Athens Community Collaborative for Equitable Student Support (ACCESS)

The goals of this project are to increase the number of individuals in Clarke County School District (CCSD) providing student mental health services, promote inclusive practices among trainees and current CCSD staff while diversifying the student support work force, and increase the capacity for trainees and current CCSD staff to provide empirically supported mental health therapies.

• Sponsor
  U.S. Department of Education
  Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
  Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program
  $1,898,996

• Principal investigator
  Sycarah Fisher
  Associate professor, Department of Educational Psychology

• Co-principal investigator
  Ashley Johnson Harrison
  Associate professor, Department of Educational Psychology

• Active since
  January 2023

Abstract

The Athens Community Collaborative for Equitable Student Support (ACCESS) proposes a partnership between the University of Georgia; one local education agency (LEA), the Clarke County School District (CCSD, a high-needs LEA); and Advantage Behavioral Health, a community mental health provider.

The goals of this project are to:

1. Increase the number of individuals in CCSD providing student mental health services (absolute priority)
2. Promote inclusive practices among trainees and current CCSD staff (competitive preference priority #2) while diversifying the student support work force (competitive preference priority #1)
3. Increase the capacity for trainees and current CCSD staff to provide empirically supported mental health therapies

We will accomplish these goals by placing nine school psychology and school counseling students annually (for a total of 27 providers) in 14 high-needs schools in the district to complete their practicum/internship/postdoctoral requirements, serving approximately 6,400 students each year. We further propose to engage trainees and community partners in training around inclusive and evidence-based mental health practices.

It is our hope that the proposed training activities will lead to the following outcomes:

• Increased number of diverse providers in CCSD
• Increased feelings of self-efficacy and multicultural competence among ACCESS-associated trainees, supervisors, and staff
• Increased knowledge, attitudes, and implementation of EBIs
• Reduced burnout among CCSD staff