Project for Mental Health and Optimal Development

The Consortium for Mental Health and Optimal Development helps school district teams build mental health capacity and implement interventions. We integrate improvement science into supporting each team in developing and refining a comprehensive mental health strategic plan.  

Multi-Tiered System of Supports

Grounded in a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, the Consortium advances district mental health across all three tiers.  

• Tier 1 (Universal Supports) – Strengthening foundational knowledge and district-wide capacity through the Mental Health Toolbox, professional learning, and strategic planning support.
• Tier 2 (Targeted Supports) – Develop data-informed district and school-specific interventions through improvement science and collaborative problem-solving.
• Tier 3 (Intensive Supports) – Ensure district connections to effective individualized care resources and referrals. 

Mission 

Build mental health capacity, develop and implement strategic plans, and proactively engage with mental health and development goals and projects for all stakeholders across school organizations 

Outcomes

• Increase mental health literacy across districts 
• Create a culture of mental health awareness that inspires proactive mental health management
• Build teams to enact sustainable strategic plans 
• Integrate this work across the larger community

Structure

2 meetings per month:

• 1 in-person with the full cohort
• 1 planning & implementation meeting in-person or virtual with the team

Team Composition

Recommended school staff (team of 6), including:

• Director of pupil services
• Teacher/teacher leader 
• Special education staff member
• Mental health professional 
• Building leader/principal

Deliverables

• Content sessions with experts
• Action planning meetings
• Evaluation
• Community events 
• Strategic plans
• Content recordings (when possible)
• Personal mental health & optimal development plans
• Mental health resources 
• Mental Health & Optimal Development Toolbox PD
• Resources, strategies & research that can be shared with staff for PD

Mental Health Toolkits

With Consortium membership, you receive full staff access to all our toolkits which are research-based resources with key information, tools, and strategies. 

Current Toolkits

• Trauma-Informed Practices
• Stress & Anxiety
• Belonging
• Staff Well-Being
• Student Well-Being
• Social Media & Tech Literacy
• Brain Health (coming soon)

The Mental Health Toolbox provides resources and strategies that individuals, groups, and school organizations can use to manage mental health and address growth opportunities and challenges to support healthy, optimal development. It also provides information to build your personal toolbox, because mental health challenges are experienced by everyone.

Our Toolbox Goals

• Build personal and collective mental health literacy
• Offer actionable strategies for navigating the current challenging mental health landscape
• Help develop a personalized “toolbox” for growth and wellbeing

Our Process

Central to the development process is a feedback-improvement loop. Each toolkit is developed in collaboration with advisors who shape and provide insights into its core topics and resources. Completed toolkits are then reviewed by the Mental Health Consortium to ensure strategies are practical, actionable, and designed for real-world impact. 

Throughout the development process, advisors provide guidance on key topics and resources to include. After the toolkits are developed, they are introduced to the Mental Health Consortium, gathering feedback on the practicality of implementing the included strategies.

Our Toolkits

Each toolkit draws from evidence-based research and is guided by an advisory team consisting of experts in each topic.

Current Toolkit Topics:

• Trauma-Informed Practices
• Stress and Anxiety
• Cultivating a Culture of Belonging
• Mental Health and Optimal Development: Educator Edition
• Mental Health and Optimal Development: Student Edition
• Caregiver & Educator Guide to Supporting Student Mental Health
• Toolkit for Social Media and Technology

Using our research and knowledge of effective organizational practices, we provide professional learning services to businesses and organizations, including:

• Executive Coaching & Leadership Development – Customized coaching designed to support senior leaders, emerging professionals, and cross-functional teams in strengthening strategic thinking, decision making, and leadership presence.
• Organizational Strategy & Capacity Building – Enhance optimal performance with individuals, teams, and organizations.
• Program Design, Research, & Evaluation – Supporting organizations in designing impactful initiatives through system-level analysis and evaluation. 

The Possibility Mentoring program is a school-based group mentoring program implemented in middle schools.

Through a small group mentoring context that follows the 5-step Possibility Development Method (Nakkula and Danilchick), students:

• Explore their interests and strengths
• Reflect on possible life and career pathways
• Imagine and implement plans for skill development and goal achievement
• Build agency, confidence, and future orientation 

The Global Possibility Network (GPN) includes collaborations around the world that focus on possibility development for children and youth within the contexts of schools, families, and communities. Through partnerships with international universities, the GPN supports locally grounded initiatives that foster resilience, purpose, and positive development. 

We continue to study how integrated mental health and developmental approaches influence:

• Leadership development
• Student engagement and achievement
• Educator wellbeing and retention
• School climate and culture
• Mental health literacy
• Align efforts to our core competencies of resilience, belonging, emotional & social intelligence

By aligning research, practice, and partnership, the Project for Mental Health & Optimal Development works to ensure mental health is a central, integrated driver of learning, leadership, and organizational effectiveness. 

In Summer 2020, we created the Planning for Uncertainty Guide as part of our commitment to help K–12 educators and schools navigate the challenging mental health landscape of the COVID-19 era. The case studies were created in the context of the early COVID-19 era. The uncertainty mindset planning template and resources remain useful today.