Transforming School Mental Health Services

"This soundly structured book reinforces and enriches educators' skills in population-based mental health. It provides usable information on how to get administrative buy-in for implementing coordinated, proven prevention and intervention practices. Rich with Web connections and references, it can serve as a textbook, a practitioner's workbook, and as a tool kit for implementation."
—Kevin P. Dwyer, Consultant, Turnaround for Children
Former President, National Association of School Psychologists

The road map for designing and implementing effective mental health services for all students!

Studies have shown that mental wellness is a key determinant of students' academic and developmental success, but simply addressing the problems of individual students is not enough. Increasingly, schools are turning to population-based models for providing mental health services to ensure that students maintain the psychological, social, and emotional competence needed for learning. This comprehensive guidebook demonstrates how to use this approach to effectively assess mental health needs and design appropriate prevention and intervention strategies that will benefit individual students, whole classrooms, and an entire school population.

Drawing from a wealth of current research and backed by evidence supporting the effectiveness of the population-based approach, this wide-ranging resource offers:

• Formal and informal strategies for identifying and prioritizing a school's mental health needs, as well as risk and protective factors
• Insights into creating and managing a nurturing school environment, promoting psychological well-being, and preventing mental health problems
• Suggestions for engaging parents in the process of fostering mental health
• Intervention strategies that address significant behavioral problems, including violence, bullying, depression, and difficulty relating to peers
• An integrated ten-step sequence for shifting from conventional approaches that focus only on individual problems to population-based services that support all students

Transforming School Mental Health Services is the ideal resource for school mental health professionals and critical decision makers looking to optimize students' wellness and educational performance.

• A "roadmap" to conducting a needs assessment of mental health services for all students in a school and to designing and implementing a mental health services program responsive to those needs
• School-wide approaches to intervention in significant behavioral problems, including violence, bullying, depression, and socialization difficulties
• Interventions may be classwide, schoolwide or districtwide, and involve the participation of families, students, and the community
• Strategies for involving parents in fostering mental health