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Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services Department Year-End Report 2016–17

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In 2016, Santa Clara County’s Behavioral Health Services Department (SCC BHSD) hired Informing Change to evaluate their School Linked Services initiative, currently implemented in 13 school districts. This initiative places at least one coordinator in each district to serve as the point of contact for students and families seeking referrals for wraparound services relating to behavioral and mental health, academic support, housing, food, immigration, and more. Ultimately, SCC BHSD wants to know how students receiving SLS are being impacted by these services.

To understand how SLS is increasing families’ access to community resources and services, we created a robust data system to improve the efficiency and consistency of data collection across the 13 school districts. This system gathers information on the number of students receiving SLS services, the types of services being accessed, and the rate at which students are linked to services. Additional data gathering activities provide information about the extent to which the initiative is improving families’ knowledge and behaviors; improving student academic outcomes, health, and wellbeing; and improving school climate and school-family-community partnerships. Each year, we prepare quarterly and year-end reports for SCC BHSD highlighting key findings with respect to these core areas of inquiry. This report contains findings from the 2016–17 school year.