Comprehensive School

Counseling Plans

Shift the Lift: Transforming the CSCP to Support Your Collective Care Team

Shift the Lift: Transforming the CSCP to Support Your Collective Care Team is about taking the weight off individual school mental health professionals and building a system that truly supports them. Instead of relying on counselors, psychologists, social workers, and nurses to piece together services on their own, this approach, when intentionally designed and stewarded through facilitated collaboration, creates a unified, strategic framework that clarifies roles, aligns practices, and supports districts in aligning practices so students have access to more consistent, high-quality support. When the CSCP is used as a living, collaborative plan - not just a compliance document - it strengthens coordination across buildings, reduces duplication of efforts, and helps staff spend more time doing what matters most: supporting students and families.

Achieving this shift requires intentional design, shared leadership, and ongoing facilitation to move from vision to practice. Because this work involves sustained collaboration, facilitation, and systems alignment across roles and grade levels, many districts choose to partner with NYSMHA to make this vision a reality.

At NYSMHA, we partner with districts to shift the lift from individuals to systems, strengthening Collective Care Teams through intentional CSCP design and stewardship. This work brings clarity to current practices, reduces fragmentation, and centers data, equity, and student wellness in a shared plan. This shift empowers the entire Collective Care Team to operate with clarity and confidence, strengthens communication across disciplines, and builds a sustainable model that can be stewarded and strengthened over time. The result is a CSCP that feels actionable, meaningful, and aligned with the realities of today’s schools, one that lifts the load from your people and places it where it belongs: in a strong, intentionally designed system.

Framework vs. Implementation

The NYSMHA CSCP Framework is intentionally shared publicly to help districts understand what effective, sustainable school counseling systems look like and where they are headed.

Implementation is different.

Moving from a shared vision to a living, stewarded Comprehensive School Counseling Plan requires facilitated collaboration, systems design, and ongoing stewardship that most districts are not resourced to sustain internally without support.

What the Framework Provides

  • A clear vision for effective, sustainable CSCPs

  • Design principles aligned with NYSED priorities

  • A conceptual structure that highlights K–12 continuity and coherence

  • Shared language for collective care and systems thinking.

What Partnership Makes Possible

  • Facilitated Advisory Council leadership and stewardship

  • Cross-disciplinary role clarity and alignment

  • Identification of system strengths and gaps

  • District-specific CSCP design, synthesis, and documentation

  • Structures for annual review, updating, and sustainability

NYSMHA partners with districts to shift the lift from individuals to systems, building and stewarding the infrastructure that allows collective care teams to do their best work over time.

How Districts Engage with NYSMHA

NYSMHA partners with districts through a phased, collaborative approach that supports clarity, coherence, and long-term sustainability. Engagements are tailored to district context and designed to build shared ownership across roles and grade levels.

Phase 1: Orientation & Readiness

  • Establish shared understanding of the CSCP framework and district priorities

  • Identify stakeholders for the Comprehensive School Counseling Advisory Council

  • Clarify goals, scope, and timeline for the work ahead

Phase 2: Design & Alignment

  • Facilitate Advisory Council collaboration across disciplines

  • Surface system strengths, gaps, and areas of misalignment

  • Support district-specific CSCP design and synthesis aligned with NYSED priorities

Phase 3: Stewardship & Sustainability

  • Establish structures for annual review, updating, and accountability

  • Support leadership transitions and continuity over time

  • Align CSCPs with broader district initiatives, including workforce pathways and professional learning

FAQs

Is this a compliance service or a systems partnership?

1

This work is designed as a systems partnership. While CSCPs must meet NYSED requirements, NYSMHA focuses on helping districts design, steward, and sustain student support systems over time,not simply produce a compliance document.

Can districts use the framework independently?

2

The framework is shared publicly to clarify direction and expectations. Districts consistently find that implementation requires facilitation, cross-role alignment, and stewardship that is difficult to sustain internally without partnership.

Yes. CSCPs developed through this partnership are designed to support whole-child outcomes, K–12 continuity, and long-term alignment with the Portrait of a Graduate and NY Inspires trajectory.

Is this aligned with the Portrait of a Graduate and NY Inspires?

3

How long does an engagement typically last?

4

Engagements are time-bound but not one-size-fits-all. Most districts partner with NYSMHA across multiple phases to ensure the CSCP is not only developed, but positioned for ongoing use and annual updating.

NYSMHA works with district leadership, the collective care team, and an interdisciplinary Comprehensive School Counseling Advisory Council, which may include counseling, social work, psychology, nursing, administration, and community partners.

Who participates in the work?

What’s the first step if a district is interested?

The first step is a conversation to understand district context, goals, and readiness. From there, NYSMHA works with districts to determine an appropriate scope and timeline.

Let’s Work Together

Interested in exploring what this work could look like in your district? Let’s start with a conversation…