Reaching Traditionally Underserved Populations: School-Based Interventions to Create Safe and Welcoming Schools for Immigrant Students and Families

It is estimated that half of all children attending schools in the United States are racially and ethnically minoritized, belonging with groups and communities that have been historically underserved. This includes immigrant and undocumented youth, and children of immigrants. However, while there is often a range of resources to improve approaches for underserved youth in school mental health (SMH), this is not true for immigrant and undocumented youth and their families, with limited published guidance and resources available to guide support efforts. This chapter describes a set of Tier 1 interventions supported by research and aimed toward enhancing SMH for underserved students and their families, with particular emphasis on immigrant and undocumented students/families. This enhanced approach is exemplified by ImmSchools, an immigrant-led nonprofit organization that has partnered with schools and educators to create safe and welcoming schools across three states. In addition to describing the range of interventions delivered by ImmSchools, this chapter also describes a participatory action research project that aimed to study the effectiveness of these interventions. The goal was to create a model that can inform guidelines for practice and to inform advocacy to create policies that support these interventions.