Assistant Professors Rawn Boulden, Brean’a Parker and Rolanda Mitchell to Impact 10,000 Students Using $4.4M Grant to Train School-based Mental Health Professionals for N.C. Schools

With multiple studies showing increased rates of depression, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness and loneliness, and suicide among youth across the United States, the need for school-based mental health professionals is critical. 

For many K-12 students, schools serve as the only viable setting in which they are able to access mental health care, but many districts across North Carolina and the nation are facing a significant shortage of school-based mental health professionals. It’s an issue that NC State College of Education Assistant Professors of Counseling and Counselor Education Rawn Boulden, Brean’a Parker and Rolanda Mitchell are working to address through a new project entitled “WolfPACT: Partnership to Advance Culturally-Responsive Counselor Training in Schools.” 

“Given the increased mental health needs of students, it is essential to build a school-based mental health workforce equipped with the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to support students effectively,” said Boulden, who is the project’s principal investigator. “This support is crucial for helping children thrive both personally and academically.” 

Funded by a five-year, $4,369,679 grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the project will establish the WolfPACT Scholars Program, a partnership between the College of Education’s Counselor Education Program and Halifax and Johnston County schools that will impact an estimated 10,000 students over its lifespan. 

Students earning their master’s degree through the Counselor Education Program will be selected as service scholars and complete required fieldwork in a high-need school in Johnston or Halifax county, delivering evidence-based mental health services at their assigned site during practicum and internship semesters. 

Upon graduation, all 25 service scholars must commit to serving as a school counselor or school-based therapist in a high-need school in North Carolina, which are defined as those schools where the mental health provider-to-student ratio is lower than the national average.  

“By bolstering the pipeline of skilled counselors to these communities, we will increase the districts’ capacity to meet the growing mental health challenges of children and adolescents, and maintain a strong workforce,” said Mitchell, who is a co-principal investigator on the project. “We are hopeful that the outcome data for the WolfPACT grant will help professional leaders recognize investment in K-12 mental health services as a worthy endeavor, as we believe a child who feels well mentally will also perform well academically.”

To address mental health needs in partner districts, the WolfPACT project team will collaborate with district personnel to build strategic goals based on specific needs assessment data. This data will also inform graduate student coursework and professional development, allowing service scholars to strengthen their skill sets as counselors to meet the current needs of their student populations. 

Service scholars will also learn a wide variety of practices intended to support their work in high-need schools, including access to monthly professional development opportunities led by thought leaders with expertise in areas that will include disability awareness, supporting English language learners and neurodiversity. These experts will share concrete strategies and techniques that service scholars can immediately implement in their practicum and internship experiences, and that will complement the practices and training they receive through the College of Education’s Counselor Education Program. 

Additionally, service scholars will each receive about $500 worth of evidence-based, culturally responsive counseling curricula, proven to enhance academic and social-emotional outcomes, to use in individual and small-group sessions with students. 

“We are committed to preparing culturally-responsive school counselors and school-based therapists who ensure that the unique cultural, social and emotional contexts of each child are understood and affirmed,” said Parker, who is a co-principal investigator on the project. “This approach not only enhances rapport, but also promotes healing and resilience.”
In addition to Boulden, Parker and Mitchell, staff members from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation’sProgram Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) Group, including PEER Director Callie Edwards and Research Scholars Rebekah Davis and Alicia Fischer, will serve on the project, providing evaluation services.