Products and Resources Catalog

This is a recording of Workshop 6 of 6 in the "Trauma-Informed, In School Sessions" Workshop Series.  The Heart Work: Equity-Centered Coaching Practices for Trauma-Informed Collegiality and Collective Healing Trauma Informed Principle to Practice: Cultural Humility   As systemic inequities and trauma are often intertwined, addressing their connection becomes crucial in trauma-informed school communities. Centering equity in every student interaction and adult partnership supporting the school system is essential. The capacity for the adults responsible for implementing trauma-informed practices grounded in equity is nurtured through equity-centered coaching.   In this workshop video, Pacific Southwest MHTTC's School Mental Health Specialist Melissa Smith leads an exploration of the principles of equity-centered coaching to cultivate trauma-informed school environments. Coaching conversations, grounded in active listening, cultural humility, and psychological safety, model the equitable interactions that administrators might have with educators and providers so that educators and providers can offer the same experience with their students.   Melissa brings forth opportunities to examine our own identities, assumptions, patterns, and beliefs - thereby creating space for new perspectives. This self-reflection enables us to recognize how inequities and trauma manifest in our schools. As we build self-awareness about our experiences and worldviews, we become better able to perceive concerning dynamics and interrupt cycles of harm.   This workshop recording is an invitation to envision the trauma-informed and healing-centered schools we desire – places where adults possess the tools to nurture their well-being and fully empower students. We will review evidence-based tools, rationale, and resources to foster cultural humility, mitigate systemic barriers, and build trusting partnerships across the school community.

This is a recording of Workshop 5 of 6 in the "Trauma-Informed, In School Sessions" Workshop Series.  "You Can Talk to Me": A Family Guide to Support Students' Mental Health and Well-Being Trauma Informed Principle to Practice: Trustworthiness & Transparency, Collaboration & Mutuality    How might we partner with parents, caregivers and families through trauma informed approaches to support the mental health and well-being of the children and teens in their lives? In 2023, Project Cal-Well (a cross-agency mental health initiative led by the California Department of Education to promote mental health awareness and wellness among California's K-12 students) designed the Family Guide to Supporting Young People’s Mental Health and Well-Being for parents and other caregivers (available in English and Spanish), with input from families, educators, mental health professionals, and youth. By sharing tips for families on how to have conversations about social media use, mental health, anti-LGBTQ experiences, bullying and more, this guide provides parents and other caregivers with information and easy-to-use strategies to support their children’s overall well-being and mental health.   How did the guide’s authors partner with students and their families to create this guide? How might we support students and families to dig into its information and leverage this resource to partner with parents and other caretakers? View this workshop recording to explore these questions, and the guide itself, while learning from several of its authors about how the guide’s development process was trauma informed.   Viewers of this workshop video will: (1) learn about the development and content of the guide; (2) have the opportunity to consider how to get the guide and related local resources into the hands of families; and (3) generate ideas for how to use individual sections of the guide to align with a school’s continuum of trauma-informed approaches and social, emotional, and behavioral supports.

This is a recording of Workshop 4 of 6 in the "Trauma-Informed, In School Sessions" Workshop Series.  Counseling with Care: Trauma Informed School Counseling Practices Trauma Informed Principle to Practice: Peer Support, Empowerment   Are you a school counselor, becoming a school counselor, or someone who teams/works with school counselors? Zeyda Garcia, founder of Healing Aguas Wellness Solutions and school counseling professor, joined this series to share how to anchor and apply trauma-informed principles in school counseling practices, programs, and policies. In the workshop video, she discusses a high-level overview of trauma, its impacts on students, and different strategies school mental health providers can implement to support young people in counseling settings.   Utilizing trauma informed school counseling practices, providers can support young people in regulating their own nervous system and support them in accessing their education. Watch this workshop video and join in reflections on our unique school and personal practices, in order to enhance our trauma-informed support of students.   Viewers will walk away with practical tools to use in sessions with students, families, and school-wide. Most importantly, and in Zeyda’s words, this workshop aims to offer school counselors “more creativity, courage and confidence in yourself as a counselor and a commitment to caring for yourself.”

