��������

With the support of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) training grant, �������� researchers are working to integrate comprehensive school-based mental health systems as part of proactive violence prevention programming in public middle schools in Prince William County, Virginia.

Funding for this project, Comprehensive Safety and Violence Prevention in Diverse Middle Schools, will approach $2 million over three years.

leads the research team, which comprises faculty from across several programs within the . Co-Principal investigators include  and . 

The primary goals of this project are to improve school climate, increase perceptions of safety, and reduce violence in all 17 middle schools within the Prince William County Schools (PWCS) system.

Students’ access to school-based mental health systems can play a critical role in creating a school environment conducive to learning. Although existing preparation programs for teachers and other school leaders provide introductory training on how a student’s social, emotional, and behavioral responses can impact their learning, there is an increasing need for more in-depth mental health training. This project will address that need through the development of on-site training that will provide school personnel with the skills necessary to support student mental health as part of a proactive violence prevention program.

Brown, an associate professor in the  and  Programs, is a developmental psychologist and a recognized expert in school-based mental health programming. Dailey, an assistant professor in the  Program, has extensive experience in the design of responsive schoolwide violence prevention initiatives and inclusive trauma-informed education. Viano, associate professor in the  and  Programs, is known for her extensive research on school safety and security, and related implications for educational policy and leadership. 

In addition, the researchers have ongoing collaborations with other universities and national centers, such as the National Center for School Mental Health and the National Center for Safe and Supportive Learning Environments.

“This grant provides opportunities to train within multidisciplinary teams by bringing together teachers, leaders, school mental health providers, and school resource officers to have a common understanding of procedures and policies to support violence prevention with clear extensions to implementation exercises that can be used across the whole school site,” Brown said.

“Safety is not just the absence of violence—it is the presence of belonging, trust, and proactive support,” said Dailey. “We aim to build school climates that cultivate resilience, connection, and student and staff empowerment. By embedding these principles into middle school systems, this project will create lasting impact.” 

The initiative is being developed in tandem with the strategic planning process currently underway within PWCS. The researchers’ goal is to facilitate the development of a violence prevention plan that is multi-tiered, developmentally appropriate, inclusive and responsive, trauma-informed, and centered around prevention rather than reaction.

The project will be implemented in four phases:

1. A comprehensive needs assessment will be conducted across all 17 PWCS middle schools using the School Mental Health Quality Assessment (SMH-QA), which can help identify strengths and gaps that may exist in a school’s mental health intervention services and supports.
2. Multidisciplinary teams will be formed at each school comprising middle school leaders, teachers, school mental health professionals, school resource officers (SROs), and students.
3. Evidence-based training focused on school climate, mental health literacy, multi-tiered systems of support, threat assessment, and violence prevention will be codeveloped and delivered to school personnel.
4. A series of in-school training exercises and activities, tailored to the school’s specific needs as identified during the assessment, will be implemented over a three-year period to ensure long-term adoption of best practices.

“We will conduct focus groups to gather the perspectives of school personnel on school climate, staff requirements for tiered levels of services and supports, multidisciplinary teaming, and current school safety and prevention protocols,” Brown explained. 

The team chose to focus on middle school students because of the heightened emphasis on peer dynamics and social status that takes place during early adolescence. However, Brown believes that their approach could be applied to elementary and high schools in the future.