ECHO for Education

Rural school professionals throughout Idaho face significant barriers to supporting student success. Approximately 40% of Idaho public schools are in rural areas and serve 25% of the student population. Specifically, school-based behavioral health providers (e.g., school nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists) fill a valuable healthcare workforce gap by providing health promotion, crisis intervention and prevention services for students, staff and community members residing in the area.

While originally developed to improve access to healthcare for underserved and rural populations, the ECHO model has since been successfully applied to other areas, including K12 education. In this application, ECHO for Education will connect experienced teachers, instructional coaches and school-based behavioral health providers with educators from across the state to provide high-quality professional development, expert knowledge and an accessible learning community of their peers.

Project ECHO Idaho’s various Education training series will provide professional development opportunities for school pupil staff, school administrators, classroom educators and clinicians working with school-aged children to gain skills and knowledge to ultimately improve student learning outcomes. Counselors, psychologists, social workers and nurses working in the K-12 school setting play a critical role as members of a multidisciplinary comprehensive school mental health team by helping to prevent illness and promote health at the individual and population levels. To support these professionals, ECHO Idaho will be launching our first ECHO for Education series, “School-based Behavioral Health”, during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Audience

The target audience for this training is school administrators and school behavioral health personnel, which includes school counselors, social workers, psychologists and nurses. However, all educators, clinicians and behavioral health specialists, including those not working in a school setting are also welcome.

Cost

Participation in ECHO Idaho is free for participants.

Register

Please register here for the ongoing sessions.

Once you register, you’ll receive convenient, day-of Zoom access direct to your inbox – join us as your schedule allows.

Not a fan of emails? Sign up for day-of reminder texts for this session.

Benefits

• No-Cost Accredited Continuing Education: ECHO for Education has partnered with the University of Idaho College of Education, Health and Human sciences to make free continuing education credits available to educators who participate in at least 15 hours of ECHO sessions. ECHO Idaho also offers free accredited continuing education credits (CE) for healthcare professionals with professional licenses through a partnership with the WWAMI Medical Education Office of Continuing Education. CE credit is available for participating in live sessions only, not for watching recorded sessions (unless otherwise indicated). To claim CE and provide feedback, please log in to Eeds. To learn more about the University of Idaho, WWAMI’s continuing education accreditation, visit our CE webpage.
• Professional Development: Participants gain new skills and competencies for supporting students.
• Creating Community: Establishing professional support teams can increase career satisfaction and decrease isolation, thus creating a sense of community.
• Improved Student Outcomes: Educators who participate in ECHO increase their knowledge and self-efficacy, increasing their ability to support students and their families.

ECHO Idaho is led by the University of Idaho and the WWAMI Medical Education Program.