This recording is from Workshop 3 of 6 in the "Trauma-Informed, In School Sessions" Workshop Series.  This video recording provides an exploration of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based approach tailored for adults or children, particularly refugees and immigrants, with multiple traumatic experiences. Kids Narrative Exposure Therapy (KIDNET) is a therapy designed for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma, especially in conflict zones. KIDNET therapy focuses on reprocessing traumatic memories by contrasting the memories with the present feelings through narration. It focuses on helping them process their traumatic memories by creating a "lifeline" and uses techniques like storytelling, art, and role-play to aid in healing and recovery.   Led by Dr. Alejandra Acuña, this workshop guided participants towards a comprehensive understanding of NET's principles and techniques, learning how to utilize storytelling to help students process and integrate traumatic memories resulting in reduced PTSD symptoms. Viewers will walk away equipped with practical strategies and insights to provide culturally responsive support to students, fostering resilience and facilitating healing within diverse educational settings (e.g., green lights, yellow lights, and red lights of NET implementation!).   Importantly, Dr. Acuña shared not only about the evidence based approach, but how the implementation of it in itself can and should be trauma-informed and culturally responsive so that students and their families experience their recovery through the trauma-informed principles of empowerment and collaboration.

By adopting trauma-informed practices, schools can create environments that empower students, support healing, and break the cycle of bullying. This infographic illustrates the different approaches to address bullying in schools.

In "Fronterismo - Supporting Transborder School Mental Health," the third installment of The Needs and Joys of our (Im)migrant Students, Families, and Community Partners: Exploring and Expanding our School Mental Health Practice, a special three-part series focused on (im)migrant student mental health, we: focused on shared risk and protective factors for vulnerable populations outlined school programs like CBITS and restorative justice Community Building Circles highlighted cultural adaptations of both models.   The audience for the event included mental health professionals, administrators, educators, recovery specialists, students and others.

On September 14th, 2023, over 60 attendees gathered to explore grief leadership, to create space for providers to process the August 8th wildfires in Lahaina, Hawai'i, and to explore how those devastating fires affected people far beyond Maui. This session was a collaboration of the School Crisis Recovery & Renewal Project (a National Child Traumatic Stress Network Category II site) and the youth and young adult specialty program of the Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center    In times of crisis, coming together to make meaning of what we are each holding helps us show up for ourselves and for each other professionally. Our time together was designed to gather school crisis leaders, youth and young adult providers, and peer support professionals to explore how the Lahaina fires were experienced across multiple communities and ways to better support impacted children, youth, and young adults.   After rich discussions and collective learning and resourcing, we offer the following summary to steer our grief leadership, now and in the weeks, months, and years to come.   

This is a recording of the webinar, “Talking with Children About War and Other Humanitarian Crises,” that took place on November 20, 2023. The Pacific Southwest MHTTC offered this session during a season in which many families are gathering and discussing challenging, charged issues with current and ongoing wars coupled with a wide range of humanitarian and other major crises in the U.S. and abroad. In this special session, our center's School Mental Health Field Director, Leora Wolf-Prusan moderated a presentation and workshop with Dr. David Schonfeld, Director of the National Center for School Crisis & Bereavement. After Dr. Schonfeld's presentation, participants debriefed and processed in the question-and-answer segment of the program, and a discussion emerged, centered on how children understand – and misunderstand – crises and how best to explain it to them in order to promote their understanding and adjustment. Viewers of this recording can benefit from the following learning objectives:    Approaches for how to talk with children about wars and other humanitarian crises Some of the causes of ineffective communication, whether due to the source (e.g., media) or recipient (i.e., the child) of the information Strategies to address anger and blame during group discussions with children in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis This session was designed for mental health and school mental health professionals, including counselors, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health program administrators

This Fall 2023 edition of Region 9 School Mental Health Champions! newsletter was released in October, a time and month that for many school-based leaders and educators is full, often a time and month that yearns for rest and rejuvenation. Our Region 9 team extends our wishes for our readers to feel resourced and supported and we are continually grateful for the opportunity to be a resource and a support to the work that makes your love for school mental health equity visible.    In this quarter’s newsletter, we offer new programming, research, and resources, and so much more. 

