From Policy to Practice: A Statewide Model to Expand School-Community Mental Health Partnerships

Abstract

Abstract Schools are a primary access point for youth mental health services, yet most lack the sustained funding, infrastructure, and partnerships needed to build comprehensive and equitable systems of care. State policy offers a mechanism to address these limitations, but there is limited guidance on how it can effectively support the development of infrastructure and partnerships at scale. This descriptive implementation paper introduces the Maryland Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports (Consortium), a statewide initiative established through the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Act, which allocates $100 million annually to expand school-community mental health partnerships across all 24 Maryland jurisdictions. Grounded in the Collective Impact Model, the Consortium offers funding, evidence-based training, and implementation support to community behavioral health agencies and their school partners. We describe (a) the state policy mechanism that created and sustained the Consortium, (b) how the policy was operationalized through the Collective Impact Model, (c) early findings, and (d) practical implementation lessons. In Year 1, the Consortium funded over 100 partnerships across Maryland, trained 1,218 providers in 18 evidence-based programs, and supported mental health services for 136,945 students statewide. Overall, the Consortium provides a practical example of how legislative investment can be translated into sustainable school-community mental health partnerships through ongoing collaboration, learning, and refinement.