School-based health centers

The maturation and increasing sophistication of coalitions, especially those involving family members of youth with emotional and behavioral problems, and those focused on school-based health centers (Simpson et al., 1998 Dryfoos, 1998b). 

Dryfoos, J. G. (1998b). School-based health centers in the context of education reform. Journal of School Health, 68, 404-408. 

Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (2001). School-based health centers Results from a 50-state survey school year 1999-2000. Washington, DC The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools, http //www.healthinschools.org/sbhcs/sbhcs table.htm. 

II. School-district mh Unit—few districts operate specific mental health units that encompass clinic facilities, as well as providing services and consultation to schools. Some others have started financing their own school-based health centers with mental health services as a major element. The format for this mechanism tends to be centralized clinics with the capability for outreach to schools. 

III. Formal connections with community mh services— Increasingly, schools have developed connections with community agencies, often as the result of the school-based health center movement, school-linked services initiatives (e.g., full-service schools, family resource centers), and efforts to develop systems of care (e.g., wraparound services for those in special education). Four formats have emerged ... 

School-Based Health Centers and Violence Prevention Three community health centers in West Virginia, Maryland, and California implemented violence prevention and mental health services in school-based health centers. 

National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (2000). Medicaid reimbursement in school-based health centers State association and provider perspectives. Washington, DC Author. 

Schlitt, J., Santelli, J., Juszczak, L., Brindis, C., Nystrom, R., Klein, J., Kaplan, D., Seiboum, D. (2000). Creating access to care School-based health center census 1998-99, Washington, DC National Assembly on School-Based Health Care. 

Examples of the programs coming from these recommendations include the expansion of behavioral health services in school-based health centers. The Office of School Health, with additional financial support from the isbhp, currently provides funding for 17 school-based health centers statewide, which serve over 40 schools. The New Mexico School Mental Health Awareness Project, also created... 

ROLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS AND SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS... 

Although special education services are certainly warranted and valuable for many children with special health care needs, school-based health centers (sbhcs) offer another mechanism to address the needs of these students. As mentioned, SBHCS now number over 1200 in the United States and have expanded to include a range of preventive, primary care, and mental health services. A common staffing pattern for an sbhc would include a medical assistant, nurse coordinator (often an rn), nurse practitioner or physician assistant, a mental health professional (usually master s-level or doctoral trainee), and a consulting physician. Some centers have additional staff, including health educators, outreach workers, and dentists (Juszcak et al., 1995). 

School-based health centers are uniquely positioned to provide services to students who are most in need. Most sbhcs are established in low-income communities with inadequate health care resources and many unmet health care needs. This is reflected in a 1998-1999 survey of sbhcs nationally two-thirds of the population served by the centers were members of a minority group (National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, 2000). Studies of children with special health care needs reveal that those who face the most serious problems in accessing health care are children who live at or below the federal poverty line, live in single-parent families, are uninsured, are older children and teens, or members of a racial or ethnic minority group, sbhcs are designed to provide easily accessible health care services to this population. 

In many ways the ideal arrangement is when an expanded school mental health program operates out of a school-based health center. This partnership promotes a coordinated approach to student health and mental health issues, helps to... 

School-based health centers are successful at connecting students in need with mental health services. For example, Kaplan et al. (1998) found that adolescents with access to an sbhc were 10 times more likely to make a mental health or substance abuse visit than students who had commercial health insurance but did not have access to an sbhc. 

School-based health centers with esmh can assume an important role in integrating children and youth with special health care needs into the community system of health care. This role is most important for youth who are uninsured. Uninsured children are four times more likely than insured children to have an unmet health need such as a need for medical care, mental health care, and prescriptions (Newacheck Taylor, 1992). Case managers and clinicians in schools... 

Juszcak, L., Fisher, M., Lear, J. G., Friedman, S. B. (1995). Back to school Training opportunities in school-based health centers. Journal of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, 16,101-104. 

Kaplan, D. W., Calonge, B. N., Guernsey, B. R, Hanrahan, M. B. (1998). Managed care and school-based health centers Use of health services. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 152, 25-33. 

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