Mental Health Teams Help School Communities Thrive

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) mental health staff works tirelessly to ensure our school communities have the mental health resources they need. One team leading the way in holistic student wellbeing is the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral To services (SBIRT) team.  

The SBIRT team is committed to supporting students’ academic, physical, social, and emotional health. They do this with the SBIRT model, which is used to identify, reduce, and prevent adolescent substance use and to support students’ mental health and personal safety.  

“SBIRT provides an opportunity for students to share their needs around mental health/substance use and receive follow up supports,” said SPS Prevention and Intervention Manager Lisa Davidson. “It sparks conversation between students and school staff, who can provide support and motivate students to make healthy choices.” 

The team is made up of prevention and intervention specialists, school social workers, school nurses, and school counselors. The SBIRT Team also works closely with SPS school-based health centers and partner community-based organizations.  

All SPS middle schools and Franklin and Ingraham high schools participate in the SBIRT program. Every student in grades 7-9 at these schools is screened, which helps to reduce bias and destigmatize access to services.   

“The universal screening process helps identify needs of students early on when they can often be addressed with less intensive supports,” said Davidson.  

Based on the results of the screening, a SBIRT team member will connect with students if needed. Students often choose to have short, ongoing conversations with team members to discuss their strengths and abilities. The goal is to help each student find a strategy for success.  

During the 2023-24 school year, 5,352 students participated in SBIRT screening and 2,315 of those students received individual follow up services.  

Not only do SBIRT team members provide SBIRT program support, they also provide additional mental health assistance.  

This includes prevention and intervention specialist support in classrooms for lessons on mental health and substance abuse, parent education, staff training, and Tier 1 health promotion campaigns on various topics such as vaping, opioids, bullying, and sleep.   

SBIRT team is a vital part of the SPS community, and their work is extremely valuable to SPS students, families, and staff.   

More information about SBIRT is on the SPS SBIRT webpage.  

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Posted on: May 3, 2023

Summary: Seattle Public Schools (SPS) mental health team works day in and day out to ensure students, staff, and families have the resources they need.

Celebrate Our SPS Mental Health Superstars

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) mental health team works day in and day out to ensure students, staff, and families have the resources they need to succeed. Whether it’s in the classroom, at home, or in life, these professionals provide much needed care to the SPS community.  

Two team members who contribute greatly to this cause are Savanna Willis and Rachel Barrett. They make up the Tier Three Mental Health Consultant team. As tier three specialists, Willis and Barrett work to increase students’ access to the learning environment, support and grow adult skills, and respond to overall student needs.  

They also assist teachers and families by providing support, teaching skills, and sharing tools to understand student behavior. This is to help aid students in their progress. 

“A lot of the time I feel like I’m trying to support adults and correctly decode student behavior,” said Barrett. “It’s really, really easy – especially for exhausted teachers in this post pandemic world – to view a kid’s behavior as oppositional, defiant, willful or planful. A lot of times I’m helping interpret the mental health diagnosis through direct observation.”  

Additionally, the specialists serve as a thought partner to the adults they support.  

“Sometimes [adults] already kind of have the skills or they know what it is they need to do, but they need someone to bounce those ideas off of,” said Willis. “So sometimes we’re just a listening ear.”  

Barrett also acts as an advocate in some cases. Not only is she a mental health professional, but she’s also a mom of three kids—two of which are on the autism spectrum.  

“I want to leverage my knowledge and my privilege to help families access the supports they need,” said Barrett.  

When needed she’ll write up her observations and ask families to read them to their family doctor. She’ll even offer to be put on speakerphone or Zoom into an appointment to assist a family.  

“Sometimes parents aren’t heard by their providers or systems,” said Barrett. “I work with a lot of families where people are assuming it’s a parenting problem, when it’s actually far, far beyond that.”  

Willis, Barrett, and the entire SPS mental team work hard every day to support the SPS community. Let’s celebrate their work during Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond!  

Additional details about SPS mental health services are available on the SPS Health Services Mental Health webpage.