SBDI helps schools understand and access existing mental health services and supports in their community to effectively meet the needs of students and their families. Partnerships include (but are not limited to): community-based behavioral health service providers, local law enforcement, youth and family engagement advocates, youth service bureaus, juvenile review boards, and community collaboratives (e.g. systems of care, LISTs).
Family Engagement
FAVOR, Inc. is a non-profit statewide family organization serving families, children and youth dealing with a broad spectrum of behavioral and mental health needs by providing family peer support and policy initiatives.
FAVOR partners with SBDI to provide family engagement in schools by sharing of parental information and access to resource centers, identifying dropout prevention strategies and model programs and increasing school, family, and community partnerships through trainings and community conversations.
To learn more about FAVOR visit: http://www.favor-ct.org/
Juvenile Review Boards
Juvenile Review Board (JRB) is a community-based diversion process for youth that may otherwise be referred to the Juvenile Court for minor violations of the law.
To learn more about JRBs visit: https://www.ctyouthservices.org/Diversion/
Law Enforcement Engagement
The Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement (CABLE) is a grassroots, non-profit 501 (C)(3) research and training collaborative whose mission is to serve as an interdisciplinary resource and catalyst for law enforcement and community collaboration, support and education. This unique organization is composed of a cross-section of stakeholders: municipal and state law enforcement personnel, mental health professionals, families and persons with mental illness and educational institutions.
CABLE partners with SBDI to train local police officers and school resource officers in Crisis Intervention Team—Youth (CIT-Y). CIT-Y is a training curriculum developed by police officers for police officers to address youth-specific issues.
This 8 hour curriculum trains police officers and/or schools resource officers on:
- Mental Health
- Adolescent Development and Trauma
- Youth Specific Crisis Intervention/De-escalation Strategies
- Family Perspective
- Legal Issues
- Behavioral Health Resources
To Learn more about CABLE visit: http://www.wrapct.org/Collaboratives.aspx
Mobile Crisis Intervention Services
Connecticut’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Services, (formerly known as EMPS), provides children’s mental health crisis services free of charge to all children in Connecticut through a network of fourteen provider sites across the state. Trained mental health clinicians are deployed to homes, schools and community locations to provide in-person crisis stabilization services and linkage to ongoing care for children in Connecticut. CHDI serves as the Performance Improvement Center for the State’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Services through a contract with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families(DCF). Mobile Crisis Intervention Services partners with SBDI to respond and connect students with behavioral health needs to the appropriate community-based services and supports.
Mobile Crisis Intervention Services is available to all Connecticut residents and can be accessed by dialing 9-8-8 or dialing 2-1-1 and, at the prompt, pressing “1” for “crisis.” Callers are connected to a crisis specialist who triages the call and transfers to a local Mobile Crisis provider who gathers information in order to dispatch a trained mental health clinician to the location of the child/youth, arriving no more than 45 minutes. Following the initial crisis, the clinician and other members of the Mobile Crisis team will meet with the family for up to six weeks, develop a Crisis Safety Plan, and connect them with additional mental and behavioral health resources within the community. Trained Mental Health Clinicians are available to be dispatched to the home or community for a face to face evaluation within 45 minutes from 6 am to 10 pm, Monday through Friday, and 1 pm to 10 pm on weekends and holidays. Additionally, they are available immediately to talk by phone and evaluate the situation, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.
To learn more about Mobile Crisis Intervention Services visit: https://www.empsct.org/
Local Interagency Service Teams (LIST)
LIST is a system development strategy for the establishment of an integrated system for planning, implementation and evaluation of juvenile justice service delivery in Connecticut. The LIST provides a venue for community-level interagency coordination and formal communication and planning between state agencies and local communities around juvenile justice issues.
To learn more about the LIST visit: https://www.ctyouthservices.org/Customer-Content/WWW/CMS/files/LIST_Team_Contact_information_12.2012.pdf
Racial and Ethnic Disparity Committee (RED)
The Racial and Ethnic Disparity Committee (RED) formerly referred to as the Disproportionate Minority Contact or DMC Committee was introduced by the Center for Children’s Advocacy and the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, with support from the Tow Foundation and the Public Welfare Foundation, in 2011 to develop work plans and address the overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system. The Committee’s goal is to engage state, municipal and community actors working with youth in the juvenile justice system to track the disproportionate involvement of youth of color in that system and to identify areas for tracking, advocacy and reform.
To learn more about the Racial and Ethnic Disparity Committee visit: https://cca-ct.org/racial-justice/
Restorative Practices
The Restorative Justice Practices Project (RJPP) was established by the Tow Youth Justice Institute at the University of New Haven in partnership with the Child Health and Development Institute in 2016. RJPP provides restorative justice practices trainings to schools participating in SBDI. Restorative Justice Practices are an alternative to traditional discipline in schools, as well as a strong community-building communication approach. RJPP partners with SBDI utilizing the International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP) curriculum to provide:
- “Basic Restorative Practices” model: Introduction to Restorative Practices, Using Circles Effectively and Facilitating Restorative Conferences
- Technical Assistance on RJ implementation in schools for both the preventative and responsive application of RJ
- School-centered consultation by the Project Coordinator around specific issues that arise during implementation
- Modeling of effective RJ practices on-site
- Resource Assistance for acquiring implementation materials
- Consultation for school administration around systems level installation
To learn more about RJPP visit: https://www.newhaven.edu/academics/centers-institutes/tow-youth-justice-institute/restorative-justice-practices/
Youth Service Bureaus (YSB)
Youth Service Bureaus (YSB) provide a network of resources and opportunities for children, youth, and their families. A wide range of services and programs are offered with the goal of helping youth to develop positively and to function as responsible members of their communities.
To learn more about the YSBs visit: https://www.ctyouthservices.org/Find_A_YSB/