Training and Consultation for Mental Health Champions
This comprehensive, year-long professional development and consultation series is designed specifically for school-based mental health providers — social workers, counselors, psychologists, and educators working in a consultation role. The series aims to build the capacity of school mental health champions to strengthen Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports for educators, families, and the broader school community.
Foundational Training
The series kicks off with a dynamic summer intensive that:
Describes the six guiding HEARTS principles,
Establishes a shared language and framework to address trauma and stress within the school community, and
Introduces tools and strategies to apply the HEARTS guiding principles to Tier 1 and Tier 2 school-wide supports.
Participants are introduced to trauma-informed mental health consultation, which is the practice of providing support, feedback, and thought partnership to educators through a process that:
Models a trauma-informed response by considering the emotions and experiences of the adults, and providing compassionate, culturally humble, empowering feedback, and
Collaboratively addresses educators’ concerns and challenges in the ongoing work of creating and maintaining trauma-informed and racially just classrooms.
Ongoing Consultation
Following foundational training, HCC offers ongoing group and individual consultation for school-based mental health providers. This provides:
A unique opportunity for school-based mental health practitioners to gather ideas, implement plans, and refine new strategies with the support of peers and HCC experts.
Participation in a thoughtful, collegial community invested in addressing the real challenges of trauma-informed practice in schools, providing support to one another, and learning together.
A generative, non-judgmental, and goal-focused approach that fosters multiple points of entry and creates space for many ideas, perspectives, and solutions.
Sample Dilemma a School Social Worker Might Bring to Consultation
“I work in a school with a moderate level of need. We’ve had some turnover at the administrative level, but most teachers are having a good year and enjoying their classes. One teacher in particular has been struggling with classroom management and, specifically, with a small group of students who sometimes “talk back” when the teacher gives instructions or redirections. I’d like to learn how to support this teacher, both by providing co-regulation and teaching self-management skills, and by strengthening the teacher’s ability to build safe, dependable structures in the classroom and respond to students in a non-punitive way.”
