COVID-19

Students, families, school staff, and mental health providers may experience a variety of challenges and opportunities when they transition back to school. There is an expected rise both in mental health problems and tools to address them. While many states may still be months away from reintroducing students into school buildings, we are gathering resources to help everyone prepare.

• An Initial Guide to Leveraging the Power of Social Emotional Learning As You Prepare to Reopen and Renew Your School Community: In this guide, CASEL shares a framework with actionable recommendations to help school leadership teams plan for the SEL needs of all students and adults during the upcoming transition into summer and the beginning of the new school year. While this guidance is written for school leadership teams, states and districts will play critical roles in ensuring schools have the resources, support, and guidance needed to carry out these actions.
• Back to School After COVID-19: Supporting Student and Staff Mental Health Toolkit: This toolkit is designed to help guide conversations to include a trauma-informed, equitable, and compassionate lens to providing mental health supports to every member of the school community.
• Behavioral Health Impacts after COVID-19 Shelter-at-Home Orders: What to Expect and Ways to Prepare for the Return to School: This document is created by the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Seattle Children's Hospital, in collaboration with the northwest MHTTC and the UW SMART center. Learn what to expect, find resources, and see recommendations at the staff, school, and district levels.
• Considerations for K-12 Schools: Readiness and Planning Tool: The CDC offers the following readiness and planning tool to share ways school administrators can help protect students, staff, and communities, and slow the spread of COVID-19. This tool aligns with their Considerations for Schools, and includes a General Readiness Assessment, Daily/Weekly Readiness Assessment, Preparing for if Someone Gets Sick, and Special Considerations and Resources.
• Coping in the 2020/21 School Year: This guidance document from Maryland provides tips and resources for supporting the behavioral health of students during COVID-19.
• COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Return to In-person Education in Schools: This American Academy of Pediatrics web page presents a list of considerations for when and how to re-open in-person schools.
• Education COVID-19 Handbook: Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students' Needs: This volume addresses creating safe and healthy learning environments, addressing lost instructional time, supporting educator and staff stability and well-being.
• Getting Schools Ready for In-person Learning CDC
• Johns Hopkins University eSchool+ Initiative Analysis of School Reopening Plans: As the United States begins to think about reopening, schools should be at the forefront of the conversation. Not only will schools need to reopen in a way that makes every effort to protect the safety and health of students, teachers, and staff, but schools will need to find new ways to help students make up for the losses in learning, health, and support systems that occurred as a result of the closure. This analysis explores education recovery plans put forth by states, territories, and national organizations to examine the ways these plans are designed to support students and teachers.
• K-12 Schools COVID-19 Mitigation Kit CDC
• The Leadership Team's Guide for Re-opening Programs: This document from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations is designed to guide the Program Leadership Team around considerations for supporting children, families, and staff as they return to the program. The guidance includes Pyramid Model practices you know and encourages you to think about those strategies from a trauma-informed perspective. While the leadership team may not know who among children, families, and staff have or are experiencing trauma, a trauma-informed approach guides programs in providing a safe and nurturing environment where children, families, and staff can build resilience, feel safe, and recover.
• Least Restrictive Environment: A Brief from the National Association of State Directors of Special Education: 
• Maryland’s Recovery Plan for Education: The Maryland State Department of Education developed a “Recovery Plan for Education” describing the COVID-19 Response and Path Forward. Details are provided related to supporting student mental health, including roles and responsibilities of educators, student support staff, and other mental health providers.
• Plan Ahead to Support the Transition Back of Students, Families, and Staff: The UCLA Center for Mental Schools dedicated their quarterly e-journal Addressing Barriers to Learning to guidance and resources to support schools as they prepare to transition students back into classroom learning.
• REACT School Re-entry Resource Guide: The Training Institute for School Social Work Professionals at the University of Illinois Chicago developed Responding Amidst Collective Trauma (REACT) School Social Work Resource Guide.
• School Mental Health Planning for the 2020-2021 School Year During COVID-19: This webinar from the NCSMH and School-Based Health Alliance is part of the School Health Services National Quality Initiative webinar series on Innovation and Emerging Best Practices.
• Supporting a Mentally Healthy Return to School: This document, created by School Mental Health Ontario, provides guiding principles, broad questions for consideration, and planning templates to assist your team in supporting a mentally healthy return to school.
• Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms Strategy Guide for Remote Learning: A guide created by Methuen Public Schools that includes considerations and strategies that are unique to the remote learning context.

