Washington Association of Educational Service Districts (AESD) Behavioral Health Student Assistance Program (BH-SAP) (2021–2025)

Originally funded by federal COVID relief funds, the AESD BH-SAP aims to expand availability to school-based behavioral health services statewide. Across Washington state’s nine Educational Service Districts (ESDs), this initiative expands behavioral health support systems (including mental health and substance use) through a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework by increasing staffing capacity at regional and local levels. TAC has supported this project through regional capacity building as well as by serving as the lead evaluator. Capacity building activities included providing consultation on selection of practice models to be used by Student Assistance Professionals (SAPs) and professional learning opportunities for SAPs. Evaluation efforts include overseeing collection of student, school, and district outcome data, analyzing data, and producing reports to inform continuous improvement of the BH-SAP initiative.

See recent program evaluation findings in the 2023-24 report and executive summary.