The Interface between Mental Health Providers, Families, and Schools: Parent and Child Attitudes about Information-Sharing

Abstract

Youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are at an increased risk for school problems and negative consequences into adulthood, increasing the need for collaboration between families, school personnel and mental health providers. Current treatment guidelines emphasize the importance of information-sharing between providers and schools, yet few studies have addressed parents' or students'attitudes and preferences about this process or about the disclosure of mental health-related information to school professionals. Using a sample of 73 pairs of parents and their adolescents seeking outpatient treatment, this study assessed parental and adolescent attitudes about disclosure of mental health treatment information to school personnel. The majority of parents reported that the school should be informed that their adolescent was receiving counseling or medication for EBD, and that they should be the primary informant, rather than providers. By comparison, adolescents preferred more discretion about their involvement in treatment. Taken together, the study results highlight a number of implications relevant to the therapeutic relation and the process of obtaining and sharing mental health-related treatment information with various school personnel. Future research directions regarding the consultative and collaborative process with school personnel are also discussed.

‘The challenges of sharing information when a young person is experiencing severe emotional difficulties’: implications for schools and CAMHS

“…Young people experiencing emotional difficulties, such as depression or anxiety are at an increased risk of experiencing problems in school (Kramer, Vuppala, Lamps, Miller, & Thrush, ). Negative school experiences can exacerbate mental health difficulties, hinder recovery and impact negatively on learning and attainment (Herman, Reinke, Parkin, Traylor, & Agarwal, ; Morrison‐Gutman & Vorhaus, ).…”

“…Arguably, this is especially important when symptoms of a mental health difficulty are less immediately visible. Attention, concentration or memory problems associated with illnesses like depression and anxiety can be overlooked or misread by teaching staff as behavioural problems (Cooper, ; Ford, Hamilton, Meltzer, & Goodman, ; Kramer et al., ; Reddy & Newman, ) and has implications for the way in which young people are treated in school. Furthermore, because of a limited insight by teachers into the child's complex difficulties, they are less likely to proactively manage detrimental school‐related problems such as bullying and exam stress.…”

“…It is therefore timely that the complexities of information exchange between mental health providers and teaching staff are more thoroughly explored. This is because few studies focus on young people's or parent's preferences about the process of information exchange and the disclosure of mental health‐related information to school staff (Kramer et al., ).…”