergent learning needs leads to a more inclusive and integrated system of support for all students. 

Lastly, a suburban district used their ES3 funding to address gaps in staff’s knowledge and skills to support students exhibiting challenging behaviors. This district restructured their approach to teaming by adding learning and coaching to their PLC’s, committee meetings, and staff meetings. This coaching focused on social emotional learning, wellness and continuous improvement processes aimed at moving the district towards their mission and vision. The district identified a student need and made improvements to their existing teaming structures to include support for staff in addressing challenging student behaviors. 

These examples illustrate some of the many ways that integrating mental health supports can occur through changes to everyday classroom, schoolwide, and districtwide practices. When districts make small, manageable changes to their existing programs, policies, and practices, they can start to better align their systems of support and work towards their health and educational equity goals for students and staff. For more information on integrating social and emotional learning supports, visit the Collaborative for Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) homepage