• Addressing the Risk of COVID-19 in Preschool, Elementary, and Secondary Schools While Serving Children With Disabilities: This supplemental fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Education covers requirements about providing instruction while serving students with disabilities.
• Addressing the Risk of COVID-19 in Schools While Protecting the Civil Rights of Students: The U.S. Department of Education has created a fact sheet for school officials on how to keep students safe and secure, including how to appropriately respond to allegations of discrimination.
• Coronavirus and Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreaks Response: The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) has created fact sheets about COVID-19 as resources for providers, families, leaders, and others.
• Coronavirus: Multilingual Resources for Schools: This resource helps English language learners (ELLs) or immigrant families learn more about COVID-19 by providing information in English, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese.
• Countering Coronavirus Stigma and Racism: Tips for Teachers and Other Educators: This resource offers teachers and other educators advice on how to counter the stigma and racism that may come from COVID-19.
• Educators are key in protecting student mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: This brief resource gives advice for educators to better help their students navigate the mental health difficulties students might have due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Family Engagement Toolkit for Teachers & Staff: This brief guide, developed by Baltimore City Public Schools, provides tooks to for school staff to increase family engagement via building capacity, two-way communication, shared responsbility and local ownership, and virtual supports.
• Guidance for Schools Before and During and Outbreak: The CDC provides this resource for information on what to do in a school setting before and during an infectious disease outbreak.
• Preparing for Infectious Disease Epidemics: Brief Tips for School Mental Health Professionals: This resource offers advice and tips for how school mental health professionals should address and handle an infectious-disease outbreak.
• Preparing for a Pandemic Illness: Guidelines for School Administrators and School Crisis Response Teams: This resource offers advice and tips for how school administrators and school crisis response teams should prepare for an infectious-disease outbreak.
• Questions and Answers on Providing Services to Children With Disabilities During the Coronavirus Disease: This Department of Education document does a deep dive into laws and regulations on serving children with disabilities during this time in a question and answer format.
• Responding to COVID-19: Brief Action Steps for School Crisis Response Teams: This resource offers action steps for how school crisis response teams should address an infectious-disease outbreak.
• Responding to Death in the COVID-19 Context: Guidelines for Administrators and Crisis Teams: The rapidly evolving and prolonged situation of the pandemic makes this crisis especially tricky in terms of addressing the potential impact. This NASP resource provides administrators and crisis teams to adapt to the changing needs of their staff and students.
• Restart and Recovery: Considerations for Teaching and Learning - Wellbeing and Connection: This guide is meant to help educators transition back into the new school year while facing the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic and how to best address the issue of racial and other inequities.
• Safety Concerns Over COVID-19 Driving Some Educators Out of the Profession: This article from the National Education Association goes over poll data that reveals COVID-19 is pushing some Educators away from their jobs. It also gives their perspectives and talks about disparities within the COVID-19 Response.
• School Mental Health Crisis Leadership Lessons: This guide from the Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center is designed to support school leaders and administrators navigate the COVID-19 pandemic through a crisis lens and support mental health.
• Supporting Students with Disabilities During COVID-19 and Afterward: See this example guide from the state of Maryland.
• State Laws on How Schools Should Address Pandemics: This resource explains how each state in the United States should respond to a pandemic, according to their laws.
• Teaching Under COVID-19: Perspectives of National Board Certified Teachers: A statsheet from The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Data is from a survey with 3,086 National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) during August-September 2020 to document the challenges facing the teaching profession during COVID-19 and to identify opportunities for leaders to strengthen teaching and learning at this time.
• Trauma-Informed School Strategies During COVID-19: This National Child Traumatic Stress Network resource provides trauma-informed school strategies in response to COVID-19. This fact sheet offers information on the physical and emotional well-being of staff, creating a trauma-informed learning environment, identifying and assessing traumatic stress, addressing and treating traumatic stress, trauma education and awareness, partnerships with students and families, cultural responsiveness, emergency management and crisis response, and school discipline policies and practices.
• Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package: This resource offers educators at all levels a guide and advice on how to set up a framework and roadmap for adopting a trauma-sensitive approach school- or district wide.

• ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training): LivingWorks ASIST is a two-day face-to-face workshop where two workers come in and give information on how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, providing a skilled intervention, and developing a safety plan.
• Disaster Distress Helpline: SAMHSA’s Disaster Distress Helpline provides 24/7, 365-day-a-year crisis counseling and support to people experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. 1-800-985-5990.
• Implications of COVID-19 for LGBTQ Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention: The Trevor Project brought together a wide range of academic literature to consider how the current global pandemic may impact LGBTQ youth. In particular, this webside focuses on on social interactions resulting from physical distancing, increases in economic strain, and struggles with worries about the present and future.
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 24/7, 365-day-a-year hotline for people experiencing suicidal crisis or emotional disctress. Call 1-800-273-8255 or click here to chat.
• Responding to COVID-19: Planning for Trauma-Informed Assessment in Schools: This UConn CSHC report provides guidance how to conduct trauma-informed assessment in schools in the wake of COVID-19.
• Responding to Death in the COVID-19 Context: Guidelines for Administrators and Crisis Teams: The rapidly evolving and prolonged situation of the pandemic makes this crisis especially tricky in terms of addressing the potential impact. This NASP resource provides administrators and crisis teams to adapt to the changing needs of their staff and students.
• School Mental Health Crisis Leadership Lessons: Voices of Experience from Leaders in the Pacific Southwest Region: This MHTTC guide provides an overview of the crisis continuum; explores the intersection between school crises and school mental health leadership; and examines each component of the school crisis continuum (readiness, response, recovery and renewal) by learning from voices of experience from the field.
• Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention: What School-Based Staff Need to Know: This webinar from the NCSMH and School-Based Health Alliance is part of the School Health Services National Quality Initiative webinar series on Innovation and Emerging Best Practices.
• Supporting Safety of LGBTQ Children and Youth: Risk Factors of Child Abuse and Neglect During COVID-19: In a groundbreaking issue brief, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation summarized how LGBTQ people could face disproportionate economic and health risks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The research brief provides information about the risk that LGBTQ children and youth, of which there are at least 2 million in the United States alone, will face amidst COVID-19, as well as resources available to them as they navigate these times.
• Telehealth and Suicide Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: With the emergence of this public health crisis and the need to socially isolate, most providers have moved to telehealth. This resource provides some basic information to help you adapt to using telehealth as well as how to provide effective and safe suicide care via virtual platforms. 
• Treating Suicidal Patients During COVID-19: Best Practices and Telehealth: The Suicide Prevention Resource Center created a webinar from national and international experts in suicide prevention on treatment covering three treatment practices and how to implement immediately via telehealth.
• UCLA Brief COVID-19 Screen for Child/Adolescent PTSD

Suicide Prevention, Intervention & Postvention During COVID-19: What School-Based Staff Need to Know

The National Center for School Mental Health, in collaboration with the School-Based Health Alliance as part of the School Health Services National Quality Initiative, are pleased to host ongoing national webinars on innovation and emerging best practices in school health. The webinar Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention During COVID-19: What School-Based Staff Need to Know, was co-hosted with the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), the nation's federally-funded resource center devoted to the implentation of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. The SPRC is a project of the Education Development Center.

