Press Release  Healey-Driscoll Administration Requests Vendors to Develop Mental Health Framework for Students from Early Education through Higher Education

Boston — The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced today that the Executive Office of Education and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education have opened a request to solicit vendors to develop an early education through higher education mental health framework for students across Massachusetts. This new framework will inform a statewide strategy for mental and behavioral health supports through the public education and licensed child care system in Massachusetts and support coordination between early education and care programs, schools, students, families, and the state’s systems of community-based services and providers. 

“We have a mental health crisis that was only made worse by the pandemic, particularly for young people,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Our administration is committed to ensuring that Massachusetts students have the behavioral health care they need to balance their mental health and education. I look forward to seeing how this framework will deepen our current efforts and provide a strategy to support students at every level of education.” 

“As Governor Healey and I travel around the state, we often hear about the mental health challenges happening in our early education programs, in schools and on campuses. Through this framework, as a state we will be able to better measure the mental health challenges among our students and the successful strategies and resources that help them thrive,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. 

“Addressing mental health among our students was a budget priority for the Education Secretariat this year and I want to thank the Legislature for their support. With $5 million in funding, we are building a statewide framework to establish shared language around mental health, codify best practices, create better linkages between early education, K-12, and higher education, and strengthen data systems to track progress and determine whether our efforts are having the kind of impact we expect,” said Education Secretary Dr. Patrick Tutwiler. 

The state’s fiscal year 2024 budget included $5 million for this framework. In collaboration with health and human service agencies and other key stakeholders, EOE and its agencies aim to use this framework to identify, guide, and align collective efforts to better understand and address mental and behavioral health wellness needs among students for infants/toddlers through adult learners, and use common language, strategies, and metrics.  

“I hear often from educators and parents around the state about the growing social-emotional needs of young children in early education and care programs and the impact this is having on the wellbeing, as well as recruitment and retention, of staff,” said Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw. “This new mental health framework will deepen and expand our efforts to provide programs with the tools they need to meet the needs of children and families while also creating environments that enable children to learn and thrive, as well as provide us with better insights to the mental health challenges our youngest learners face and the ability to track improvements.” 

“Having a shared mental health framework will help schools support all students’ academic, social, emotional and behavioral development,” said Acting Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Russell Johnston. “This is a critical area of need and an important opportunity for collaboration among our departments to meet that need.”   

“Students’ success on the way to and through college requires supporting the whole student, and young people in Massachusetts have voiced that addressing mental health needs is a top priority,” said Higher Education Commissioner Noe Ortega. “This mental health framework will be crucial to enhancing, connecting and growing efforts to support students in schools and on campuses.” 

The framework builds on the administration’s existing efforts to support student mental health, including investing $13 million in the Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT) program, an in-school program supporting students who have fallen behind academically due to challenges with their mental health. This was the first time the state provided funding to establish BRYT in schools. There are also opportunities like DESE’s Social Emotional Learning and Mental Health Grant and EEC’s Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Grants, which the administration increased the funding for by $2 million annually. 

Interested vendors can find the RFQ on COMMBUYS.

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