Implications for School-Based Prevention and Treatment
MTSS
MITCHELL
Results indicate that BRISC holds promise as a method for equipping SMHPs with a structured approach to meeting the needs of a greater number of students with an array of problems. Developing such targeted strategies is important given that there are a limited number of such “Tier 2” SMH strategies available in schools (Mitchell, Stormont, & Gage, It is important to note that the components of BRISC—structured problem solving, standardized assessment, stepped care, and measurement-based care—are all “common elements” of evidence-based mental health treatment. Although BRISC was designed to help SMHPs incorporate these strategies over a sequence of four defined sessions, incorporating any one of these strategies into SMH may promote efficiency and effectiveness. Future research may shed light on how best to equip a range of school-employed helpers with one or more of these elements to help them respond more proactively to a greater number of students. Ideally, future research will also evaluate contextual factors such as fidelity to MTSS principles and procedures such as universal screening. Such data could uncover the degree to which fidelity and outcomes of a strategy such as BRISC are related to district- and school-level factors and how to better integrate SMH strategies.Finally, it is important to note that providing access to counseling is not, in and of itself, a solution to the rising rates of mental health concerns of youth. While treatment models such as BRISC may aim to serve as one element in a tiered continuum of data-driven, evidence-informed school strategies, they are also reactive and resource-intensive. They do not, as described by Herman et al. (