Mari Meador, M.Ed., is an implementation coach at the University of Washington. She works in collaboration with Schools to support implementation efforts of proactive systems of support. Mari joins us from the University of Washington Tacoma where she worked in collaboration with Tacoma Public Schools to support implementation efforts of the Tacoma Whole Child Initiative. Mari has served as a PBIS State Facilitator and Assistant Coordinator for the Northwest PBIS Network providing training and technical assistance, coaching, and ongoing supports to build local and district capacity to implement, sustain, and scale PBIS, and she began her career as a school support counselor and school-based mental health associate. Her professional interests include systems change, culturally responsive positive behavior support and social emotional learning, and fidelity of implementation. Her research interests include equitable and inclusive school discipline practices, implementation science, and effective teaming practices in schools.
(Training & Technical Assistance) In addition to regular training activities and special areas of focus, the Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (Northwest) has received funding to support increased training and technical assistance for school mental health in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. To operationalize this support Northwest has partnered with the University of Washington School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training (SMART) Center, a national leader in developing and supporting implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools, including prevention, early intervention, and intensive supports. The Northwest School Mental Health (SMH) and Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Training and Technical Assistance (TA) Center, within the UW SMART Center, supports school mental health efforts with the goal to support states, districts, schools and community partners to build an equitable single system of delivery in which education and mental health systems are integrated across the tiers.
(Training & Technical Assistance) As a key component of this mission, UW SMART has developed strategies and related infrastructure for providing training and technical assistance to state and local education agencies as well as individual school districts. The SMART Center’s “TACore” provides: 1) Training and consultation/coaching focused on developing workforce capacity (among school staff and community partners) to deliver research-based strategies, policies, and practice models relevant to the education context, 2) Technical assistance focused on building evidence-based, multi-tiered systems of school-based behavioral health, using collaborative decision-making processes guided by local data as well as research evidence, and 3) Program evaluation focused on collecting and analyzing existing (e.g., administrative datasets) and novel (e.g., surveys, focus groups) quantitative and qualitative data to determine the impact of new or existing programs, practices, and policies.