The Center for Childhood Resilience

06/09/2026

The Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership (ICMHP) Youth Council, led by Praxis Institute and CCR’s Dr. Tara Gill, has brought Illinois youth together to learn about mental health across Illinois and how to advocate for their peers. 🤝

The 6-month-long commitment teaches participants about the social determinants of health, advocacy work across the state, legislative impact and more, while getting the chance to improve their leadership and analytical skills, test their public speaking and learn more about public health work.

After consulting with the community partners, program leaders, and their research, the youth make actionable mental health recommendations that are shared with ICMPH members during their summer quarterly meeting.

As Dr. Gill puts it: “We’re asking adults to figure out things that directly impact youth’s lives, but we’re not asking the youth. I believe it’s really important to make sure youth have a voice at the table.”

🔗Learn more about the ICMHP and Youth Council: https://dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/life-stages-populations/maternal-child-family-health-services/child-health/icmhp.html

✉️ Reach out to Dr. Tara Gill with questions ([email protected])

05/20/2026

Did you know all Chicago Public Schools have a dedicated team to connect students with the behavioral health supports they need? 🧠💛

Behavioral Health Teams, or BHTs, were developed through a partnership between the Center for Childhood Resilience (CCR) and CPS to help schools best identify and respond to children who need support. BHTs are made up of school staff, including counselors, social workers, psychologists, administrators, nurses, teachers and other student support staff who work together using data to identify student needs, coordinate interventions and supports and monitor student progress.

CPS has identified BHTs as essential to supporting student well-being and included BHTs in districtwide policies.

Sybil Baker, Director of School Mental Health at CCR, reflects on BHTs: “The Behavioral Health Team model as it exists today was truly co-created between CCR and CPS. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of. It reflects both research-based best practices and the practical realities of implementing a model within a large, constantly evolving district.”

CCR continues to work side-by-side with CPS leaders to ensure BHTs have the training, resources, coaching and data-informed assessment tools needed to strengthen implementation and improve supports for students.

🔗 Learn more about BHTs: https://ccr.luriechildrens.org/en/projects/ -137543

05/15/2026

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! 💚🧠

The Center for Childhood Resilience works every day to make sure that programs and supports are available to support and reach kids where they live, play and learn.

One of our projects includes the no-cost, statewide initiative Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois (RSSI). With four pillars to the program, RSSI provides free and voluntary supports that schools need to build supportive, trauma-responsive and healing-centered environments through a data-informed platform. 🤝📊💙

One of RSSI’s pillars is Mental Health, which means RSSI can help a school develop or enhance its efforts to promote well-being for all students and address the mental health needs of individual students through targeted classroom, small-group and individual interventions and connections to community resources.

🌟 Learn more about RSSI and how your school can use it: https://www.rss-illinois.net/

Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois (RSSI) is a free and voluntary support that uses school-specific data to connect educators with evidence-informed tools and resources to improve the mental health and well-being of their school communities.

05/11/2026

Research Assistant Professor David W. Johnson has been at the Center for Childhood Resilience for the past two years, where much of his work looks at investing in or building the capacity of adults to support youth in schools.

Recently, Dave has published research with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, where he previously worked, focusing on Chicago Public Schools’ development of their Whole School Safety Framework. Two more pieces of that project are expected to be published in the next six months.

While at CCR, Dave has focused much of his work on the no-cost, statewide Resilience Supportive Schools Illinois Initiative and on Universal Mental Health Screenings and Behavioral Health Teams.

Dave sees his role as a researcher at CCR as helping leaders connect the dots across systems, making it easier to see how outcomes or behaviors impact a student in the classroom. As he puts it: “People don’t need me to solve their problems, but research helps provide them the information and evidence they need to better understand the systems they’re working in so that they can act to bring about change.”

We’re honored to have Dave on our team at CCR and look forward to sharing more of his research in the coming months!

05/07/2026

This week, you may have spotted our team at the Illinois State Board of Education School Wellness Conference! sharing information about Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois. 💙

Not only did our own Caryn Curry get a chance to table and share materials, but Aleza Berube and Crissy Mombela also gave a presentation titled Resilience Supportive Schools Illinois: A Framework for Climate, Connection, and Academic Growth.

We are always so happy to share the impact of RSSI with educators and leaders across the state. 🍎🤝

🌟 Learn more: https://www.rss-illinois.net/

05/04/2026

A $100,000 investment from MolinaCares will support the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s in expanding Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois, improving student and educator mental health through data-driven resources. Read more.

05/01/2026

One week ago, we visited Marya Yates Elementary to celebrate a grant from MolinaCares for Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois!

We can't wait to keep growing this work across the state!

Learn more:

The $100,000 grant from MolinaCares Accord is part of Molina’s community investment platform that funds programs to improve the health of disadvantaged populations.

04/28/2026

“Mental health almost permeates every aspect of life, so we are a wiser society if we begin to address those issues seriously and effectively and in a timely way.” - Rep. Meyers-Martin

Thank you to the Daily Southtown for covering Friday’s announcement of MolinaCares' $100,000 investment in Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois (RSSI) and the growing impact of this work across the state.

Read the full piece:

The Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois program is used in 800 schools across the state, including Matteson’s Marya Yates Elementary.

04/27/2026

On Friday, Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois (RSSI) celebrated a $100,000 investment from MolinaCares Accord at Marya Yates Elementary School in Matteson, Illinois. 🎉

As one of 800+ schools engaged in RSSI, Marya Yates—led by Principal Dr. Amber Henderson—was the perfect place to mark this meaningful investment.

This grant will help expand RSSI statewide, strengthen infrastructure, advance data-informed practices, and ensure more schools can support student and educator well-being.
Grateful to celebrate alongside partners and supporters, including State Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, Molina Healthcare team members, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago leaders, Crissy Mombela from Partnership for Resilience, School District 159 leadership, SEL Hub 1 Director Paula Kennedy, Garrett Podgorski from South Cook ISC 4, and more.

Learn more here: https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/news-stories/lurie-childrens-receives-$100000-from-the-molinacares-accord-to-support-statewide-school-mental-health-initiative/

04/17/2026

and : Join this free webinar this Tuesday to learn how to support youth with chronic medical conditions after trauma exposure.

Register today: https://redcap.link/SPIRITwebinar_Parent