Communities That Care

Program description

Communities That Care aims to reduce student mental health issues by training school staff to partner with local stakeholders.

This process assists school teams to reduce student mental health problems by improving the local primary to secondary school transition in partnership with other schools, and community, family and mental health services.

The program includes:

• online training and consulting support
• a community forum
• a youth survey.

Communities That Care provides schools with 5 phases of training to help improve the selection of programs from the Schools Mental Health Menu and reduce pathways to student mental health problems in the local community:

• Phase 1: School staff identify and recruit relevant community stakeholders and key decision makers to a ‘community coalition’.
• Phase 2: School staff establish a school and community coalition (including youth advisors) to guide decision making and planning for the Communities That Care effort in the community. A local agency, such as a school or Municipal Council, provides the main support.
• Phase 3: 2 to 4 schools work with community partners to develop a Community Profile Report based on data gathered using the Communities That Care Youth Survey and other local, state and national data sources. An assessment of existing community resources and strengths is made. The coalition sets action priorities based on the identified local needs.
• Phase 4: The school and community partners work together to develop a comprehensive plan to select programs from the Menu to guide prevention and health promotion activities in the community. This plan focuses on evidence-based strategies that align with local priorities for action.
• Phase 5: The coalition monitors and evaluates program implementation to ensure that intended outcomes are achieved, and any problems can be identified and rectified. The Communities That Care Youth Survey is repeated to evaluate the achievements, based on youth reports.

Intended outcomes

• Increased staff knowledge of community mental health promotion models and Communities That Care.
• Reduction in student mental health and behavioural health problems and their modifiable risk and protective factors.

Program details

Implementation considerations

• Target population: Primary and secondary school staff.
• Program adaptability: The program can be used to enhance community partnerships, select a stand-alone social and emotional learning program in the classroom, or adapted to complement existing wellbeing programs. It can be adapted and implemented in a variety of ways to suit specific student cohorts. The program can be adapted for diverse cohorts including:
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
  • culturally and linguistically diverse students.
• Staffing: School staff will require online access and professional development release to complete training. The Menu provider and its personnel must not be alone with any school student or group of school students in the classroom or in any other place at the school’s premises without another educator, teacher or teacher’s aide present at all times.
• Training requirements: Training is comprised of a 2-hour online introductory training, with an additional 2-hour online training session and 4 hours consulting support available on request at other phases of the program.
• Factors to consider: Phase 1.1 is offered when groups of 25 participants are registered and prices are calculated per participant. Phase 1.2 requires a group of around 5 staff to participate per school. From Phase 3 onwards school teams are required to form coalitions with 2 to 4 other schools and organisations in their municipality to reduce the student mental health risk factors that affect their community.
• Australian context: Communities That Care was developed in the United States of America and has been applied and evaluated in Australia.

Cost

Minimum cost

$5,000+

Detailed cost

Each Phase of the program is costed below:

• Phase 1.1: Connect with young people (5 minimum and 25 maximum participants) $226.60 (incl. GST), per participant.
• Phase 1.2: School community connection $2,266 (incl. GST), per school team of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 2.1: Create caring teams $3,399 (incl. GST), per school team of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 2.2: Community partnerships $2,266 (incl. GST), per school team of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 3.1: Community assessment $2,266 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 3.2: Survey your community $16,995 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 3.3: Identify influences $2,266 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 4.1: Select programs $2,266 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 4.2: Plan effective action $2,266 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 5.1: Monitor actions $2,266 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 5.2: Resurvey your community $16,995 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.
• Phase 5.3: Report achievements $2,266 (incl. GST), per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants.

Not all phases of the program need to be purchased at once, as each phase will help staff decide if they are interested in purchasing the next phase.

Prices are calculated per staff member for Phase 1.1 (minimum 5 participants, maximum 25 participants), per a school group of 2 to 8 participants for Phases 1.2, 2.1 and 2.2, and per group of 2 to 4 school teams of 2 to 8 participants (20 participants maximum total) for Phase 3.1 onwards.

Travel and accommodation costs are not included in the above program cost and may apply for schools which are regional and rural. These will be charged in accordance with ATO rates. Car travel will be charged per kilometre from the Melbourne municipal border.