For Dr. Amy Grosso, Ph.D., behavioral health as a profession wasn’t really on her radar until she faced the unexpected loss of a family member, which drove her to the question: “How do I help others not experience this too?” 

When Grosso was the grant coordinator for Round Rock schools, she realized how underrepresented the importance of student mental health was in school safety funding. Through discussions around early intervention, she became the director of behavioral health for the Round Rock school district, where she developed a non-responder model with social workers, and implemented new threat assessment protocols. 

More highlights include addressing mental health and suicide prevention in addition to physical security measures, resources like the 988-suicide prevention hotline and support for school staff.