Nathaly Florez has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Washington with a Minor in Spanish. She has been working at the SMART Center for quite some time as a work-study student in the position of a Research Assistant, eventually transitioning into the position of a Program Assistant upon receiving her degree. She also worked at the University of Washington Medical Center in the Patient Nutrition Department as a Dietary Unite Aide where she provided appropriate nutrition to the ICU patients. Nathaly is interested in the implementation of mental health in schools and in underrepresented communities, she hopes to learn more about preventative mental health care. As well as how technology can help advance accessibility for all in the mental health field. During her free time she enjoys: going on bike rides, walking the dogs, playing video games, watching Netflix and exploring new places and restaurants.
(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.