School-Based Clinical Programming
Transform your approach to school-based mental health with our clinical programming. We help districts deliver effective, data-driven support for students.
In-Person Care Within Your Schools
At ESS, we recognize that for students with the highest needs, the most powerful care is side-by-side.
Targeted to Highest Needs Students
ESS focuses on the 3-5% of students with the most intensive emotional, mental health and behavioral challenges.
Research-based Model, Backed by Data
We have extended studies that prove the efficacy of our programs particularly for students with the highest intensity needs.
Program Description
Support the Mental Health Needs of High-Risk Students
School districts face unprecedented expectations when it comes to providing mental health support for students. However, districts were designed for academics, not mental health care delivery. Understandably districts can struggle to implement school-based mental health services that are comprehensive, impactful, and supported by meaningful data.
Effective School Solutions addresses the challenges school districts face in providing high acuity support to their most at-risk students by offering tailored services designed specifically for educational settings. Unlike traditional district structures that primarily focus on academics, Effective School Solutions delivers comprehensive and impactful mental health services. These services are supported by meaningful data, ensuring that districts can effectively implement school-based mental health programs that meet the growing expectations and needs of their students.
10 Elements of High Acuity Clinical Programming for K-12 Students
Comprehensive Program Protocols
ESS is not simply a clinician placement service; ESS clinicians work with highly structured, proven clinical protocols to support at-risk students most effectively. As a result of experience, data, and new research, our comprehensive protocols are constantly improving, creating an inclusive framework that accommodates each student individually.
School Avoidance Interventions
ESS reduces school avoidance through specialized assessments for students and parents, parent coaching, morning phone check-ins and same-day home visits, as well as a supportive re-entry to the school environment.
Behavioral Student Programming
ESS has developed specialized programming that allows students who consistently “act out” to be safely and successfully educated within their public-school. The Trauma-Attuned Model® includes daily group skills training in emotional regulation for students, family therapy, and ongoing professional development with teachers to ensure classrooms remain non-reactive.
Family Support
ESS provides ongoing family therapy with flexible scheduling, as well as a monthly parent support program that follows a detailed and adaptable psycho-educational protocol. ESS also distributes Solutions, a monthly newsletter that provides useful information and practical parenting tips for all ESS parents.
Multiple Layers of Supervision
ESS on-site clinicians receive the most comprehensive supervision possible from their ESS Regional Clinical Director, who maintains frequent communication with school and district leadership. Executive Clinical Directors provide oversight for each region, and report directly to ESS’ Chief Program Officer.
Clinical Documentation
ESS on-site clinicians maintain detailed student records that meet FERPA standards, a system of documentation akin to that found in structured psychiatric treatment programs. For classified ESS students, student records reflect IEP goals and initiatives, ensuring proper and well-documented care.
Quality and Risk Management
The ESS Quality Management team provides ongoing monitoring of each student record to ensure the services provided are consistent with ESS protocols and rigorous safety standards. ESS on-site clinicians regularly participate in IEP meetings, while ESS leadership attend mediation meetings as requested by the district.
Professional Learning and Psychoeducation for Educators
ESS regularly conducts professional learning for district teachers, and provides all-day off-site conferences for selected teaching staff. ESS also distributes Insights, a monthly newsletter for educational professionals who work with students with emotional and behavioral challenges.
Objective Measurement of Performance
ESS regularly evaluates the impact of our programming on a district’s students, sharing those results with the district several times a year. Receiving hard data that demonstrates dramatic improvements in grades, attendance, and discipline provides comfort to school leadership that ESS is working for their district.
Highly Experienced, Highly Qualified Clinicians
ESS guarantees the quality of its on-site clinicians, only employing highly experienced, licensed mental health professionals who have specific expertise in working with students with significant emotional and behavioral challenges.
1 Comprehensive Program Protocols
2 School Avoidance Interventions
3 Behavioral Student Programming
4 Family Support
5 Multiple Layers of Supervision
6 Clinical Documentation
7 Quality and Risk Management
8 Professional Learning and Psychoeducation for Educators
9 Objective Measurement of Performance
10 Highly Experienced, Highly Qualified Clinicians
Tier 3
Many districts are struggling with a growing number of students with intensive mental health challenges. Often these students are at risk of being placed in an outside therapeutic placement. ESS’ Tier 3 Intensive, In-School Clinical Support program introduces a better option: embedded, state-of-the-art clinical care offered within the four walls of your school building.
Tier 2
Most districts have a growing population of students with mild to moderate mental health challenges who may need moderate intensity interventions or more intermittent support or assistance.
ESS clinical program models can be adapted according to any of the following dimensions:
- Age/Grade Range: Differentiated program models for elementary, middle, and high school students.
- Setting: Customizations to support either mainstream or self-contained program environments.
- Neurodiversity: Specialized “dual diagnosis” programming for neurodiverse/ASD students who also have a co-occurring mental health condition.
A Program Model Backed by Data
All ESS services include robust progress monitoring, including quarterly data analysis reports for districts and anytime/anywhere access to program impact data through our MindBeat Pulse® data dashboard.
95%
of students prevented from an ODP¹
+1
in GPA for struggling students²
34%
reduction in absences for students with chronic absenteeism³
59%
decrease in suspensions for students with severe disciplinary issues⁴
2023 – 2024 ESS Tier 3 Programs
¹Therapeutic outplacement care includes residential treatment and out of district placement for Tier 3 students.
²Tier 3 students who entered program with a GPA of less than 2.0.
³Students with five or more absences in the marking period prior to enrollment in ESS.
⁴Tier 3 students who entered the program with multiple prior suspensions.
The ESS staff works tirelessly and collaboratively with our staff on behalf of our students to provide immediate therapeutic interventions to students. I often wonder how we were ever able to manage these students without the ESS program in our school. ESS provides necessary support services for students, staff, and parents to enable students to remain in a mainstream educational setting with their peers.
John Pascale
High School Principal, Mahwah, NJ