This Summer Region 9 School Mental Health Champions! newsletter edition was released in June, 2023 - for some of our readers, this is a time of break, vacation, and restoration. For others, it might be a time of closing the school year and preparing for a new one - of taking stock and exhaling after what may have been a busy year. Wherever this newsletter finds you, we hope you can take an inhale and exhale and honor the work of this past year. This newsletter provides new programming and products from our center, upcoming school mental health conferences and learning opportunities from the network and field, and recent research and scholarship to support our school mental health practices and policies. We’re happy to share that our region’s school mental health website is up to date and ready to support you: https://mhttcnetwork.org/centers/pacific-southwest-mhttc/school-mental-health Please contact us with specific requests, feedback, or your own resources you’d like us to share with your regional colleagues: [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Youth & Young Adults Now: Vision, Voice, and Ventures is a quarterly newsletter dedicated to promoting resources, perspectives, and organizations that support youth and young adult (YYA) advocates, advocates for YYA, and YYA-serving professionals. In this Fall Issue, our Pacific Southwest MHTTC team announces the start of two key Youth & Young Adult serving programs, initiated by our YYA team leads, Oriana Ides and Evelyn Clark. Read through this issue to see our center's uplifting of juvenile justice organizations and leaders in the field, recent product releases, and more. 

Our Center has a special focus on supporting youth and young adults (YYA) of transition age. The transition to adulthood is an important time in young people’s lives—a time for new independence, new challenges, and new opportunities for growth. It’s also a crucial time to support young people who are living with mental health challenges, who are involved in youth-serving systems, or who are at increased chance of developing mental health needs. When we amplify YYA voice, choice, and leadership, we create space for them to thrive. Our YYA Team Leads, Oriana Ides and Evelyn Clark, guide us in this work and develop each issue of Youth & Young Adults Now. This Winter 2023 issue features highlights of the Aging Out or Growing Together? Flipping the Youth Services Paradigm to Better Support Young Adulthood program, led by our Technical Assistance Specialist, Oriana Ides and details of the Creating Safe Spaces for Peer Support Providers and Incorporating Anti-racist Practices in Peer Support Delivery program, led by Evelyn Clark, Technical Assistance Specialist and JEDI consultant. Check out this special Winter 2022 issue for emerging resources from our center, our partners and the field, our spotlights to uplift a YYA peer-support specialist and organization, and more.   

Our Center has a special focus on supporting youth and young adults (YYA) of transition age. The transition to adulthood is an important time in young people’s lives—a time for new independence, new challenges, and new opportunities for growth. It’s also a crucial time to support young people who are living with mental health challenges, who are involved in youth-serving systems, or who are at increased chance of developing mental health needs.  When we amplify YYA voice, choice, and leadership, we create space for them to thrive. Each quarter, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC draws together our recent and upcoming events and other important field resources to share with our partners in this work. This Spring 2023 Edition honored Mental Health Awareness in May and highlighted timely and relevant developments from our Center and the field.

Our Center has a special focus on supporting youth and young adults (YYA) of transition age. The transition to adulthood is an important time in young people’s lives—a time for new independence, new challenges, and new opportunities for growth. It’s also a crucial time to support young people who are living with mental health challenges, who are involved in youth-serving systems, or who are at increased chance of developing mental health needs.  When we amplify YYA voice, choice, and leadership, we create space for them to thrive.  The Pacific Southwest MHTTC team spent summer months (of 2023) rounding up the last of our events and completing a special compilation of products to conclude our (fifth) project year, which ended on September 29, 2023. Check out our center's Summer 2023 edition for highlights of learnings, glimmers of hope from the YYA series, and so much more.

