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Recent News
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2024 Mental Health Champion Awardees Announced
Four University of Iowa staff, faculty and students were announced as the 2024 Mental Health Champion Award recipients during the ceremony held Tuesday, April 30.   The second-annual Mental Health Champion Award celebrates outstanding members of the University of Iowa community who help create and bolster a positive mental health and well-being culture. Their dedication to […]
Workforce Expansion Graduate Students
Scanlan’s Grad Squad: How the Workforce Expansion Program is Filling a Critical Need
The Scanlan Center for School Mental Health was established in June 2021 to meet a critical need for mental health services in Iowa’s PreK-12 schools.   Schools, students, and educators were recovering and reestablishing routines following the Covid-19 pandemic. The effects of the pandemic, social isolation, and academic pressures were compounding.   Because the demand for comprehensive […]
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In the News: Scanlan Center for School Mental Health highlighted by Inside Higher Ed
Research conducted by the University of Iowa's Scanlan Center for School Mental Health found that faculty and staff at Iowa community colleges feel a sense of responsibility to support their students’ mental health; however, many feel underprepared to do so.
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Annual Report: “All In” for the Mental Health of Iowa’s Schools, Educators, Faculty, Staff, and Students
2022-2023 Scanlan Center for School Mental Health Annual Report | August 1, 2022 – September 31, 2023 Last year at this time, I was reflecting (in exhaustion) how we had spent our first year building a center while simultaneously trying to deliver on our mission to serve the entire state of Iowa. I mentioned how […]
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Grant renewal will support work to expand mental health care to Iowa children and adolescents
Increasing access to pediatric mental health services in Iowa—especially in the state’s medically underserved and rural communities—is the goal of a program led by child health experts in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and in collaboration with colleagues in the UI College of Education's Scanlan Center for School Mental Health and primary care and mental health providers around the state.
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Federal grant to bolster mental health evaluation, training, research, and innovation for schools
The University of Iowa College of Education's Scanlan Center for School Mental Health and three other universities have been awarded a four-year, $10.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to launch the Mental Health Evaluation, Training, Research, and Innovation Center for Schools (METRICS), a national center to scale up the school-based mental health workforce of PK-12 school psychologists, social workers, school counselors, and other practitioners.
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Breaking Barriers: 100 Iowa paraeducators selected for new school mental health fellowship  
A cohort of 100 Iowa paraeducators was recently selected for a new mental health training fellowship offered by the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health. The first-ever of its kind in Iowa, the fellowship will equip paraeducators with skills in mental health literacy, relationship-building, suicide screening, immediate crisis response, and restorative practices, all of which help […]
Chuck Xander
Here to support students who served
Chuck Xander, Iowa’s new embedded counselor focusing on Veterans and military-connected students, brings a great blend of empathy and expertise to the role because of his own military service and educational background.

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