Family collaboration assessment

A third principle of this chapter is that the assessment process in child psychiatry has unique challenges, including the use and consideration of multiple informants and the developmental level of the child. These challenges lead to the fourth principle, which is that successful treatment requires education and collaboration with the family and others involved with the child. Treatment of developmental neurobiology affects the environment that surrounds the child, and treatment of the surrounding environment in turn affects developmental neurobiology. This interaction implies that early and effective intervention can alter the developmental trajectory of a child with a mental disorder. 

The initial assessment begins to establish the therapeutic alliance between the physician and the family. A working partnership with the parents and with the youngster is essential for comprehensive treatment and for compliance. The physician should be a collaborator with the child and family to empower them to effect improvements in their lives. Within this therapeutic alliance, the psychological power of medication treatment needs to be considered (see Chapter 33) to avoid the pitfall of assuming that medication alone will independently transform the identified problems. 

In addition to the needs assessment, active collaboration with community agencies is a cornerstone to effective advocacy. Says Schmidt (1999), Schools themselves are a major agency in the community, but schools alone cannot offer all the human services necessary to help a town, city, or county educate its citizens, provide health care, and offer basic services to improve the human condition (p. 185). Turning to community resources is an option when schools are unable to address the myriad concerns of students and their families. Effective collaboration is a two-way process. On the one hand, it is critical that the school convey its focus to the surrounding community. On the other, it is important for the school to reach out to community agencies and learn about their services to create effective partnerships. 

Although SSTS predominantly respond to individual children s needs, in collaboration with the ss-HS project some ssTs have taken on the responsibility to address issues that require preventive efforts and school climate issues. For example, some mental health professionals have asked all teachers to complete a needs assessment form that identifies students in their classrooms and issues of concern for that student (e.g., family member death, drug exposure or use). Mental health professionals have worked collaboratively with their ssts to determine how to provide services to respond to these identified needs. Twice a year teachers in all SS-HS schools also complete behavioral checklists on all children in their classrooms, ss-hs project staff provide reports based on these checklists to administrators and SSTS to help them discuss needs not only of individual students but also entire classrooms and the whole school climate. 

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