The California School-Based Health Alliance (CSHA) is the statewide nonprofit organization helping to put more health services in schools.

We support local education agencies and community organizations in launching, enhancing, and sustaining school health services.

School-based health and wellness centers put health care where students already spend most of their time – at school. Research has shown, and teachers and educators intuitively know, that healthier children are better students because they are able to focus in class and are not distracted by stress or illness.

CSHA provides the following:

Toolkits and guides on a variety of school health topics (see below)
An annual statewide school health conference
Webinars
Regional coalitions including in the Central Valley and Inland Empire
Convenings of school health partners. Contact us if you are working in a school health program in California and want to be connected.
Technical assistance and contracting to provide more in-depth support.

Our Top Resources

Vision to Reality

From Vision to Reality, our toolkit on starting a school-based health center (SBHC), is a comprehensive resource for anyone seeking to expand health services for students.

Key Steps to Planning

The first steps of establishing a new school-based health and wellness center can feel daunting. Our Key Steps to Planning overview outlines the high-level activities to get started.

Best Practices Checklist

The Best Practices Checklist is designed to help school-based health and wellness center staff identify areas where they can strengthen their practices and improve the quality and sustainability of services.

Student Health Index

The California Student Health Index identifies the counties, districts, and schools where new school-based health and wellness centers will have the greatest return on investment for improving student health and education equity.

Guide for Sharing Information

A California Guide for Sharing Student Health and Education Information provides an overview of the laws that relate to sharing student/patient information (HIPAA, FERPA and California State Law), as well as best practices and resource materials for schools and health providers.

Braided Funding Guide

Our new guide shows local education agencies (LEAs) and partners how they can braid together new state funding opportunities – including the Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program (SBHIP) and the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) – to support new school-based health centers (SBHCs) or expand and improve existing SBHCs.

Public Funding for School Mental Health

There are many different ways that schools can knit together resources to address the mental health needs of students. Make public funding work for you and maximize your return on investment in mental health with the strategies presented in this toolkit.

Third Party Billing Guide

Our updated guide on maximizing third-party billing covers best practices for the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program (CHDP), FamilyPACT Program, Medi-Cal Managed Care, and Minor Consent Medi-Cal.

Youth Health Worker Curricula

The Youth Health Worker and Learn, Meet, Practice Curricula is used to strengthen the role of school-based health and wellness centers in addressing the need for a diverse health workforce.

Trauma-Informed SBHC Services

Find resources and see lessons learned on how SBHCs can increase trauma-informed practices and student resilience.

Sustaining & Growing Behavioral Health Services at School-Based Health Centers

This guide provides SBHCs run by FQHCs in California tools to maximize the reimbursement to which they are entitled in providing critically needed mental health care to eligible students.

Student Mental Health Implementation Guide

This guide is intended to support local education agencies (LEAs) and county behavioral health departments (BHDs) as they seek to partner to deliver comprehensive, high-quality school mental health services.

Schoolwide Screening Toolkit

Schoolwide or grade level screenings allow SBHCs to use their unique location on the school campus to provide education, population health, and prevention. This toolkit is designed to help SBHCs implement a schoolwide or grade-level screening.

SBIRT Quick Guides for SBHCs

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based approach to the screening and identification of individuals engaged in substance use, the delivery of early brief interventions in order to reduce use, and the referral to treatment for high-risk use. Use our quick guides to understand each “step” of SBIRT in school-based health centers (SBHCs).