• 12 Home Activities that Build Social Emotional Skills: Enjoy these ideas from Pathways 2 Success!
• Child-Parent Psychotherapy - Lessons From the Virtual Field: A one-hour virtual webinar on YouTube by Dr. Kay Connors as part of the Haruv Institute Israel and Haruv USA at Oklahoma University Webinar Series: Haruv From the Couch.
• Children in Lockdown: The Consequences of the Coronavirus for Children Living in Poverty: In this report, The Childhood Trust Champions for Children draws together emerging evidence from available studies to highlight some of the most pressing concerns that government and third sector organisations need to address to mitigate this crisis for children.
• Coronavirus in Context: Building Resilience for Children: In this WebMD video, How Parents Can Turn a Stressful Situation into an Opportunity for Growth, Drs. John Whyte and Nadine Burke Harris discuss the positive impacts parents can develop in children during the pandemic.
• COVID Books for Kids: This resource is a compilation of e-books for children to support their understanding and ability to cope and adapt to COVID-19 related changes at home and their communities.
• COVID-19 Tips for Parents: This 18-minute video from Dr. Barbara Stroud, a child developmental psychologist, provides psychological tips and resources for parents supporting children during COVID-19.
• Fighting the Big Virus: Trinka, Sam, and Littletown Work Together: A free children's story through Piplo Productions to help young children and their families begin to talk about their experiences and feelings related to the global coronavirus pandemic. There is also a companion booklet, a parent guide, and other activities provided. 
• The Leadership Team's Guide for Re-opening Programs: This document from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations is designed to guide the Program Leadership Team around considerations for supporting children, families, and staff as they return to the program. The guidance includes Pyramid Model practices you know and encourages you to think about those strategies from a trauma-informed perspective. While the leadership team may not know who among children, families, and staff have or are experiencing trauma, a trauma-informed approach guides programs in providing a safe and nurturing environment where children, families, and staff can build resilience, feel safe, and recover.
• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has compiled COVID-19 resources to support adults working with children.
• Parenting Under Stress - What Young Child Need to Thrive in Dangerous and Uncertain Times: A one-hour virtual webinar on YouTube by Dr. Alicia F. Lieberman as part of the Haruv Institute Israel and Haruv USA at Oklahoma University Webinar Series: Haruv From the Couch.
• Professional Training Resources on Early Childhood Mental Health: This free professional development guide provides resources and trainings on early childhood mental health. Developed by the Center for Excellence in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health in collaboration the Frederick County Maryland's Safe Babies Court Team Program.
• Reopening Childcare & Early Education Programs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Focused Best Practice Recommendations - Children 0-6 years old have unique social-emotional needs and are at highest risk for potential developmental impact due to the heightened stress of the pandemic. Parents and caregivers, including childcare providers can directly reduce this negative impact through your nurturing, consistent, sensitive presence.
• Risk Scale: There's a lot of uncertainty and aniety about going out during a pandemic. Here's how to think about the risk, in an infographic from Vox.
• Stress and Support: This resource from Chandra Ghosh Ippen and Melissa Brymer at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, display cartoons of stressors and supports children may experiencing related to COVID-19.
• What is COVID-19? And How Does it Relate to Child Development?: This infographic explains the basics of what COVID-19 is, and what it can mean for stress levels in both children and the adults who care for them. It also offers some easy and concrete solutions to help caregivers ensure that both they and the children they care for don’t experience long-term effects of stress. Finally, it explains how all of us as a society can work to ensure the health and wellbeing of all our fellow community members, both now and in the future.

• Coping With Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides ways in which everyone can cope with stress during infectious disease outbreaks.
• Mental health effects of school closures during COVID-19: This study from the Lancelet goes over how negatively COVID-19 impacted youth mental health, and how it may be difficult for some to find help for it.
• Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health: Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation During an Infectious Disease Outbreak: This SAMHSA resource explains how everyone can be taking care of their behavioral health during the outbreak of COVID-19, including tips for social distancing, quarantine, and isolation.
• Taking Care of Yourself During a Public Health Emergency: The MHTTC compiled tips and apps available for all to support personal wellness during COVID-19.
• This Way Up: Supporting You Through the COVID-19 Pandemic: Download guided workbooks with practical tips and strategies that can support your emotional well-being during times of stress and uncertainty, developed by THIS WAY UP from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.
• Tips for Self-Care and Managing Stress: This resource offers tips to manage stress and worries concerning the outbreak of COVID-19.
• Tools for Behavioral Health Professionals During a Public Health Crisis: A public health crisis can cause distress for all involved, including providers of behavioral health services. This MHTTC resource provides tools for behavioral health providers to attend to personal wellbeing.
• Tools for Educators During a Public Health Crisis: Educators have been asked to fill many roles during this public health crisis. At the same time, they are experiencing the anxiety and worry about the same public health crises.