This is a recording of, “Session 3 of October Rising Practices Series - Interrupting Bullying & Fostering Belonging for the School Mental Health Workforce,” on October 26, 2023. In our final session in this three-part series, Region 9 School Mental Health Field Director Leora Wolf-Prusan moderated a panel discussion that offered learnings about the power of bias reduction curricula in elementary schools, and the ways in which school district and county systems can shift internal cultures to be welcoming drivers of equitable compassion. Among other themes, the session uplifted new practices of how to respond to and interrupt xenophobia and anti-immigrant hate in our classrooms.    This workshop recording features guest speakers including Drs. Carrie Langner and Linda Lee with California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Dr. Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj with the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Valerie White, LCSW, M.Ed, a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Magical Minds.    The session's guiding questions were: What might the school mental health workforce need to know about the difference and similarities between abuse, harassment, and bullying in k-12 contexts? What might be new or pressing phenomena related to bullying (e.g., anti-LGBTQIA+ bullying or the intersection of bullying and suicidality) for which we need to raise awareness? What challenges do we foresee at the workforce level, and what training, resources, or other support would help resolve these challenges? What might be some rising practices, policies and successful strategies for anti-bullying policies and practices?   This session was designed school administration, site and systems leaders, school social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, educators, instructional coaches, school climate personnel, after school program providers, child advocates, and whoever else is interested!

This is a recording of, “Interrupting Bullying & Fostering Belonging for the General Mental Health Workforce,” on October 24, 2023. In honor of October’s National Bullying Prevention Month, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC hosted a series of learning sessions to augment mental health providers and systems leaders’ knowledge, skills, and approaches for effectively responding to and preventing bullying while also fostering belonging. In dialogue with a set of regional leaders and specialists, including Jennifer Pardini, Community Education Coordinator at Legal Assistance for Seniors; Dr. Nellie Tran, Professor of Counseling and School Psychology at San Diego State University and Executive Director of the SDSU Center for Community Counseling & Engagement; and Robin Kincaid, Program Director of Nevada PEP’s Safe Allies and Education Services, we explored new phenomena related to bullying (e.g., anti-immigrant harassment, elder abuse, workplace bullying) and strategies for fostering belonging. This panel event brought to light the challenges foreseen at the workforce level, and identified training, resources, and other support to help resolve them. Our Pacific Southwest Team centered conversations around rising practices, policies, and successful strategies for bullying prevention and response. This session was designed for psychologists, community mental health workers, community health center professionals, social workers, marriage and family therapists, pre-service graduate students, and anyone else interested!"

This is a recording of, “Interrupting Bullying & Fostering Belonging for the Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Workforce,” on October 25, 2023. Our Pacific Southwest Region’s national specialty area is the mental health of youth and young adults of transitional age; as such, on our second day of our three-part series, we examined rising practices and policies, informed by research and the field, that can expand the way we approach anti-bullying and foster belonging for youth and young adults (18-24 year olds). Panelists highlighted bullying and belonging within the context of LGBTQ+, BIPOC populations, youth leadership and peer support roles. The session also uplifted young adult perspectives with lived experience in the foster care system and the Navajo Nation, and a focus on cyberbullying within Latinx youth communities. Our Region 9's Technical Assistance and Training Specialist, Oriana Ides moderated this panel of special guests including, Ajahrain (Ajah) Yellowhair; Arc Telos Saint Amour, Executive Director of Youth MOVE National; and Dr. Guadelupe (Lupita) Espinoza, Professor in Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University, Fullerton.  This session was designed for peer support professionals, young adult advocates, psychologists, counselors, community mental health workers, social workers, pre-service graduate students and whoever else is interested.

This is a recording of Workshop 4 in the Back to School Series, entitled, “Trauma Informed Suicide Prevention for Administrators,” on September 13, 2023. In the penultimate workshop session, CARS own Training and Technical Assistance Specialists, and former school site and district administrators, Tina Rocha and Angela Castellanos discussed how to build an understanding of suicide prevention policy, the prevalence and impact of traumatic stress and its relation to suicide, and resources available to schools. This session was designed for system leaders, prevention specialists, educators, administrators, school site leadership, district and state administrative leadership, and anyone interested in growing their knowledge, skills, and approaches to suicide prevention in their practice.

  All public schools in California are required to offer Identity Support Plans (IDSP) for LGBTQ+ students in elementary, middle, and high school.  This tool guides California public middle and high schools through the development of a plan to support LGBTQ+ students’ identity, success, and safety at school. It is designed for school staff, caregivers, and the student to work together to complete the document. This tool supports districts’ commitment to making educational spaces safe and supportive for ALL students, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression.   All available IDSP tools and supporting documents can be accessed on the main product page. 

