A faculty team from several programs within the School of Education at George Mason University has been awarded a U.S. Department of Education grant to train mental health services providers in Manassas City Public Schools. The grant is part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to expand student access to mental health services in high-need K-12 public schools.
The training initiative supported by this award, “School Based Mental Health Alliance,” is centered on a partnership that includes George Mason, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), and the Manassas City Public Schools district. Funding under this award will approach $5 million ($4,976,702) over five years.
Principal investigator Sam Steen, a professor in George Mason’s Counseling Program, is leading a multidisciplinary team that includes co-principal investigators Erik Hines, also a professor in the Counseling Program, and Elizabeth Levine Brown, an associate professor affiliated with both the Elementary Education and the Educational Psychology Programs. Other members of the team include faculty members Diane Reese and Victoria Stone of the Counseling Program; Khaseem Davis of Georgetown University; Mia Hines, interim executive director of George Mason’s Early Identification Program; Richmond Hill, provost at NOVA’s Woodbridge Campus; Duhita Mahatmya, University of Iowa; and representatives from the Manassas City Public Schools district.
The significant resources provided under this grant will directly benefit Manassas City Public Schools by increasing the number of school counselors who possess expanded clinical training.
Many school districts across the country are facing an increased need for student mental health services in the aftermath of the disruption caused by the pandemic. At the same time, school districts are struggling to find trained mental health professionals to deliver these services, Steen said.
“It used to be that school counselors went into school settings and used their clinical training to help students with things like course selection, academic enhancement, college and career readiness, and development of their social emotional learning skills. That is no longer enough,” said Steen. “School counselors today are handling a much wider variety of issues that are showing up in our schools and communities daily.”
Brown pointed out that while many programs focus on those individuals entering the school counseling profession, this award provides opportunities for continued learning for in-service counselors already working in the school system.
“There has been a workforce shortage of high-quality school counselors that enter the schools and stay in schools because of the caseload increases we have seen,” Brown said. “This grant is unique in that it addresses the training of both pre-service and in-service counselors, and it is that element of the award that will help build systemic capacity in school-based mental health services.”
George Mason’s graduate certificate program in counseling will provide retraining for approximately 21 counselors now employed in the Manassas City Public Schools division. Upon completing the certificate, these in-service counselors will have broader clinical training that will enable them to deliver high-quality mental health services to students and make them eligible for licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“Our hope is that eventually these students will work in high-need school districts, such as Manassas City Schools or other schools throughout the Commonwealth,” said Brown.
In other partnership activities, faculty are working closely with NOVA representatives in developing an accelerated degree pathway for eligible students, which would allow them to matriculate into a bachelor’s and then a master’s program in counseling at George Mason.
Hines said that to assist with sustainability of this project, George Mason must create multiple pathways to the counseling profession, such as developing a bachelor’s to accelerated master’s degree program. “We include NOVA and George Mason’s EIP students so they can start as early as their junior year in advancing through the School Counseling Program.”
This project will train about 60 mental health service providers. Approximately 30 pre-service counselors and 30 in-service counselors currently working in Manassas City Public Schools will receive certification required for full Virginia licensure. Students (pre-service counselors) recruited to participate in this training initiative will complete their required practicum and internship onsite at one of Manassas City’s nine public schools.
Participants will receive some financial and professional incentives from the funds provided under the grant. Upon completion of program requirements, individuals may receive a signing bonus or retention payment if they commit to work in a Manassas City public school or another high-need school in Virginia.
Should counseling positions within the Manassas City school district fill to capacity, the research team is confident that graduates will be able to find similar positions at one of the 20 Region IV school divisions that partner with George Mason through the Educational Research Alliance of Northern Virginia, a research-practice partnership forum.
Through the resources provided under this grant, Steen believes this work with help close the gap in student access to comprehensive mental health services delivered by school counselors in the Manassas City Public Schools.