• Ask A Scientist Comic Strips: These CDC comic strips explain health concepts to children. Check out How Do People Become Infect With Germs?, and How Does My Body Fight Disease?
• Care for Caregivers: Tips for Families and Educators: Parents, teachers, and other caregivers play a critical role in helping children cope with crises, often ignoring their own needs in the process. However, caregivers must take good care of themselves so they are able to take good care of the children in their charge. This NASP page provides resources to support families and educators as effective caregivers.
• Coronavirus Kids Flyer: This resource is a colorful flyer for children that explains ways that we can combat COVID-19.
• Countering COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Stigma and Racism: Tips for Parents and Caregivers: The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) provides this resource for parents and caregivers for ways in which they can teach others how to counter the stigma and racism that may come from COVID-19.
• COVIBOOK: Supporting and Reassuring Children Around the World: This children's book invites families, educators, and mental health professionals to discuss the range of emotions that may arise from this situation with children. The book is available for free in 20 languages.
• COVID-19 Racism and Mental Health in Chinese American Families: Journal Article
• COVID-19 Resources for for People With Disabilities, Families, and Service Providers: The Arc is compiling resources to help people with intellectual and /or developmental disabilities (I/DD), their families, and service providers to understand this global pandemic. 
• COVID-19 Youth Mental Heath Resource Hub From Jack.org
• Fathering in Challenging Times: The Wayne State University brochure is full of parenting tips for dads during the COVID-19 crisis.
• Free Social Emotional Learning Activities: Centervention has a resource library full of social emotional learning activities across a variety of methods and skill areas.
• Helping Children and Families Cope With the COVID-19 Pandemic: This guide from 7-Dippity, Inc., is for caregivers to help children cope with the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Mental Health Support for Students of Color During and After the Coronavirus Pandemic: This Center for American Progress article outlines student mental health, the role of schools in mental healthcare, and the unique needs of BIPOC students.
• Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope with the Coronavirus Disease 2019: The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) provides this guide for parents and caregivers on how to help families cope with the COVID-19 outbreak.
• Relaxation Skills: The Child Mind Institute promotes relaxation skills through The California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids Project.
• Resources for Supporting Children’s Emotional Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Child Trends provides reccommendations for supporting children during this time, who may be at higher risk for the emotional impact of the pandemic.
• Second Step COVID-19 Response: Resources for Educators and Families: These resources are for educators and families currently learning online due to COVID-19 and were created by the Committee for Children.
• Simple Activities for Children and Adolescents: This National Child Traumatic Stress Network offers activity ideas to families who are sheltering-in-place or homeschooling during COVID-19.
• Talking to Children About Coronavirus: The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry provides this resource for suggestions about how parents and teachers can talk to children about COVID-19.
• Talking to Children About COVID-19: A Parent Resource: The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) provides this resource for parents for ways in which they can talk to their children about COVID-19.
• Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus: The Child Mind Institute provides this resource on how to go about discussing COVID-19 with children.
• For an example of creative at-home SEL lessons for students, visit the YouTube channel of Adam Parker, a school psychologist from Colorado who uploads themed SEL videos for children with a musical component.

• COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Response and 42 CFR Part 2 Guidance: SAMHSA's statement on the impact of in-person restrictions and increased telehealth usage as it relates to 42 CFR Part 2.
• FAQ on Telehealth and HIPAA during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency: The HHS Office for Civil Rights compiled Frequency Asked Questions on the provision of telehealth as it related to HIPAA compliance during the COVID-19 situation.
• FERPA and the Coronavirus: The Department of Education issued a Frequently Asked Questions document regarding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the coronavirus.
• Limited Waiver of HIPAA Sanctions and Penalties During a Nationwide Public Health Emergency: This COVID-19 and HIPAA Bulletin covers the waiving of sanctions and penalties due to the nationwide emergency.
• Medicare Telemedicine Health Care Provider Fact Sheet: Medicare Coverage and Payment of Virtual Services: This fact sheet from the DHHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Communications covers the expansion of telehalth with the 1135 waiver and provides key takeaways by topic.
• Notification of Enforcement Discretion for telehealth remote communications during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency: The Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has eased HIPAA telehealth enforcement for the COVID-19 emergency. See more information below under “Telehealth Platforms”
• Supplemental Fact Sheet: Addressing the Risk of COVID-19 in Preschool, Elementary, and Secondary Schools While Serving Children with Disabilities: The US Department of Education Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services offers guidance, technical assistance, and information to ensure that all students, including students with disabilities, continue receiving excellent education this time.

