The School-Based Health Center (SBHC) initiative is a collaborative effort between Vermont Community Schools and the Catamount Community Schools Collaborative (CCSC) to advance health equity and student well-being across Vermont and Northern New England. This page serves as a central hub of resources, briefs, and tools to support SBHC implementation and long-term sustainability within the Community Schools ecosystem. Connect with CCSC-affiliated partners who are actively engaged in this work and ready to support your school or district’s health center efforts.
What are School-Based Health Centers?
SBHCs are often defined as clinics that provide health services to students in pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. Services may be offered on-site (i.e., school-based centers) or off-site (i.e., school-linked centers) and are often established in schools serving predominantly low-income communities. SBHCs typically have the following characteristics:
- SBHCs must provide primary health care and may also provide mental health care, social services, dental care, and health education.
- Primary care services are sometimes provided by a single clinician, or comprehensive services may be provided by multidisciplinary teams.
- Services may be available only during some school days or hours, and may also be available in non-school hours.
- Student participation requires parental consent, and services provided for individual students are sometimes limited for specific types of care, such as reproductive or mental health.
- Services may be provided to school staff, student family members, and others within the surrounding community.
- Services are often provided by a medical center or provider independent of the school system, such as a federally qualified health center or academic institution.
Knopf, J. A., Finnie, R. K., Peng, Y., Hahn, R. A., Truman, B. I., Vernon-Smiley, M., Johnson, V. C., Johnson, R. L., Fielding, J. E., Muntaner, C., Hunt, P. C., Phyllis Jones, C., Fullilove, M. T., & Community Preventive Services Task Force (2016). School-Based Health Centers to Advance Health Equity: A Community Guide Systematic Review. American journal of preventive medicine, 51(1), 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.01.009
Community School Health & SBHC Resources
Community School Health / SBHC Support
Kathleen Bryant, MPH, MSN, FNP-BC, is a Nurse Practitioner & the School-Based Health Center Consultant to Catamount Community Schools Collaborative (CCSC).
If you have questions regarding Community School Health, School-Based Health Centers, or healthcare/community schools partnership development, please get in touch with Kathleen at Kathleen.Bryant@uvm.edu.