Principal Investigator: Al Stein-Seroussi, Ph.D.
In 2018, the State of Indiana was awarded a five-year Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant is administered by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) in conjunction with the Division of Mental Health and Addiction. The goals of Indiana Project AWARE are the following: (1) Increase awareness of mental health issues by developing and expanding school-based mental health infrastructure within partner schools; (2) Increase the capacity of partner schools’ staff to employ evidence-based tools and systems of support to detect and respond to mental health issues; (3) Increase partner schools’ early identification of mental health needs and interventions to address them; and (4) Increase student/family access to treatment, wrap-around resources, and services for vulnerable school-aged youth, who may have behavioral health issues. IDOE funds 11 local education agencies (LEAs) to support these goals locally.
PIRE is conducting a multi-method evaluation with a goal of providing ongoing learning opportunities for program stakeholders. Our methods include collecting project output data, administering staff and parent surveys, conducting key informant interviews, and compiling data about student outcomes.