NCJ Number
195666
Date Published
September 2002
Length
46 pages
Annotation
One of eight guides designed to enhance school safety, this guide
discusses how schools can improve their capacity to serve all
students by linking with mental health and social service
agencies.
Abstract
Public schools provide a natural environment within which to
offer all students, including students with emotional needs, the
support they need. The use of evidence-based and best-practice
clinical interventions, including psychotropic medications and a
range of psychosocial treatments, have proven effective in
improving treatment outcomes in school-based settings. Locating
services in schools can provide necessary support for all
students while preventing restrictive placement for children with
emotional and behavioral disorders. Expanding mental health
services in schools can address a number of barriers that make it
difficult for children and families to access appropriate mental
health care. For most children, especially for poor and minority
youth, schools are the most readily available and easily
accessible sites for the provision of a continuum of
community-based mental health services. This guidebook is
intended to help improve a school's capacity to provide
universal, early, and intensive interventions to serve all
students by linking with mental health and social service
agencies. The topics addressed are school-community
collaboration, "wraparound" care, a three-level approach to
preventing violence, and a who's who in mental health services.
22 references and an annotated listing of 25 organizational
resources
Date Published: September 1, 2002