“…Since much has already been written about PMHP, including a full-length volume (Cowen, Trost, et al, 1975), only a brief capsule summary is provided here. A key point to emphasize is that PMHP offers a genuine alternative for conceptualizing and delivering school mental health services, based on four structural emphases: a focus on very young (primary grade) children; a systematic use of screening and detection procedures to identify early school adjustment problems (Cowen, Dorr, et al, 1973;Gesten, 1976;Lorion, Cowen, & Caldwell, 1975); the use of nonprofessional help agents to expand the reach of effective services (Cowen, 1969;Cowen, Dorr, & Pokracki, 1972;Cowen, Trost, & Izzo, 1973;Zax & Cowen, 1967); and a changing role for school mental health professionals, emphasizing selection, training, and supervision of nonprofessionals and consultation and resource functions to support geometric expansion of helping services to children (Cowen, Lorion, Kraus, & Dorr, 1974).…”