Behavioral Health in Schools - HAN
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Behavioral Health in Schools
- School-based mental health is becoming a vital part of student support systems. Schools have the natural ability to promote positive mental health by building self-confidence and self-esteem. They also play a vital role in providing or connecting children, youth, and families to services.
Mental Health
- SUMMARY OF PROGRAM
- CDPH is committed to strengthen Chicago's mental health safety net system to ensure all Chicagoans can receive care when and where they need it, regardless of ability to pay, immigration status, or health insurance.
- WHO CAN ACCESS THE PROGRAM:
- Trauma Informed Centers of Care (TICCs)
- For logos of each organization funded under this grant, please visit.
- CDPH Mental Health Centers
- 6 years of age and older; MUST be a resident of the City of Chicago.
- Trauma Informed Centers of Care (TICCs)
- RESOURCES
- To get connected to mental health services, please visit mentalhealth.chicago.gov
- Great Lakes MHTTC: School-Based Providers' COVID-19 Mental Health Toolkit
- Safe to Help IL
- Suicide Prevention
- IDPH Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention
- IL School Code Requirements
- AnnMarie’s Law, enacted in 2015 following the death in 2013 of AnnMarie Blaha, was created to provide suicide awareness and prevention to Illinois school students and school staff. The law, Public Act 99-0443, required school districts to adopt a suicide prevention policy and procedures.
- National Resources
- When people call, text, or chat 988, they will be connected to trained counselors that are part of the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. These trained counselors will listen, understand how their problems are affecting them, provide support, and connect them to resources if necessary.
- TRAININGS
- Trauma-Informed Mental Health Skill Building Trainings - CHJS
- Join these regional focused trainings to learn more about and sign up for the trauma-informed mental health skill-building trainings.
- Who can participate?
- This convenes diverse stakeholders in 15 communities in Chicago of focus due to high rates of violence to learn trauma-informed mental health skills that enhance support to community members experiencing distress and trauma.
- Dates
- There are four (4) 2-hour training sessions held on either Tuesday or Thursday from 11 am to 1 pm.
- Please see the website above for specific date.
- How to sign up:
- Trauma-Informed Mental Health Skill Building Trainings - CHJS
- LINKS
- ChicagoConnects.com To find a mental health provider
- City Of Chicago Unspoken Campaign Learn about Chicagoans Stories about mental health.
- NAMI Chicago: Youth Great youth focused resource
- School-Based Mental Health: Mental Health Technology Transfer Center
- Youth Mental Health First Aid
- Please Stay (cps.edu)
- The Kennedy Forum
- PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION:
- Reach out to healthychicago@cityofchicago.org
Violence Prevention
- The Office of Violence Prevention and Behavioral Health (OVPBH) works to reduce the likelihood of violence related injury and death and support trauma recovery and healing across Chicago communities.
- OVPBH’s Priorities:
- Encourage evidence-based violence prevention programming.
- Encourage the use of data driven decision making.
- Encourage collaboration, coordination, and capacity building to strengthen violence prevention outcomes.
- SUMMARY OF PROGRAMS
- Mental Health Services for Child Survivors of Sexual Assault (CSA)
- Provides trauma-informed clinical services to victims of child sexual assault and their families. CSA also provides prevention education to families and providers in high need communities.
- Restorative Practices
- Provides community-facing restorative practice (circle) training and dialogues to increase the use of restorative justice principles. This trauma-informed, nonviolent, and community-minded approach prevents and/or interrupts violence in relationships among friends, renters and landlords, rival street groups, consumers and business owners, and others.
- Citywide Collaborative for Bullying and Suicide Prevention
- This initiative supports the Chicago Collaborative of Bullying and Suicide Prevention (CCBSP) which convenes local providers to raise awareness about resources, evidence-based interventions, and opportunities for prevention education and intervention supports.
- Street Outreach
- This program funds hyper-local organizations to hire, train, and deploy Street Outreach teams who actively engage persons at the highest risk of being involved in lethal conflicts in the communities that have the highest levels of shootings and other lethal interpersonal conflicts.
- Services include coaching, case management, and service linkages.
- Victim Services
- Trauma-informed Victim Services program works in partnership with currently funded Street Outreach (SO) organizations in communities that are most impacted by gun violence and lethal/non-lethal interpersonal conflicts.
- In communities with some of the highest rates of victimization over a three-year period. Services include crisis incident response:
- assistance with post-incident coping (funeral planning, crime victims fund application)
- induction into counseling and recovery support
- guidance and accompaniment (legal, media)
- referrals to other family specific services
- Services for People who Cause Harm
- This program was launched as a part of the city's emerging focus on Gender Based Violence (GBV). It seeks to reduce violence and increase safety for GBV victims by creating innovative pathways to identify, engage, and serve individuals who are actively causing harm to their intimate partner while remaining outside of the reach of law enforcement systems.
