Handbook of School Mental Health

With the growing challenges that children confront daily, schools must be prepared at any given moment to intervene on their behalf. And school professionals must be well trained to attend not only to the most routine mental health needs of its students but also to respond quickly and effectively to significant traumatic events. All this in addition to addressing demands to narrow the achievement gap, increase the rate of school success, and lower the dropout rate. Along with an introductory chapter that focuses on advancing school-based mental health practice and research, the Handbook of School Mental Health addresses a broad range of issues, including how to: Build and enhance collaborative approaches among the various individual, group, system, and agency stakeholders; Ensure best practices are used in all systems of care; provide effective training for all professionals; introduce strength-based approaches to assessment in schools; and facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practices; Prevent and effectively manage crises and violence in schools while addressing the unique ethical, cultural, and legal challenges of school mental health. This volume is an essential resource for the diverse coalition of school mental health staff and advocates including educators, social workers, school psychologists, school counselors and other professionals who work with and are concerned with the well-being of children.

Mark Weist, Ph.D., is currently Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He directs the Center for School Mental Health Assistance, a technical assistance center that aims to promote the expansion and improvement of mental health programs in schools across the country. He also directs the School Mental Health Program, which provides assessment, treatment, and prevention services to youth in 23 elementary, middle and high schools in Baltimore.Steven W. Evans, Ph.D., is the Alvin V. Baird Jr. Centennial Chair in Psychology at James Madison University and conducts treatment development and evaluation research on school mental health approaches to treating youth with ADHD and preventing undesirable outcomes during adolescence. He is a former special education teacher and currently a clinical psychologist who trains graduate and undergraduate students in school mental health practice and research.Nancy A. Lever, Ph.D., completed her undergraduate training at Dartmouth College and her doctoral training in clinical psychology at Temple University. After finishing an internship at the University of Maryland Medical System, she stayed on at the University to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in the School Mental Health Program (SMHP). In 1998, she joined the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as an Assistant Professor.Within the Division, she has been a driving force in advancing training related to school mental health and has coordinated training experiences for psychology interns, psychiatry fellows, postdoctoral fellows and SMHP staff. She serves as the Associate Director of the VA/University of Maryland Psychology Internship and is the Deputy Director of the SMHP. Dr. Lever joined the Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action (then the Center for School Mental Health Assistance) in 1996 as a Consultant and is presently the Director of Training, Outreach and Dissemination. She chairs the program committee for the national conference, is a facilitator of the National Community of Practice on School Mental Health, and represents the CSMHA on local, state and national committees related to school mental health. She is also leading efforts in Maryland to better integrate schools and the public mental health system and is appointed to the Governor's Maryland School-Based Health Center Policy Advisory Committee.