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59 : 52
A Panel on School Mental Health: Creating Inclusive School Cultures

Schools are uniquely positioned to promote student mental health education through proactive, comprehensive, and collaborative efforts. This panel will bring together a diverse group of school professionals to discuss their experiences establishing inclusive school cultures around mental health through classroom education, parent engagement, staff development, and clubs. The panelists will discuss how to tailor and establish robust tier 1 interventions to establish inclusive school cultures and will share their successes and challenges pertaining to school mental health. Panelists will provide their insights on topics such as choosing the right programs, suicide prevention, engaging their school community, empowering students, parents, and staff and will share free resources with attendees.

This talk was presented at:
2026 National ESEA Conference
February 2026 in Denver, CO
For more information:
erikaslighthouse.org
Speakers
Maritza Cha

Dr. Maritza Cha graduated from Garfield High School in East Los Angeles and became the first in her family to attend and graduate from college. Dr. Cha was a school counselor and completed her Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University in Education, Urban Leadership. Dr. Cha has presented school counseling topics at the national, state, and local levels. Dr. Cha co-authored a book chapter named “Servant Leadership: School Counseling During the Pandemic.” Dr. Maritza Cha currently is a National School Counselor Fellow and part of the Professional School Counseling Emerging Scholars Fellow Program.

Pia Houseal

Pia Houseal is a Program Administrator at MCIU for the Project AWARE grant. Pia graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in English Literature and Women’s Studies. She has a Masters Degree in Social Work from Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and her doctorate degree in Social Work Leadership and Education from Millersville University. Pia is also a licensed clinical social worker. Pia has two decades of experience as a school social worker and school administrator in Pennsylvania. Most of that time, she worked directly with children/adolescents and their families as well as supporting the adult professionals who work with them. She is trained as a school social worker and has experience working with elementary and secondary school students in public schools and intermediate units. In 2018, Pia transitioned into school administration, serving as a Director of Student Support Services, which included oversight of social emotional learning, school climate and culture, and special education. Pia continues to support the mental health of our students in Pennsylvania and beyond and serves our local districts in new and expanded initiatives to prevent and educate in suicide prevention, mental health awareness and related supports and interventions. In her free time, Pia can be found in PA (or anywhere she travels!) hiking, camping, paddleboarding or kayaking with her three children and her partner. She enjoys reading, attending live music events, hanging out with her dog River, and spending time in nature.

Katie Conklin

Katie Conklin has over 15 years of experience in human services and counseling. Katie is an expert in district-wide implementation of mental health education, health national standards, and best practices to establish inclusive school cultures around mental health. Katie works directly with 50 states and is familiar with state legislatures related to mental health. She leads relationships for collaboration with mental health organizations for strategic alignment.

Mark Wells

Mark Wells is the Student Services Specialist for the New Castle County Vocational Technical School District in Delaware. He is working to empower educators to holistically support students, including incorporating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) best practices into all aspects of the educational experience for students, families, faculty, and leadership within the district. Mark is also assisting his District with building up the framework for Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) to make interventions available to students on both academic and non-academic levels, serving as the district liaison for students experiencing homelessness or foster care and leading a variety of charges to support mental health, trauma informed practices, safety, and well-being for students and staff . Additionally, Mark is an alumnus of the second cohort with CASEL’s SEL Fellows Academy and was also named NCCVT’s Behavioral Health Professional of the Year in 2023. He is passionate about SEL because it fosters the creation of positive connections and provides students with the foundation for achievement and holistic success by increasing their levels of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and ability to make responsible decisions. Prior to his district level role, Mark Wells was a school counselor at Delcastle Technical High School for 15 years. Mark has been working within the field of human services, counseling and education for over 26 years and has a broad range of experience working within state systems, including serving as a Family Crisis Therapist and a Family Services Program Support Administrator for the Division of Family Services.

Tags
Data-driven Decision-making
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