This is the Final Summary Overview of the Brevard County (Florida) Public School Board's implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive mental health program in five schools, with the goal of improving school safety.
The following program components were implemented: 1) Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA), an 8-hour training program for all personnel in the five schools; 2) Crisis Intervention Training for Youth (CIT-Y), an 8-hour training program for law enforcement officers in the communities of each of the five schools; 3) Administration of the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS), an assessment with youth and families involved in the program; 4) Zones of Regulation, an 18-lesson early intervention program that teaches young children skills in behavioral regulation, emotional control, and managing stressful situations; and 5) community outreach for students, parents, and families that involved referring and linking students and their families to needed community services. Assessment of the aggregate program effects involved comparing perceptions of school safety among school personnel and students prior to and after program implementation. Changes were assessed by an analysis of differences in perceptions of school safety at the five schools from baseline to the last survey administration, as well as by comparing perceptions of school safety in the target schools with those of three comparison schools. This report presents evaluation findings for each of the five components of the program to improve school safety. Challenges throughout the evaluation are noted and discussed. 6 tables