The Mental Health Initiative is one of five initiatives launched by Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Edwin Gomez. The initiative is aimed at addressing the needs of the whole student beyond the classroom. The Mental Health Initiative includes supporting and expanding mental health programs and services within the 23 school districts in Riverside County.

Directing Change Film Contest Honors Students

Learn more on the RCOE Directing Change web page and the Riverside County news web page

RCOE Honors California PBIS Schools

Two woman standing by oversized #PBISCA sign

The RCOE PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention System) Coordinators have arranged visits to 15 school districts to honor the 146 schools across Riverside County that received 2024 CA PBIS Recognition awards. Visits have been to school board meetings, principals’ meetings, and a few school sites. These visits allowed the team to publicly recognize the outstanding climate and culture work in these school districts as well as strengthening our relationships with them. The hope is that even more schools will participate in the 2025 CA PBIS Recognition process.

PBIS District Recognitions 2024-25

Updated on 05/30/2025 12:29 PM

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

988 línea de prevención del suicido y crisisThe 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing mental health-related distress. That could be:

  • Thoughts of suicide
  • Mental health or substance use crisis, or
  • Any other kind of emotion distress

People can call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.

988 serves as a universal entry point so that no matter where you live in the United States, you can reach a trained crisis counselor who can help.

Learn more by visiting the RCOE Suicide Prevention web page.

 

Riverside County Wellness Collaborative Partners with California Baptist University (CBU) to Build Career Pathway for School-Based Mental Health

We are excited to partner with CBU, home to the only Master of Social Work (MSW) program in Riverside County, to enhance access to multi-tiered mental health support services for K-12 students. This collaboration lays the foundation for expanding the presence of school social workers in the future. Through this partnership, 20,000 K-12 students have already benefited. Read more about this exciting partnership.

 

RCOE Virtual Wellness Center

RCOE's Virtual Wellness Center Web Page

Looking for strategies for coping during challenging times? Find newly refreshed tools and resources, including those for Early Care and Education, designed to help restore well-being at the RCOE Virtual Wellness Center.

The following resource directories cover a wide range of services that support mental health and wellness.

Community Resources Booklet

RCOE Community Resources Guide (PDF) is a compilation of community agencies and referral sources to help the students and families understand and navigate the local resources available to them.

RCOE Resource Guide was developed specifically to help families find food resources, financial assistance, health resources and mental health crisis/emergency services during COVID-19.

Examining Mental Health Initiative Data Across Activities

In October 2024, the Mental Health Initiative team evaluated the following activities for effectiveness in supporting the goals of the Initiative:

  • Professional Development
  • Technical Assistance to Districts
  • Collaborative Service Delivery Partnerships
  • RCOE Employee Wellness

Immediate outcomes included increases in:

  • TK-12 students receiving behavioral health services
  • Schools using trauma-informed practices, MTSS/PBIS framework, restorative, anti-bullying and CASEL's TSEL Core Competencies
  • RCOE workplace wellness, job satisfaction, and engagement
  • Access and number of high-quality mental health and well-being information and services in the county
  • Skills, awareness, and knowledge of well-being
  • Understanding and action around adult self-care
  • Adult knowledge and skills related to student, youth mental health needs and supports

Please see the Examining MHI Data slide deck for additional data and analysis