Community-engaged patient navigation safety net programs are established as an evidence-based approach to address cancer prevention and early detection efforts, but barriers to expand and sustain such programs persist. In addition, few studies describe how these programs impact buy-in among communities and policy change within health care systems…

Partnering With Parents, an infant mental health (IMH) intervention program at Starfish Family Services (SFS), is dedicated to improving social-emotional outcomes, supporting wellness, and strengthening relationships between infants and families. Families served by SFS experience a myriad of societal, community, and relational stressors that can…

This manual was designed primarily for use by people with disabilities. The hope is that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with disabilities. The focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read information about available resources, and to provide immediate…

Guided imagery is a valuable intervention strategy that can benefit children who are at risk for social, academic, and mental health problems. Guided imagery is a technique that employs imagination, emotions, and a spectrum of bodily senses (Naparstek, 1994). This particular technique can be applied in community and academic settings to help…

Leadership in infant and early childhood mental health must take into consideration issues of diversity, historical context, power dynamics, and difference in worldview and experiences. This article describes the importance of equitable and effective partnerships with rural/remote, underserved, and Indigenous communities in the United States and…

Building effective school community partnerships requires recognition of barriers along with time and commitment from both the school district and community agencies to overcome those barriers. It may seem overwhelming to fully address each of the challenges while attempting to implement each element of effective school partnerships all at once,…

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative offers a unique opportunity to conduct large-scale, multisite, multilevel program evaluation in the context of a federal environment that places many requirements and constraints on how the grants are conducted and managed. Federal programs stress performance-based outcomes, valid and reliable…

Health care providers could help achieve the necessary shift to healthful eating and active living; however, lack of coverage or reimbursement, lack of time, and limited information about appropriate interventions are some of the documented barriers. This report highlights the potential for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education…

Community-based mental health services are increasingly challenged by waiting lists for individual counseling. A strengths-based, brief solution-focused counseling (BSFC) model was used to increase the number of clients served while maintaining high-quality services. Clients who participated in BSFC experienced both shorter wait times than did…

Throughout the country and especially in Texas, local communities opened their arms to hurricane Katrina evacuees. Like the federal government, emergency health and mental health entities were unprepared for the massive numbers of people needing assistance. Mental health professionals, though armed with a wealth of crisis intervention information,…

The program of consumer education for Comprehensive Health Planning was developed to assist consumers to assume leadership roles in community decision-making with regard to health services. This paper presents a description of a project that was developed to train leaders for the program. The project consisted of special, advanced training…

Community participation in program decision-making and implementation is an ideal that community and academic stakeholders aspire to in participatory research. This ideal, however, can be difficult to achieve. We describe lessons learned about community participation from a quasi-experimental trial aimed at reducing the uptake of smoking among…

Objectives: This teaching idea is designed to increase students' understanding about the principles of a Coordinated School Health Program and apply these principles as they plan a community health program. As students work through the planning process, they will address many of the AAHPERD/AAHE Standards for Health Education Programs. Target…

Describes "linkage agreement" system between Illinois community mental health centers and Anna Mental Health and Developmental Center serving 28 rural counties. Agreements specify responsibilities of community centers and hospital staff regarding referrals, client treatment, and discharge. Describes improvements over previous…

This paper presents outcomes and accomplishments of the first round of participating individuals, communities, and grantees of the Circles of Care program (CoC). While accomplishing all CoC program goals, the initiative supported grantees in developing individual service delivery system models and positioned each grantee advantageously for…