Community mental health providers

Community care treatment by community mental health providers (about two-thirds of these children received stimulant medication through their doctors). 

Schools have distinct cultures (Sarason, 2001), which are different from those of mental health agencies. To be responsive to the needs of the school community, mental health providers should understand the context of their work (i.e., the culture of the school and its history with school improvement efforts), try to become part of the school culture, and attend to the concerns of the educators. Carefully outlined protocols can establish a process for decision making that can avoid conflicts. 

Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act Amendments of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 618(g)). These provisions provide for grants to institutions of higher education for construction of facilities for research or for research and related purposes relating to education for mentally retarded, hard of hearing, deaf, speech impaired. 

Description of the Program. The Mental Health in Schools Program was developed in 1995 in response to the awareness that the school-aged population needed enhanced access to mental health services. It is perhaps the first recent federal program with an exclusive focus on children s mental health in a school-based context. MCHB was concerned that 20% of students have a significant mental health problem that compromises their ability to learn and ultimately to succeed at school. The intent of the initiative was to assist schools, educators, community-based organizations, and health/mental health providers to build the infrastructure necessary for enhancing primary mental health resomces and services for children... 

Another challenge involves how community-based mental health clinicians can complement the delivery of services by school personnel. Sometimes, school personnel may turn to community-based mental health providers to assist students in need of more acutely intensive services provided through a continuum of care in the community (e.g., family stabilization teams, emergency room coverage, and psychiatric hospitalization). In these instances, collaboration between school and community mental health personnel is essential to engage the student and family in treatment to ensure necessary consultation and follow-up. 

Within the field of school-based mental health, several barriers exist that inhibit successful family-provider collaboration in mental health services. Many of these barriers occm across treatment settings (e.g., community mental health... 

One innovative staff role created by this collaboration was that of five School Mental Health Advocate positions. Each regional School Mental Health Advocate, a master s-level trained therapist with school mental health experience, was assigned to a state Public Health district office to work closely with local schools, parents, health professionals, and mental health providers. These critical community partners have provided essential technical assistance, training, and support to schools, families, and communities to expand regional understanding and local capacity to provide collaborative prevention, early intervention, and treatment for students. 

In the collective struggle to educate and treat children with sed, schools and affiliated mental health service providers often utilize one or more program options. These have included inpatient hospitalization, partial-hospital (day treatment) programs, outsourced services of community mental health agencies, and traditional special education behavioral programs. These options are discussed in the following, with specific emphasis on traditional school-based approaches. 

The school mental health professional can serve a valuable role in evaluating the existing research literature to identify empirically supported programs that may be effective in school and community settings. IVaining in research design, quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis, and procedures for critically evaluating the research literature is essential for school mental health providers to serve as a resource in this capacity. 

School mental health providers need to be trained to critically evaluate the research literature to determine which approaches to intervention are empirically supported and for which populations of children. In addition, these professionals need to understand the important role that they can serve in developing and validating community responsive programs within their schools and in contributing to an accumulating database regarding empirically supported intervention and prevention approaches for diverse populations. 

While the various professional guidelines for mental health providers may be similar in terms of the broad themes or principles addressed (i.e., respect for the dignity of persons, professional competence and responsibility, integrity in professional relationships, and responsibility to community and society) (Jacob-Timm ... 

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