About us

METRICS

Mental Health Evaluation, Training, Research, and Innovation Center for Schools

K-12 student access to critical mental health services in high-need schools by addressing the shortage of school-based mental health professionals.

Student studying with textbook
Prioritizing training more school-based mental health providers

METRICS supports federally-funded grantees who are dedicated to addressing the national shortage of school-based mental health practitioners. These grantees received funding from the US Department of Education for either a School Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) or a Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) project to recruit, train, and retain a strong mental health workforce in our K-12 schools across the country. METRICS disseminates best-practice resources, provides individual grant assistance, and helps grantees ensure that they are meeting their targets, so that these grantees can continually improve as they grow the next generation of school-based mental health practitioners.

The research is clear: the shortage among mental health professionals in the US is a primary reason students lack access to the mental health services they need. METRICS is dedicated to closing this gap by providing schools with the tools they need to strengthen the pipeline of high-quality mental health professionals and increase access to critical mental health services in schools nationwide. These funds will help change the lives of children nationwide by building a mental health infrastructure in schools and communities across the country.

Building stronger training programs
  1. Provide individualized assistance
    Provide technical assistance to grantees through a tiered approach that includes universal support to all, targeted support on select topics for subsets of grantees, and intensive support for individual grantees.
  2. Collect and share best practices
    Disseminate best practices in credentialing, recruiting, training and developing, and retaining school-based mental health services providers.
  3. Analyze data and outcomes
    Support high-quality grantee data collection and analysis so that programs can continually improve at training the next generation of school-based mental health providers.

Explore grant funded projects

Visit our Interactive Project Map to learn more about School Based Mental Health (SBMH) and Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) grant funded projects around the country.

Meet our team

Dr. Stephen Kilgus
Dr. Stephen Kilgus

Professor of School Psychology

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Dr. Katie Eklund
Dr. Katie Eklund

Associate Professor of School Psychology

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Dr. Andy Garbacz
Dr. Andy Garbacz

Associate Professor of School Psychology

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Dr. Nathaniel von der Embse
Dr. Nathaniel von der Embse

Professor of School Psychology

University of South Florida

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Dr. Shannon Suldo
Dr. Shannon Suldo

Professor of School Psychology

University of South Florida

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Dr. Evan Dart
Dr. Evan Dart

Associate Professor of School Psychology

University of South Florida

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Dr. Michael Furlong
Dr. Michael Furlong

Research Professor and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of School Psychology

UC Santa Barbara

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Dr. Arlene Ortiz
Dr. Arlene Ortiz

Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology

UC Santa Barbara

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Dr. Jon Goodwin
Dr. Jon Goodwin

Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology

UC Santa Barbara

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Dr. Erin Dowdy
Dr. Erin Dowdy

Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology

UC Santa Barbara

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Dr. Allison L. Bruhn
Dr. Allison L. Bruhn

Professor of Special Education

University of Iowa

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Dr. Gerta Bardhoshi
Dr. Gerta Bardhoshi

Professor of Counselor Education

University of Iowa

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Dr. Kari L. Vogelgesang
Dr. Kari L. Vogelgesang

Clinical Associate Professor of Elementary Education

University of Iowa

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University of Wisconsin-MadisonUniversity of South FloridaUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of Iowa