Health and Wellness

• EVERFI’S online health and wellness resources are designed to teach students to make healthy choices in a safe environment.

Social Emotional Learning

• Closegap is a free web-based portal that educators can use to assess the social emotional status of their students each day, and get them additional support if needed.
• EVERFI’s free, online social emotional learning resources are designed to equip educators with tools to nurture skills like compassion, leadership, conflict resolution, self-awareness, and resilience. Register here.
• PATHS is an online social emotional learning program and curriculum that is currently free to educators. 
• RethinkEd Social and Emotional Learning and Mental Health: This is an evidence-based program delivered on a digital platform and designed for easy implementation.
• Second Step COVID-19 Response: Resources for Educators and Families: These resources are for educators and families currently learning online due to COVID-19 and were created by the Committee for Children.

Training

• Multi-Tiered School Mental Health Improvement, Innovation, and Advocacy During COVID-19: This webinar from the NCSMH and School-Based Health Alliance is part of the School Health Services National Quality Initiative webinar series on Innovation and Emerging Best Practices.

Telehealth during COVID-19 is changing the face of service delivery, and some of these changes may be here to stay. Especially for young people who grew up familiar with smart devices, teletherapy meets them where they live: on-screen. For more information, the authors of this lancet article discuss how COVID-19 provides an opportunity to improve mental health services.

General Telehealth Guidance

• Considerations for Delivery of School Psychological Telehealth Services: This NASP PDF guide provides ten pages of telehealth guidance for school psychologists, including benefits and concerns, certification and licensure, legal and ethical implications, and recommendations.
• General Provider Telehealth and Telemedicine Tool Kit: This contains resources related to telehealth and telemedicine, including waiver information related to COVID-19.
• How to Prepare for a Video Appointment With a Mental Health Clinician: Share this document from SMI Adviser with your clients to prepare for them for their first telehealth session.
• Office and Technology Checklist for Telepsychological Services: This checklist from the APA is a quick way to assess to preparedness for providing telepsychological services.
• Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Best Practices: The Suicide Risk Assessment Standards focus on four core principles: Suicidal Desire, Suicidal Capability, Suicidal Intent, and Buffers along with the subcomponents for each. This link includes a PDF summary.
• Telehealth Guidelines for School Mental Health Professionals: This draft of Telehealth Guidelines for School Mental Health Professionals: Strategies for Engaging Students and Building Resilienc, developed by the Alliance for Inclusion & Prevention, is a general introduction to making the shift to online provision of school-based mental health supports.
• Telepsychology: The American Psychological Association offers telepsychology tips and resources related to practicing telepsychology. Also view their Guidelines for the Practice of Telepsychology.
• Virtual Service Delivery in Response to COVID-19 Disruptions: NASP provides guidance on virtual service delivery during the COVID-19 and compiles other relevant resources to support your work.

Training

• A Practical Guide to Providing Telepsychology with Minimal Risk: This 3-hour seminar from the National Register of Health Service Providers provides expert guidance on practice, regulation, and risk management of telehealth.
• Ask the Experts Webinar Series: NASP has created a series of webinars designed to help school psychologists explore problems of practice related to the remote delivery of school psychological services. Each webinar is 30-45 minutes in length and is publicly available.
• Key Developments in Medicare Telehealth Options During COVID-19: The National Association of Social Workers conducted a webinar that provided an update on guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on enhanced telehealth (including teletherapy) options for Medicare beneficiaries during the current COVID-19 public health emergency.
• Multi-Tiered School Mental Health Improvement, Innovation, and Advocacy During COVID-19: This webinar from the NCSMH and School-Based Health Alliance is part of the School Health Services National Quality Initiative webinar series on Innovation and Emerging Best Practices.
• Responding to COVID-19 | School Mental Health Resources: The MHTTC hosts regularly scheduled webinars on a variety of relevant topics, including mental heath support for educators, suicide prevention for caregivers, and telehealth learning and consultation. View MHTTC's telehealth-specific webinars here.
• Social Emotional Learning: Making it Work When Schools are Open or Closed: Get your questions answered Tuesday, April 14, 2020, from 1-3 p.m. ET, and join a deep dive on how to make social-emotional learning work in your school, whether the learning is in-person or virtual. Register via the link.
• Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice: NASW, ASWB, CSWE, & CSWA collaborated on this standards report.
• Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention: What School-Based Staff Need to Know: This webinar from the NCSMH and School-Based Health Alliance is part of the School Health Services National Quality Initiative webinar series on Innovation and Emerging Best Practices.
• Telebehavioral Health Training and Technical Assistance: The SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions Telebevioral Health Training and Technical Assistance Series can help providers and health clinics understand and adopt telebehavioral health services.
• Telemental Health 101: This 47 minute training, conducted by Jennifer Cox, LCSW-C, Director of the University of Maryland School Mental Health Program, provides an overview to help prepare school mental health clinicians to use telemental health to provides services and supports to students and families.
• Telepsychology Best Practices 101 Series: The APA is currently offering this training series free of charge. This series contains 2-hr webinars that introduce the learner to the ins and outs of tele-psychology.
• Training and Technical Assistance Related to COVID-19: SAMHSA compiled this document with MHTTC resources, including the recorded webinar "Substance Use Disorder Services in the Days of a Pandemic: You Need A Bigger Boat!", and the upcoming webinars "Changing the Conversation about Mental Health to Support Students During a Pandemic" and "Changing the Conversation About Mental Health - How do we Come Back to the New Normal?"