- Chicago Torture Justice Center (CTJC)
- The CTJC engages and provides mental health supports including trauma-informed healing and wellness services, linkages to needed resources, and connections to a peer led recovery community of persons with shared histories.
- Trauma-Informed Training & Transformation
- CDPH advocates for and co-leads multiple initiatives that support trauma-informed transformation within the department and among other organizations impacting life in Chicago, and across the State of Illinois.
- Mental Health Services for Child Survivors of Sexual Assault (CSA)
- WHO CAN ACCESS THE PROGRAM:
- City of Chicago residents who are interested or stakeholders in achieving community health and safety that affords everyone the opportunity to thrive.
- RESOURCES
- CDPH Violence Reduction Dashboard
- Chicago Health Atlas: chicagohealthatlas.org/
- Anti-Bullying Resources:
- Stop Bullying: stopbullying.gov/
- O Cali has some great Antibullying resources
- Suicide Prevention Resources:
- CDPH Mental Health Report: Trends on Suicide-Related Events, Chicago, 2016-2020.
- Now Matters Now: Skills and Support for Coping with Suicidal Thoughts
- Zero Suicide Toolkit
- Helplines
- National Alliance for Mental Illness-Chicago 312.563.0445
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline- 1.800.273.8255
- Trained counselors are available 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.
- Illinois Warm Line 1.866.359.7953
- Gender-Based Violence:
- Chicago Health – Adolescents & Teens chataboutit.org/
- NAMI Chicago Helpline: 833-626-4244
- Integrating Behavioral Health Approaches to Address Gender, Violence and Homelessness (webinar)
- Racism, Domestic Violence & Black Maternal Mortality – What can Advocates Do? (webinar)
- Cyber-harassment & Cyberbullying (video)
- Violence Prevention:
- Mayor’s Office on Violence Reduction
- Strengthening Chicago’s Youth from Lurie Children’s Hospital
- Making My Neighborhood Safer from CPD.
- Violence Prevention & Support Resources from IDPH.
- IDCFS – Safe Kids.
- Preventing Child Sexual Abuse.
- LINKS
- Lurie Childrens: Gun Safety Toolkit
- Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH)
- CDPH – Office of Violence Prevention and Behavioral Health:
- Chicago Connects (a tool to find behavioral health and social service resources in Chicago):
- CDC Violence Prevention
- PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION:
- ovp_dir@cityofchicago.org
- Visit our main page to learn more.
Substance Use
- SUMMARY OF PROGRAM
- The Chicago Department of Public Health Office of Substance Use provides resources and programs related to harm reduction, linkage to care, treatment, and recovery services for all Chicagoans:
- Harm Reduction: The Office of Substance Use makes Narcan, fentanyl test kits, and harm reduction education and training available to all Chicagoans.
- Linkage to Care: The Office of Substance Use is working with the State Department of Human Services and treatment provider Family Guidance Centers to offer same-day, telephonic access to medications for opioid use disorder to all Chicagoans, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.
- Opioid data and information: The Office of Substance Use publishes regular data reports and provides resources in multiple languages for people in Chicago interested in learning more about opioids, opioid overdose, and opioid use disorder treatment.
- The Chicago Department of Public Health Office of Substance Use provides resources and programs related to harm reduction, linkage to care, treatment, and recovery services for all Chicagoans:
- WHO CAN ACCESS THE PROGRAM:
- All Chicagoans are eligible to access all substance use resources provided by or funded by the Chicago Department of Public Health. These resources are available regardless of insurance status, documentation, or ability to pay.
- RESOURCES
- If someone is using drugs, please encourage them to test their drugs before they use them due to different drugs being cut into the supply, learn more here.
- For Narcan and/or fentanyl test kits, email osu.cdph@cityofchicago.org.
- To access flyers and brochures on these resources in 5 languages, here.
- Chicagoans can also access Narcan at ALL Chicago Public Library branches across the city.
- For immediate access to Medication Assisted Recovery (MAR), call the Illinois Helpline for Opioids and ask for MAR NOW.
- To reach the Helpline, call 1-833-2FINDHELP
- To access Chicago opioid data, visit the Health Atlas.
- To view Chicago opioid reports and learn about opioid use disorder, visit our site.
- LINKS
- CDPH’s Overcome Opioids Site
- Read the article and press release about our partnership with Chicago Public Libraries.
- PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION:
- Contact osu.cdph@cityofchicago.org for any questions or needs related to substance use
Behavioral Health
Schools are essential for young people to acquire knowledge, socioemotional skills including self-regulation and resilience, and critical thinking skills that provide the foundation for a healthy future. Learn about high quality resources around behavioral health on this page.
05/12/2025
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