  All public schools in California are required to offer Identity Support Plans (IDSP) for LGBTQ+ students in elementary, middle, and high school.  The IDSP for secondary schools supports public middle and high school staff in California to work with gender-diverse students, and potentially their caregivers, to identify ways in which the student’s identity is respected and supported at school. The IDSP process fosters an educational environment that is safe and supportive for ALL students, and it serves as an effective tool to help guide school staff through conversations with families, other caregivers, and children.  This document explains the IDSP process, provides guidance about how to use the IDSP tool, and offers strategies and discussion tips that school staff can use when working with caregivers and students.   All available IDSP tools and supporting documents can be accessed on the main product page. 

  All public schools in California are required to offer Identity Support Plans (IDSP) for LGBTQ+ students in elementary, middle, and high school.  This Identity Support Plan for Elementary (IDSPE) is a form designed to be filled out collaboratively by school staff, the student, and the student’s caregiver(s) to ensure that students feel safe in classrooms and across the school environment.  The IDSPE tool was created to help gender-diverse students share anything that might make them feel unsafe or uncomfortable. It also gives students a chance to share and express how they feel about their name and gender expression or identity. You can also access the corresponding Identity Support Plan for Elementary (IDSPE) Explainer, which explains the IDSPE process, provides guidance about how to use the IDSPE tool, and offers strategies and discussion tips that school staff can use when working with caregivers and students.   All available IDSP tools and supporting documents can be accessed on the main product page. 

  All public schools in California are required to offer Identity Support Plans (IDSP) for LGBTQ+ students in elementary, middle, and high school.  An Identity Support Plan for Elementary (IDSPE) supports public school staff in California to work with gender-diverse students, and potentially their caregivers, to identify strategies for ensuring that their identity is respected and supported. The IDSPE process fosters an educational environment that is safe and supportive for ALL students, and it serves as an effective tool to help guide school staff conversations with families, other caregivers, and children. This document explains the IDSPE process, provides guidance about how to use the IDSPE tool, and offers strategies and discussion tips that school staff can use when working with caregivers and students.   All available IDSP tools and supporting documents can be accessed on the main product page. 

Social media literacy is necessary for equitable mental health and the mental health workforce can help their clients build these skills. As a first step, mental health providers should pursue their own social media literacy, the “the practical, cognitive, and affective competences required to access, analyze, evaluate, and create content on social media in a variety of contexts.”   When providers are themselves digitally literate, they are prepared to support youth, young adults, and caregivers to develop and maintain healthy relationships with social media.  These skills can assist the mental health workforce in helping clients set appropriate boundaries, recognize mis- or disinformation, and protect themselves from the negative consequences of exposure to damaging content.    As the research summaries provided in this resource list indicate, social media can be both a powerful tool for connection and support and a space that can cause or extenuate mental health inequities.   This resource is a part of our Pacific Southwest MHTTC’s suite of programming, aimed to enhance the mental and school mental health workforce’s skills, knowledge, and awareness of how the positive and negative psychological impact of social media on youth and young adults.   We offer this list of resources, guidelines, and tips to support healthy use of social media.  These free, publicly accessible links give mental health providers information about the risks and benefits of social media for adolescents and youth. The links are offered as resources to be distributed to providers’ clients, including youth and their family/caregivers. 

This is a recording of Region 9's webinar, "California CARE Court: What Providers Need to Know" that took place on August 8, 2023.    In this session, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC brought together key stakeholders in the California’s CARE Act, including Orange County’s Chief of Mental Health and Recovery Services Dr Veronica Kelley, Urban Los Angeles NAMI Executive Director Harold Turner, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Honorable James Bianco and the former Director of the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics, Christopher Schneiders.  These subject area experts each presented an overview of the CARE Act and discussed the opportunities and challenges to self-determination for individuals with serious mental illness (SDM, PADs, Care Plans). Pacific Southwest MHTTC’s Research Associate, Amanda Lipp moderated this panel and a discussion on the CARE Act's new framework for family members and other stakeholders to petition the courts and provide support during the CARE process.   This panel presentation video is suitable for a viewership of leaders within the peer, family-advocacy, judicial, and mental health field.