Coming To Your Campus: Behavioral Health Coaches

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in the Summer 2022 edition of CASP Today. 

Get ready!  A new kind of employee is coming to your campus – the Behavioral Health Coach. The Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) has been focused on defining the new coach role – and CASP has been right there with them every step of the way. We’re working to ensure these coaches help you be an even more effective resource for your students. 

If the term, “Behavioral Health Coach” doesn’t sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. The coaches are a brand-new position being created as part of the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative[MC1] . The CYBHI was a result of the 2020-2021 state budget surplus and is being overseen by the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS). It intends to “reimagine” the entire behavioral health system serving people from ages 0 – 25. While the state budget identified funding for “Behavioral Health Coaches and Counselors,” it did not give any definition of what professionals would be considered Behavioral Health Coaches and Counselors. 

Although the focus of this article is the Behavioral Health Coach position, Team CASP is also working on the “Behavioral Health Counselor” position. The staff at DHCS are not yet focused on defining counselors but we’ve already indicated (and will continue to do so) that school psychologists must be considered behavioral health counselors.

CASP is not alone in working with DHCS –our voice is stronger and more effective when we collaborate with our education partners. We have joined an informal coalition of education-related organizations (including the California Association of School Counselors, California Association of School Social Workers, California School Nurses Organization, California Teachers Association, California School Boards Association, and several others) to ensure education has a strong voice in this process alongside the medical field and community-based organizations. 

In initial meetings with DHCS held in January and February, our coalition focused on teaching their staff (who have a medical field perspective) about the education system. We talked about: the unique training, characteristics, and needs of the education workforce; the whole child approach including MTSS, PBIS, and teaming structures; the complexities and challenges of funding school-based behavioral health services; and LCAP and accountability. A big thanks to the school psychologists who joined me and our advocate, Laura Wasco, in those meetings – Tom Sopp, Deeds Gill, Dr. Steve Brock, and Dr. Rey Vargas. That early time investment was invaluable, as we have now seen DHCS use MTSS as a framework to advise the school-based services to be provided by coaches.

After the initial meetings, consultants were hired to lead development of the coach position. In May, I had a one-on-one conversation with a consultant to discuss how the coaches could fit into schools, the appropriate qualifications, and the services they might provide. In June, we got our first look at the proposed qualifications and scope of services for coaches, which was presented to us on three invite-only workgroup sessions. Fortunately, our coalition was able to ensure we had representation on all workgroup sessions – another big thanks to our 2020 – 2022 President, Dr. Jeannine Topalian, and 2020 – 2022 Past President, Dr. Maureen Schroeder, for their time in preparing for and participating in a workgroup session. 

The consultants presented a two-tiered approach with distinct Coach I and Coach II positions. Duties for the position were divided into six categories: wellness promotion and education, screening, care coordination and extension, individual support, group support, and crisis escalation. Although the proposal was not especially detailed, there were already numerous problematic elements. Although they would be working in schools, the Coach II was only proposed to be supervised by licensed providers, not PPS credential holders. Supervision was mostly undefined, but was envisioned to be reflective rather than active. The scope of services was overly broad and included individual and group services that were dangerously close to ERMHS. [k2] The minimum qualification for a Coach I was simply a Diploma equivalent plus a brief certification program, with no detail provided on the certificate program.

A second set of workgroup sessions later in June summarized the input from the first, and again reiterated the key concerns with the proposal. We expressed our concerns in the workgroup sessions, and followed up with a four-page letter to DHCS outlining our major concerns with the proposal. Our letter focused on ensuring that the services provided are appropriate to the training and supervision level, that services supplement and not supplant existing personnel, that coaches are integrated into the school system, and that there is a clear career path for coaches to pursue a career as a PPS credentialed professional.  

Based on feedback gathered in the information sessions, DHCS presented a second-draft proposal at an informational session on June 22. The session was recorded and can be viewed online. If you watch the recording, you’ll note that the presenter often refers to PPS professionals – a clear result of all the work our coalition has done. You’ll also hear a few questions at the end from yours truly regarding school psychologists. While this second proposal is a significant improvement over the first and addresses many of our concerns, our work is far from over. Several CASP team members participated in listening sessions held the week of June 27 to comment on the revised proposal – thank you to: Dr. Steve Brock, Michele Custer, Nel Romo, Tom Sopp, Dr. James Hiramoto, Melissa Wood, Chris Jones, Dr. Maureen Schroeder, Dr. Jeannine Topalian, and Dr. Mike Giambona for volunteering your time to attend those sessions. 

In July and beyond, Team CASP and our coalition will continue engaging with DHCS on the revised proposal. We are cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to meaningfully craft the coach position in a manner that supports you, that frees up some of your valuable time, and that ultimately enables you to better serve your students. 

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