School Mental Health


Book Description

This book provides vivid examples of school mental health innovations from 18 countries, addressing mental health promotion, prevention and interventions. These initiatives and innovations enable readers from different regions and disciplines to apply strategies to help students achieve and maintain mental health, enhance their learning outcomes and access services, worldwide.




Evidence Based Practice in School Mental Health


Book Description

Though recent legislation embedded with the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act mandates the use of evidence in school-based practice to demonstrate positive outcomes for all students, school social workers - especially those long out of school - often lack the conceptual tools to locate, evaluate, and apply evidence in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of their work. The first of its kind tailored specifically to this audience, this SSAAA Workshop title guides school professionals in infusing research throughout their daily practice. It shows school service providers a pragmatic approach to informing every major practice decision with the appropriate research so that students receive the best possible services. This includes how to use research to make reliable and valid assessments, how to use research to choose the best intervention, and how to do research to evaluate progress. Raines goes beyond creating a catalog of interventions that will soon be outdated and provides school social workers with a detailed road map of the EBP process. Chapters detail the nuts and bolts of EBP, explaining how to ask a relevant, answerable question; where to search for evidence; how to appraise the literature and avoid the pitfalls of web based information; how to adapt and apply the evidence in a developmentally and culturally sensitive way; and how to evaluate the results. Detailed examples along the way, including sample spreadsheets practitioners can easily adapt to evaluate their students' progress, bring accountability within reach for school professionals who struggle to find the time, resources, and support sufficient to apply the best evidence to their schools.




Mental Health in Schools


Book Description

For many children, schools are the main or only providers of mental health services. In this visionary and comprehensive book, two nationally known experts describe a new approach to school-based mental health—one that better serves students, maximizes resources, and promotes academic performance. The authors describe how educators can effectively coordinate internal and external resources to support a healthy school environment and help at-risk students overcome barriers to learning. School leaders, psychologists, counselors, and policy makers will find essential guidance, including: • An overview of the history and current state of school mental health programs, discussing major issues confronting the field • Strategies for effective school-based initiatives, including addressing behavior issues, introducing classroom-based activities, and coordinating with community resources • A call to action for higher-quality mental health programming across public schools—including how collaboration, research, and advocacy can make a difference Gain the knowledge you need to develop or improve your school's mental health program to better serve both the academic and mental health needs of your students!




School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.




International Research Handbook on Values Education and Student Wellbeing


Book Description

Informed by the most up-to-date research from around the world, as well as examples of good practice, this handbook analyzes values education in the context of a range of school-based measures associated with student wellbeing. These include social, emotional, moral and spiritual growth – elements that seem to be present where intellectual advancement and academic achievement are being maximized. This text comes as ‘values education’ widens in scope from being concerned with morality, ethics, civics and citizenship to a broader definition synonymous with a holistic approach to education in general. This expanded purview is frequently described as pedagogy relating to ‘values’ and ‘wellbeing’. This contemporary understanding of values education, or values and wellbeing pedagogy, fits well with recent neuroscience research. This has shown that notions of cognition, or intellect, are far more intertwined with social and emotional growth than earlier educational paradigms have allowed for. In other words, the best laid plans about the technical aspects of pedagogy are bound to fail unless the growth of the whole person – social, emotional, moral, spiritual and intellectual, is the pedagogical target. Teachers and educationalists will find that this handbook provides evidence, culled from both research and practice, of the beneficial effects of such a ‘values and wellbeing’ pedagogy.




Evaluating the Impact of Prevention and Early Intervention Activities on the Mental Health of California's Population


Book Description

In 2004, California voters passed the Mental Health Services Act, which was intended to transform California's community mental health system from a crisis-driven system to one that included a focus on prevention and wellness. The vision was that prevention and early intervention (PEI) services comprised the first step in a continuum of services designed to identify early symptoms and prevent mental illness from becoming severe and disabling. Twenty percent of the act's funding was dedicated to PEI services. The act identified seven negative outcomes that PEI programs were intended to reduce: suicide, mental health-related incarcerations, school failure, unemployment, prolonged suffering, homelessness, and removal of children from the home. The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) coordinated with the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA), an independent administrative and fiscal intergovernmental agency, to seek development of a statewide framework for evaluating and monitoring the short- and long-term impact of PEI funding on the population. CalMHSA selected the RAND Corporation to develop a framework for the statewide evaluation. This report describes the approach, the data sources, and the frameworks developed: an overall approach framework and outcome-specific frameworks.




Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions in Educational Settings


Book Description

Includes eight new chapters All original chapters have been updated New contributors have been invited to write about newer ideas and developments within the field 15 chapters are dedicated to applications of CBT interventions for specific issues, such as depressive disorders, selective mutism, developmental disabilities, and military children and families Includes contributions from forward-thinking, established professionals in the field whose writing represents the state-of-the-art in CBT interventions in educational settings New additions to the book include addressing issues of cyber-bullying, parent and school consultation, and the need for research and case study







Keeping Students Safe and Helping Them Thrive


Book Description

Details the safety, mental health, and wellness issues in schools today and focuses on the interactions and collaborations needed among students, teachers, families, community members, and other professionals to foster the safety, learning, and well-being of all students. Safe schools and student well-being take a "village" of adults and students with varied interests, perspectives, and abilities collaborating to create caring, supportive, and academically productive schools. Schools are unofficial mental health care providers for children and youth who are placed at risk by social and economic circumstances and whose un- and under addressed needs can compromise teaching and learning. This handbook provides up-to-date information on how to promote safety, wellness, and mental health in a manner that can help draw the needed "village" together. It aligns research and practice to support effective collaboration—it provides information and tools for educators, administrators, policy makers, mental health and community organizations, families, parents, and students to join forces to promote and support school safety, student well-being, and student mental health. Chapters address school context, the dynamic nature of school communities and child development, and the importance of diversity and equity. Chapters provide in-depth understanding of why and how to improve safety, well-being, and mental health in a culturally responsive manner. They provide strategies and tools for planning, monitoring, and implementing change, methods for collaborating, and policy and practice guidance. They provide examples of successful and promising cross-system and cross-stakeholder collaborations. This handbook will interest students, scholars, faculty, and researchers in education, counseling, and psychology; administrators in human services and youth development; policy makers; and student, family, and community representatives.




School Psychology and Social Justice


Book Description

"This book will provide an introduction to social justice from the perspective of the major topics that affect school psychology practice"--