Chapter 3: Our School Behavioral Health “y’alliance”: The Development of a Rural School– Community–University Collaboration Focused on Supporting Children Who Have Experienced Trauma

This chapter details the development of a rural school–community–university collaboration focused around the common goal of addressing behavioral health concerns affecting local school-aged children. Partners mobilized to form a school behavior health alliance tasked with planning and coordinating efforts to assist local schools. Prevention and intervention initiatives on topics ranging from trauma to substance abuse to bullying are being developed and implemented through this collaboration. Leading local professionals from the fields of health care, mental health, education, social work, and nursing, among others, have joined the alliance to bring their training and skills to bear. Mitigating the effects of trauma and building resilience were selected by the alliance as the primary focus in Year 1. This chapter provides a detailed overview of the beginning stages through the first year of this rural alliance in a southern community, or Y’alliance, as we affectionately refer to it. Included are the successes and challenges faced along our journey. It is our hope that similar efforts can be replicated in other communities utilizing elements of our model to the benefit of their local schools and children.