Activites for Building Rapport

• Creative Interventions for Online Therapy with Children Techniques to Build Rapport: This article, authored by Liana Lowenstein, MSW, is for mental health professionals who have been properly trained in providing online therapy to children. It lists and describes a variety of games and activities to build rapport with clients in a telehealth setting.
• A variety of websites include free online games for clients. For many, you can send a direct link to the client and play with them to ensure they are not playing with a stranger.
  • Skill Games Board: Checkers, Chess, Connect Four
  • Playdrift: Mancala
  • Paper Games: Battleship, Tic Tac Toe, Connect Four
  • Glow Word Books: Mad libs
  • Squiglys Playhouse: Mad libs
  • Unofreak: Uno
  • Swell Garfo: Scattergories

Telehealth Platforms

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will exercise its enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for noncompliance with the regulatory requirements under the HIPAA Rules against covered health care providers in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. As such, covered health care providers may use popular applications that allow for video chats, including Apple Facetime, Facebook Messenger video chat, Google Hangouts Video, or Skype. This notification is effective immediately. In the announcement, OCR provides a list of some vendors that represent that they provide HIPAA-compliant video communication platforms and that they will enter into a HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA).

• Doxy.me
• Google G Suite Hangouts Meet 
• Microsoft Office 365: Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams
• Skype
• Updox
• Zoom

Additional platforms to consider:

• FaceTime
• HIPAABridge
• SimpleVisit
• WebEx
• WhatsApp

Public-facing video communication applications should not be used in the provision of telehealth by covered healthcare providers. This includes Facebook Live, Instagram Live, Twitch, TikTok, and other similar applications.

To prepare yourself to run virtual meetings effectively, review the Suicide Prevention Resource Center Effective Online Meetings Resource List. The list of compiled resources provides short and actionable guidance on how to manage and facilitate high-quality online meetings and adult learning events through virtual learning platforms.

Internet & Cellular Data

Some home internet and cellular service providers are improving their data plans, temporarily providing free internet, or temporarily waiving fees so more people can access quality internet without disruption at this time. Learn what your provider(s) are doing:

• Comcast / Xfinity
• Verizon
• AT&T
• T-Mobile
• Sprint

The Federal Communications Commission is offering Emergency Broadband Benefit. The Emergency Broadband Benefit is an FCC program to help households struggling to pay for internet service during the pandemic. This new benefit will connect eligible households to jobs, critical healthcare services, and virtual classrooms.

• ED School Climate Surveys: A resource from the U.S. Department of Education on how to implement ED School Climate Surveys, which allows States, local districts, and schools to collect and act on reliable, nationally-validated school climate data in real-time.
• Responding to COVID-19: Planning for Trauma-Informed Assessment in Schools: This UConn CSHC report provides guidance how to conduct trauma-informed assessment in schools in the wake of COVID-19.
• School Mental Health Screening Toolkit: The screening toolkit contains tools and recommendations for mental health screening in schools.
• UCLA Brief COVID-19 Screen for Child/Adolescent PTSD