With the growing challenges that children confront daily, schools must be prepared at any given moment to intervene on their behalf. And school professionals must be well trained to attend not only to the most routine mental health needs of its students but also to respond quickly and effectively to significant traumatic events. All this in addition to addressing demands to narrow the achievement gap, increase the rate of school success, and lower the dropout rate.

Along with an introductory chapter that focuses on advancing school-based mental health practice and research, the Handbook of School Mental Health addresses a broad range of issues, including how to:

• Build and enhance collaborative approaches among the various individual, group, system, and agency stakeholders.

• Ensure best practices are used in all systems of care; provide effective training for all professionals; introduce strength-based approaches to assessment in schools; and facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practices.

• Prevent and effectively manage crises and violence in schools while addressing the unique ethical, cultural, and legal challenges of school mental health.

  This volume is an essential resource for the diverse coalition of school mental health staff and advocates including educators, social workers, school psychologists, school counselors and other professionals who work with and are concerned with the well-being of children.

  Autorentext

  Mark Weist, Ph.D., is currently Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He directs the Center for School Mental Health Assistance, a technical assistance center that aims to promote the expansion and improvement of mental health programs in schools across the country. He also directs the School Mental Health Program, which provides assessment, treatment, and prevention services to youth in 23 elementary, middle and high schools in Baltimore. Steven W. Evans, Ph.D., is the Alvin V. Baird Jr. Centennial Chair in Psychology at James Madison University and conducts treatment development and evaluation research on school mental health approaches to treating youth with ADHD and preventing undesirable outcomes during adolescence. He is a former special education teacher and currently a clinical psychologist who trains graduate and undergraduate students in school mental health practice and research. Nancy A. Lever, Ph.D., completed her undergraduate training at Dartmouth College and her doctoral training in clinical psychology at Temple University. After finishing an internship at the University of Maryland Medical System, she stayed on at the University to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in the School Mental Health Program (SMHP). In 1998, she joined the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as an Assistant Professor. Within the Division, she has been a driving force in advancing training related to school mental health and has coordinated training experiences for psychology interns, psychiatry fellows, postdoctoral fellows and SMHP staff. She serves as the Associate Director of the VA/University of Maryland Psychology Internship and is the Deputy Director of the SMHP. Dr. Lever joined the Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action (then the Center for School Mental Health Assistance) in 1996 as a Consultant and is presently the Director of Training, Outreach and Dissemination. She chairs the program committee for the national conference, is a facilitator of the National Community of Practice on School Mental Health, and represents the CSMHA on local, state and national committees related to school mental health. She is also leading efforts in Maryland to better integrate schools and the public mental health system and is appointed to the Governor's Maryland School-Based Health Center Policy Advisory Committee.

  Klappentext

  Turn to this book for practical guidance in attending not only to routine mental health needs of students, but also in responding quickly and effectively to traumatic events. The authors discuss how to build and enhance collaborative approaches among the many stakeholders. You'll learn how to ensure that best evidence-based practices are used in all systems of care. Next, the handbook introduces strength-based approaches to assessment in schools. Finally, the authors discuss the latest strategies to help you prevent and manage crises while addressing the unique ethical, cultural, and legal challenges of school mental health.

  Inhalt

  1. Introduction: Advancing Mental Health Practice and Research in Schools; M. Weist, S. Evans, N. Lever. Part I: Background, Policy, and Advocacy. 2. History of School-Based Mental Health Services in the United States; L. Flaherty, D. Osher. 3. Toward a Comprehensive Policy Vision for Mental Health in Schools; H. Adelman, L. Taylor. 4. Effective Advocacy for School-Based Mental Health Programs; K. Hogan Bruen, C. Clauss-Ehlers, D. Nelson, M. Faenza. 5. Mobilizing Research To Inform a School Mental Health Initiative: Baltimore's School Mental Health Outcomes Group; E. Bruns, C. Walrath, M. Glass-Siegel, M. Weist. 6. Overcoming the Challenges of Funding School Mental Health Programs; S. Evans, M. Glass-Siegel, A. Frank, R. Van Treuren, N. Lever, M. Weist. Part II: Enhancing Collaborative Approaches. 7. Mental Health in Schools: Programs of the Federal Government; T. Menden Anglin. 8. Enhancing Collaboration within and across Disciplines To Advance Mental Health Programs in Schools; N. Rappaport, D. Osher, E.Greenberg Garrison, C. Anderson-Ketchmark, K. Dwyer. 9. The Community Schools Approach: Improving Student Learning, Strengthening Families and Communities; M. Blank, J. Quinn, H. Kim. 10. Partnering with Families in Expanded School Mental Health Programs; J. Axelrod Lowie, N. Lever, M. Grady Ambrose, S. Tager, S. Hill. 11. System, Agency, and Stakeholder Collaboration To Advance Mental Health Programs in Schools; N. Lever, S. Adelsheim, C. Prodente, K. Christodulu, M. Ambrose, J. Schlitt, M. Weist. Part III: School Mental Health inContext. 12. School-Based Mental Health Services in Urban Communities; M. Atkins, S. Frazier, J. Abdul Adil, E. Talbott. 13. The Mental Health for Immigrants Program: Program Design and Participatory Research in the Real World; B. Stein, S. Katoaka, L. Jaycox, E. Steiger, M. Wong, A. Fink, P. Escudero, C. Zaragoza. 14. School-Based Mental Health on a United States Army Installation; M. Faran, M. Weist, A. Saito, L. Yoshikami, J. Weiser, B. Kaer. 15. Serving the Most Severe of Serious Emotionally Disturbed Students in School Settings; J. Nyre, E. Vernberg, M. Roberts. 16. Children with Special Health Care Needs in School: Responding to the Challenge through Comprehensive School-Based Health Care; C.M. Schaeffer, M. Weist, J. McGrath. Part IV: Moving toward Best Practice. 17. School Mental Health in Systems of Care; P. Leaf, D. Schultz, L. Kiser, D. Pruitt. 18. Training for Effective Practice in the Schools; T. Power, P. Manz, S. Left. 19. Continuous Quality Improvement and Evaluation of Expanded School Mental Health Programs; L. Nabors, H. Lehmkuhl, M. Weist. 20. Strength-Based Approaches to Assessment in Schools; M. Epstein, M. Harniss, V. Robbins, L. Wheeler, S. Cyrulik, M. Kriz, J. Nelson. 21. Facilitating the Implementation of Evidence-Based Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Efforts in Schools; P. Graczyk, C. Domitrovich, J. Zins. Part V: Cross-Cutting Issues. 22. Preventing and Addressing Crises and Violence-Related Problems in Schools; M. Kerr. 23. Achieving Generalization in School-Based Mental Health; S. Evans, J. Langberg, J