The Critical Role of School Psychology in the School Mental Health Movement

Abstract

School mental health (SMH) programs are gaining momentum and, when done well, are associated with improved academic and social-emotional outcomes. Professionals from several education and mental health disciplines have sound training and experiences needed to play a critical role in delivering quality SMH services. School psychologists, specifically, are in a key position to advance SMH programs and services. Studies have documented that school psychologists desire more prominent roles in the growth and improvement of SMH, and current practice models from national organizations encourage such enhanced involvement. This article identifies the roles of school psychologists across a three-tiered continuum of SMH practice and offers an analysis of current training and professional development opportunities aimed at such role enhancement. We provide a justification for the role of school psychologists in SMH, describe a framework for school psychologists in the SMH delivery system, discuss barriers to and enablers of this role for school psychologists, and conclude with recommendations for training and policy. C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Mapping the Practice of Psychologists in Schools in Victoria, Australia

“…The Principals of the Australian Institute (PAI) provides professional development for school leaders to support national mental health initiatives for schools (e.g., MindMatters) that are funded by the Australian government (Department of Health and Ageing, 2010). Consistent with research (Splett, Fowler, Weist, & McDaniel, 2013), these Victorian school psychologists reported a desire to, and were in key positions to advance school mental health programs associated with improved academic and social emotional outcomes. Nor did they have a role in evaluating these programs, despite training and skills in collecting and analysing data to measure effectiveness.…”

Gone viral: Content characteristics and relative quality of highly shared school psychology‐related content on Pinterest

“…Following material related to social-emotional adjustment was content related to behavior problems (20.48%) and then professional issues such as jokes, office organization, and advocacy (14.94%). The description of the overall content from the random sample was consistent with survey work indicating that school psychologists often feel ill-prepared to deal with social-emotional and behavioral issues (McKevitt, 2012) and that educators, in general, would like more training and support in these areas (Splett, Fowler, Weist, McDaniel, & Dvorsky, 2013).…”

Evaluation of a school-based transition program designed to facilitate school reentry following a mental health crisis or psychiatric hospitalization

“…Although the program does collaborate with special education teachers when students on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or 504 plan enter the program, the program is not part of special education. The model fits within the framework of response to intervention (RTI, more recently known as Multi‐Tiered Systems of Support or MTSS; see Gresham, Reschly, & Shinn, ; Splett, Fowler, Weist, McDaniel, & Dvorsky, ), which integrates assessment and intervention within a multilevel prevention and intervention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavioral problems (National Center on Response to Intervention, ). Transition programs are consistent with Tier 3 tertiary prevention (or intensive support) interventions, and with Tier 2 secondary prevention (or targeted) step‐down supports offered to students as their level of need decreases (e.g., upon reintegration in regular classroom activities or achieving “alumni status”).…”

“…Most educators and mental health professionals recognize the reciprocal influence between academic performance and social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (Algozzine, Wang, & Violette, ). Many professionals seek to integrate mental health interventions into a school's multitiered system of student support and recognize the need for training, clarification, and coordination of roles and expectations, and to move away from traditional constraints on the roles of school psychologists, whose time is often devoted to assessment (Harris, ; Splett et al., ; Stephan, Sugai, Lever, & Connors, ).…”