Shaping the future of mental health in schools

Empowering Youth to Build BRIDGES: Youth Leadership in Suicide Prevention

“…As stated earlier, over ten million students require mental health services (National Center for Health Statistics, 2011). This makes it paramount for schools to focus on better integration with mental health care through school-community collaborations (Adelman & Taylor, 2000). Such collaborations make services more accessible for underserved, hard to reach students while building capacity for diverse psychosocial contexts seen in schools.…”

“…The responsibility of schools as sources of mental health education and care is an essential aspect of the BRIDGES framework. Research shows that when communities become involved with school-based services, they provide support networks, learn and teach coping skills, and participate in governance around services (Adelman & Taylor, 2000;Ballard et al, 2013). Whether or not schools are capable of providing services within their own institutions, they should move toward a "nexus point" model in which they connect their unique communities to mental health services (Haddad et al, 2017).…”

Improving Collaborative Mental Health Care by School-Based Primary Care and Mental Health Providers

“…SBHCs improve access to comprehensive health care for underserved children and youth (Kaplan et al, 1998). Other specific advantages of SBHCs include the provision of services in a more familiar and less threatening setting (Adelman & Taylor, 2000), the elimination of transportation issues (Kaplan et al, 1998), and a reduction in stigma associated with seeking care (Mufson, Dorta, Olfson, Weissman, & Hoagwood, 2004). Because of their unique position in the school setting, SBHC providers can engage educators and staff in providing interventions or support and may consult with the school team regarding student progress (Weist 2005).…”

Evaluating a Modular Approach to Therapy for Children With Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH) in School-Based Mental Health Care: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Accordingly, schools have become a primary setting for youth mental health care in the U.S. (Farmer et al, 2003 ; Green et al, 2013 ), and a number of interventions have been developed that can be delivered in schools (Weisz and Kazdin, 2017 ). Despite the growing emphasis on school-based care and the hope that such care can improve school functioning [e.g., via increased academic engagement, reduced disruptive behavior, or enhanced academic performance (Jennings et al, 2000 ; Hussey and Guo, 2003 ; Bruns et al, 2004 ; Lehr et al, 2004 ; Zins et al, 2004 )], school-based interventions are not consistently tested in clinical trials (Hoagwood et al, 2007 ), so the effectiveness of some potentially important programs remains unclear (Hoagwood and Erwin, 1997 ; Adelman and Taylor, 2015 ; Melkevik et al, 2016 ). A growing literature suggests that interventions with demonstrated effectiveness in other settings (e.g., clinics), including those deemed evidence-based therapies (EBTs), may also be effective when delivered in schools (Evans and Weist, 2004 ; Melkevik et al, 2016 ).…”