School-Based Mental Health

The ARTERY Pipeline Framework represents Active Recruitment, Training, and Educator Retention to serve our Youth (Dockweiler, 2019). This career ladder offers stacked degree programs with a variety of entry and exit points to best serve the diverse needs of Nevada State’s students. The ARTERY begins to address the workforce needs of Nevada as it focuses on the shortage of school-based mental health professionals. Whether you are a high school student, two- or four-year college student, working graduate, or graduate student there is an entry point for you.

In October 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association declared a State of Emergency in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Child and adolescent mental health have been in crisis for years and in Nevada, there is a significant shortage of school-based mental health providers to proactively address this growing need.

The three school-based mental health professionals who are uniquely trained to address students’ mental health needs are school psychologists, school counselors, and school social workers. Each career field requires a graduate degree to obtain a license by the State of Nevada to practice in the school setting.

In 2019 the state legislature passed two bills specifically addressing the school-based mental health professions. Senate Bill 89 required that ratios of professionals to students be established for each career field, and Senate Bill 319 outlined the role and scope of practice for school psychologists, school counselors, and school social workers. In April 2020 the Nevada State Board of Education passed the recommended ratios for school-based mental health professionals. These ratios follow national best practice and are as follows:

• School Psychologists – 1:500
• School Counselors – 1:250
• School Social Workers – 1:250

As a result, Nevada has identified a need for over a thousand school-based mental health professionals. The ARTERY was created to specifically address this need and to locally grow more school-based mental health providers to proactively work with our students in the school setting.

Nevada State School of Education has received a $656,000 five-year grant to build career pathways for training school-based mental health professionals. We are focusing particularly on the development of a pathway for individuals to become school psychologists.

For more information, please contact Dr. Katie Dockweiler, Director of the School-Based Mental Health Grant at Katherine.Dockweiler@nsc.flywheelstaging.com