As professionals who often know the most about psychology in school settings and education in clinical settings and because of the importance of addressing both academic and mental health needs in anxious youth, school psychologists are uniquely positioned to assist anxious students. School psychologists possess a dynamic skill set that can be…

Approximately 20% of children in the United States experience significant mental, emotional, or behavioral symptoms that would qualify them for a psychiatric diagnosis (Burns et al., 1995; Costello et al., 2003). Unfortunately, only 15%-30% of these children receive any type of help or support (Ringel & Sturm, 2001; United States Public Health…

Despite huge investment over the past 10 years, improving outcomes for looked-after children remains elusive. A challenge for practitioners, researchers and policy-makers alike has been the absence of a shared conceptual framework for considering and responding to the needs of looked-after children. A second challenge relates to the measurement of…

Supervision of therapeutic practice is one of the central professional elements of mental health practitioners. Supervision provides growth for therapists in their respective professional fields, more effective therapy for clients, and some measure of ethical protection for the welfare of clients and the public at large. However, therapists who…

The early childhood years (conception to age 8) are not only the most critical time for human growth but also for development and learning. Neurological and behavioral scientists document how inadequate stimulation and interactions can disrupt basic neural circuitry and cause long-term challenges for child's cognitive development. Yet, despite the…

Professional school counselors, school psychologists, and other professionals working in K-12 settings have a complex job of meeting the needs of all students. Often, referral to outside counseling is necessary; however, an effective and comprehensive counseling model advocates for school mental health professionals to employ a wide variety of…

Prior to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1990), services for a child with special needs were limited in the typical preschool setting. Traditional early intervention approaches often relied on a normative assessment perspective that focused on the attainment of typical developmental milestones and tended to emphasize the concept…

This document describes services for the elderly provided by the Spokane Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in Spokane, Washington. It begins by stating several reasons that the elderly are often unserved or underserved by health and social service agencies and by noting the need for community efforts to identify and locate the subpopulation of…

MindMatters Plus (MM+) is a program that focuses on building the capacity of secondary schools to meet the needs of students who have high support needs in the area of mental health. A necessity to supplement this work with specific strategies and processes allied to the delivery of mental health programs in secondary schools was identified.…

Historically, the policy of deinstitutionalization has resulted in the closing of many federal and state mental health facilities. This has caused many criminal justice professionals and social workers to question where the mentally ill are placed when they are no longer in a treatment facility. With the abundance of offenders with mental health…

This article describes the Pathways to Prevention (PTP) infant mental health initiative conducted by Early Head Start (EHS). The authors note that staff members who want to build their early childhood programs' capacity in infant mental health are often at a loss about how to do it. They suggest establishing an intensive, ongoing relationship with…

This summary report from a 3-year research and demonstration project describes the framework, methods and materials used by the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) Day Care Project. The project served approximately 750 children and their families through day care centers and family day care…