Goals of the Behavior and Mental Health Project:

• To provide classroom teachers and campus staff with professional development topics and opportunities that address the needs of students that display behavioral concerns due to underlying mental health issues, to include, improving communication skills, promoting wellness, reducing stigma, and learning techniques for stress reduction.

• To assist schools in the creation and implementation of behavior intervention plans for students with disabilities, as well as provide technical assistance in the implementation of truancy prevention measures required and outlined in the El Paso County Truancy Prevention plan, with respect to imposing behavior improvement plans for students with truancy issues.

• To help facilitate a greater understanding of social and emotional learning concepts for teachers and staff that work directly with students with disabilities, so as to help improve academic achievement, increase pro-social behavior, and improve student attitudes toward school.

• To facilitate an increase in parental engagement of students experiencing mental health/behavioral issues in school. This includes, but is not limited to, making positive connections with parents, fully engaging them in these issues, and sustaining their engagement by addressing common challenges.

The resources found on the Texas Department of State Health Services webpage help educators learn about mental health intervention and development, substance abuse prevention and intervention, and suicide prevention. Several of these programs are for curriculums to be used in the classroom, but many are knowledge-based for educators themselves.