Project AWARE @ CDCI
Additional Projects
Project AWARE: Advancing Wellness And Resiliency in Education
Strengthening the connections between school communities and mental health services in Vermont
It’s a national project that focuses on connecting school communities and mental health services. In Vermont, Project AWARE is run by the Vermont Agency of Education and the Vermont Department of Mental Health.
And the BEST Project is one of the organizations that works on Project AWARE Vermont.
The Project AWARE Team helps Vermont state leadership understand and connect the many different mental health projects in schools. The Project AWARE Team receives national training to connect Vermont positive behavioral interventions and supports for peace with school mental health services.
And the team uses that national training to help three supervisory unions better connect to their Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and school mental health services.
The AWARE in Project AWARE stands for: Advancing Wellness And Resiliency in Education.
In Vermont, the participating supervisory unions have established District Community Leadership Teams to:
- identify and manage priorities for change;
- develop and adopt roles of mental health clinicians to meet the needs across a continuum of supports; and
- build student and family/caregiver voice into their existing systems.
This spring, Project AWARE conducted a comprehensive analysis of the supervisory unions’ social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health data to inform next year’s action planning.
The national Project AWARE program builds or expands the capacity of each state’s educational agencies to be in partnership with state mental health agencies, as they oversee school-aged youth. The project aims to increase mental health awareness in schools across states, territories, and tribal communities.
Project AWARE also provides training for school personnel and other adults who interact with school-aged youth to identify and respond to mental health challenges, and connects students presenting with behavioral health challenges and their families to needed services.
Nationally, the program has:
- increased mental health literacy among the schools and communities
- removed barriers to find care, and
- ensured cultural relevance for all school programs.
More about Project AWARE at the US Dept of Health & Human Services
An Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) deliberately integrates mental health, community, school, and family partners through a single system of delivery. It’s a network that better connects schools and families with mental health supports in their communities.
More about Project AWARE:
2024-2025 Project AWARE Sites (Vermont)
- Barre Unified Union School District (BUUSD) and Washington County Mental Health (WCMH)
- Caledonia Central Supervisory Union (CCSU) and Northeast Kingdom Human Services (NKHS)
- Southwest VT Supervisory Union (SVSU) and United Counseling Services (UCS)
Project AWARE Team at BEST:
Funding
Project AWARE Vermont is supported through federal funding, and led by the Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont Department of Mental Health. In addition to our team, other partners include Old Dominion University, the Center for Health and Learning, and UP for Learning.
Project AWARE VT is part of work performed by the Building Effective Supports for Teaching (BEST) Team. The BEST Project increases and strengthens capacity across Vermont, so that schools and their communities are better able to anticipate and respond do the needs of students who are at risk of or experiencing social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.
Project AWARE VT @ CDCI is also supported by the UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion (CDCI).
