WAKEFIELD — Executive Director Margie Daniels is pleased to share that the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, in partnership with the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy and the Massachusetts School Mental Health Consortium (MASMHC), is offering a series of free webinars to help educators build comprehensive school mental health systems.

In December, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a Surgeon General’s Advisory to highlight the urgent need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among recommendations made by Surgeon General Murthy is that the nation should “ensure that every child has access to high-quality, affordable, and culturally competent mental health care,” and that the nation should “support the mental health of children and youth in educational, community, and childcare settings.”

The Rennie Center and MASMHC partnered with MPY prior to the Surgeon General’s advisory to create the School Mental Health Leadership Institute in an effort to help educators become both clinical mental health leaders and change agents who work toward building comprehensive school mental health systems.

The School Mental Health Leadership Institute will offer four webinars between now and the end of the school year on a variety of subjects to help facilitate the creation of comprehensive programming to support both student and staff mental health.

The next webinar — Building a Trusted and Committed Team — will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 26, from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

The webinar will be co-facilitated by John Crocker, M.Ed., Director of School Mental Health & Behavioral Services, Methuen Public Schools, and Founder and Director, MASMHC; Laura Dziorny, Deputy Director of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy; and Michelle Stanfield, Director of Programs for the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy.

Registration is required for each MPY webinar. To register for the Mental Health Leadership Institute’s Building a Trusting and Committed Team webinar, click here.

Other upcoming webinars being offered as part of the Mental Health Leadership Institute are:

“Our nation’s growing mental health crisis is taking an increasingly severe toll not just on the wellbeing of youth, but on their ability to find success and growth in school and beyond,” said Director Daniels. “I hope this free resource will help school leaders establish or build upon thoughtful and effective mental health supports that go beyond just timely interventions for students in crisis.”

Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth offers a wide variety of webinars to staff, students, and parents from member districts and organizations, on topics including mental and behavioral health; anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion; school safety; social and emotional learning; and trauma sensitive classrooms and schools.

The Mental Health Leadership Institute webinars and other selected webinars are being offered free of charge to educators across the Commonwealth through an earmark from the Massachusetts Legislature.

For more information on the full offering of webinars and training sessions available to staff, students and parents from member districts, or for information on becoming a member, visit www.mpyinc.org.

About the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.

Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides training, fosters collaboration, and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high-quality trainings to constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth.

Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth is governed by a Board of Directors made up of school superintendents, police and fire chiefs, and other community leaders who work closely with MPY staff to deliver this mission.

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