This investigation involved the surveying of school psychology practitioners (N = 291) to determine the possible existence of a relationship between administrative pressure to practice unethically and impaired occupational health, as manifested in elevated levels of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to exit the workforce. Almost one‐third of participants claimed to have been pressured to behave unethically, with directives most commonly consisting of instructions to withhold recommendations for support services and to agree with inappropriate special education placement decisions. Practitioners who experienced administrative pressure reported higher levels of burnout, less satisfaction with their current position and the profession, and a greater desire to leave their job and the field of school psychology. The findings are presented within the context of current and projected shortages of practicing school psychologists. Implications for preventing burnout and promoting school psychologists’ occupational well‐being are discussed.

Schools have an important role to play in combatting suicide, a significant public health problem that disproportionately affects adolescents and young adults. Schools can work to reduce youth suicidality by adopting policies that align with best practice recommendations pertaining to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention. This study examined the impact of a one-day training, the Creating Suicide Safety in Schools (CSSS) workshop, on the readiness of school personnel to improve their schools’ suicide-related policies and procedures. Participants (N = 562) consisted predominantly of school-based mental health professionals working in communities of low or mixed socioeconomic status in New York State. Survey data were collected according to a one-group pre-test—post-test design with a 3-month follow-up. Workshop participants demonstrated improvements from pre-test to post-test in their attitudes about the importance of school-based suicide prevention, knowledge of best practices, perceptions of administrative support, and feelings of empowerment to work collaboratively to enhance their schools’ suicide safety. At follow-up, participants reported barriers to implementing changes, most commonly in the form of insufficient time and stigma surrounding the topic of suicide. The results of this study provide preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of the CSSS workshop as a promising method for improving schools’ suicide safety, yet additional research using randomized controlled trials needs to be conducted.

Recommendations for improving the responsiveness of private practitioners are provided, with an emphasis on enhancing clinical training and increasing the availability and accessibility of mental health resources.

No abstract

Eating disorders (EDs) are historically complex to treat, and evidence-based recommendations for treating adolescents with EDs need to be improved. The present study is unique and distinctive as it is the first to assess therapists' report of their technique, working alliance, and countertransference with ED adolescents in relation to patient factors of childhood traumatic experiences as well as ED symptomatology. One hundred and four experienced (M ϭ 16.28 years as clinician) therapists from a variety of different theoretical orientations and disciplines currently treating an adolescent patient diagnosed with an ED for at least 8 sessions completed an online survey. These therapists completed measures of therapists' technique, alliance, and countertransference, as well as a DSM-5 ED symptom and childhood trauma questionnaire regarding their patients. Therapists reported experiencing more special/ overinvolved countertransference when the patient had greater trauma severity, specifically with patients who experienced more severe traumatic parental upheavals and had been a victim of violence. In addition, therapists used more psychodynamic interpersonal (PI) techniques when treating patients with more severe trauma histories, especially when they were victim to a major parental upheaval, childhood sexual abuse, and serious injury. PI was also significantly related to total ED symptoms, and most specifically with bulimia nervosa and binge ED symptoms. Despite these findings, there was a lack of significance for therapist alliance with ED symptom or trauma variables. Overall, these findings highlight how therapist treatment process may be related to aspects of trauma history and symptomatology when treating an adolescent with an ED. Public Significance StatementThe present study suggests that therapists report using psychodynamic-interpersonal techniques and feeling special/overinvolved countertransference with eating disordered adolescents who have a severe childhood trauma history. These findings highlight the importance of being aware of special countertransference and the utility of psychodynamic-interpersonal techniques, both of which were also related to greater therapeutic alliance, when working with eating disordered adolescent patients who have a more severe trauma history.