The School Health Access Collaborative (SHAC), powered by PHIMC and Healthy Schools Campaign, partnered with Asemio to pilot a complex, secure data-sharing initiative to identify opportunities to improve systems within educational institutions and beyond that support the health and well-being of young people in Chicago.

SHAC wanted to demonstrate a way to address the gaps in knowledge about behavioral and mental health services. To download the Case Study, entitled Catalyzing Collaboration, please visit Asemio’s website here.

What is the need?

Members of SHAC have long recognized the need for more behavioral and mental health support for young people and have seen systemic inequities in access to care among Black, Latinx, and youth from low-income families and historically under-invested communities.

What is holding us back?

SHAC members believed that increasing access to data about student mental health needs, resources, and outcomes would reveal valuable insights, enabling providers to make informed decisions, improve services and programming, and achieve their social mission more effectively.

What can we achieve?

In 2021, SHAC launched a pilot to demonstrate how the field might do this in a way that mitigated risks and preserved student privacy. It was a first-of-its kind effort to show what was possible!

In 2023, SHAC published a summary of pilot results which you can download here.

Chicago’s School Health Access Collaborative (SHAC) brings together education and health stakeholders to identify ways to enhance student access to comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable healthcare, improve the health service delivery model for Chicago students, and elevate equity and well-being.

Learn more here about SHAC and how you can get involved.