Iowa Center for School Mental Health Announces Four Research Grant Awards   

The Iowa Center for School Mental Health announced $1 million in grant funding to four research projects that support interventions to improve social, emotional, behavioral, or psychological outcomes in Iowa’s PreK-12 schools. 

“We are thrilled to announce the recipients of our first-ever Iowa School Mental Health research grant,” said Dr. Gerta Bardhoshi, director of research and training for the Iowa Center for School Mental Health.  “These projects will not only help identify what works best for Iowa schools, but they will also spur innovative, evidence-based school mental health tools, practices, and experiences that educators can directly apply in the classroom.”

Each project received $250,000 in funding and will run from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2024. The funded projects include:

• Building a Community of Resilience: Social Emotional Learning for Educators

University of Northern Iowa Investigators: Kerri Clopton, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations and Leadership Studies; and Darcie Davis-Gage, Associate Professor and Division Chair of Counseling in the School of Applied Human Sciences

• Project STIRS: SLP Training to Improve Resilience in Students with Communication Disorders

University of Iowa Investigators: Naomi Rodgers, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders; Philip Combiths, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Director of Clinical Linguistics and Disparities Laboratory; Elizabeth Walker, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders; and Yanchen Zhang, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations

• Fostering Resilient Rural Elementary Schools through an Evidence-Based, Multicomponent System Supporting Teachers and Students across the Risk Spectrum

Iowa State University Investigators: Ashley Scudder, Research Scientist, Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute in Human Development and Family Studies Department; and Richard Spoth, Director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute

• Building Capacity for Staff and Student Mental Health Programming: A Partnership between SWITCH and the Healthiest State Initiative

Iowa State University Investigators: Gregory Welk, Professor, Department of Kinesiology; Spyridoula Vazou, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology; Laura Liecthy, Program Leader in the 4-H Extension and Outreach Division of Youth Development; and Philip Dixon, Professor, Department of Statistics

From April 1 – May 23, 2022, the Iowa Center for School Mental Health solicited proposals.

The Iowa Center for School Mental Health launched in June 2022. Through its four arms, the center conducts rigorous, targeted school mental health research, delivers social-emotional-behavioral health professional development, and provides clinical and assessment intervention services.

The research arm of the center aims to build capacity for immediate and future delivery of school-based mental health supports, conduct ongoing evaluation, and establish an interdisciplinary network of researchers to fund, develop, and disseminate practical solutions for Iowa’s schools and educators.

For more information visit https://icsmh.education.uiowa.edu.

About the Iowa Center for School Mental Health

A partnership between the University of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Education, the Iowa Center for School Mental Health is the state’s hub for school-based mental health research, training, and clinical services. Its work supports the social, emotional, behavioral, and mental well-being of PreK-12 + college/university students and educators across the state.