Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT)

SBIRT stands for Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral To.

Screening is done through the Check Yourself tool developed by Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington with Tickit Health. The screening asks students questions about their strengths, substance use, mental health and safety.

Based on screening results, the school counseling team will connect with students who indicated higher levels of risk or requested additional support. Students may receive a brief intervention of several sessions with their school counselor based on motivational interviewing principles.

Students at elevated levels of risk may be referred to providers in the community for additional supports.

Since the 2018-2019 school year, SVSD has been collaborating with other King County school districts to develop our plan for using SBIRT in our middle schools. Our administrators and counselors have participated in numerous trainings to ensure that processes and supports are in place. SVSD works with King County’s Best Starts for Kids and Seattle Children’s Hospital to monitor the implementation of SBIRT to ensure its effectiveness.

In the short-term, the district and county expect to see students who receive extra support report:

• Decreased intention to use substances and frequency of substance use;

• Decreased symptoms of depression, self-harm/suicidality, and anxiety; and,

• Increased reports of feeling connected to their school.

Over the long-term, we expect to see these changes in symptoms lead to:

• Increased attendance

• Decreased dropout rates

• Increased high school graduation rates

• Delayed onset of substance use

The Check Yourself tool is an interactive electronic screening tool that gives teens personalized feedback and strategies for staying healthy. It also gives the school support team key information about the student. The goal of the tool is to help spark conversations between teens and their support team that motivate teens to make healthy choices.

Youth involvement in the development of the tool has been essential in ensuring the information is applicable and engaging. Electronic screening via Check Yourself can increase teen comfort and honesty and remove bias in how questions are asked. The personalized feedback includes research-based motivational strategies to help teens set their own goals and start thinking about opportunities before meeting with a school counselor.

The tool is a HIPPA-compliant, interactive, web-based survey that collects individual student data and provides them with instant personalized feedback about mental health behaviors. Only the school’s counseling team will know individual student data.

SVSD uses the Check Yourself tool as a universal screener, which means it will be offered to all students in grades 7-8, at all three SVSD middle schools.

A letter will go home to each family with the exact screening date for their 7th or 8th grade student.

Students can opt-out of the screener at any time, just as they can opt-out of the Healthy Youth Survey.

Each school will send a letter home to each family with the date their student will be screened.

After the screener is administered, parents will also be notified if their student’s results indicate high levels of risk, and in instances when the counseling team is referring the student to supports within the community.

Parents may also opt out their child from taking the screener.

• SBIRT Screener Questions 

• King County Frequently Asked Questions

• Seattle Times

• King County Best Starts

• OSPI

• Chief Kanim Middle School
  Success Coordinator Sarah DelMissier-Burns  |  425-831-8285

• Snoqualmie Middle School
  Principal Megan Botulinski  |  425-831-8446
  Success Coordinator Christina Hillis  |  425-831-8433

• Twin Falls Middle School
  Success Coordinator Susan Scoones  |  425-831-4141