Closing the gap in school mental health: A community-centered model for school psychology

• Published in: Psychology in the schools 2011-04, Vol.48 (4), p.385-399
• Main Authors: Splett, Joni Williams, Maras, Melissa A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Counselor Role; Educational Opportunities; Evidence based medicine; Health Needs; Health Services; Medical sciences; Mental Health; Mental health services; Organization of mental health. Health systems; Professional Development; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; School Psychologists; School Psychology; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Unmet needs
• ISSN: 0033-3085; 1520-6807
• DOI: 10.1002/pits.20561

Disciplines involved in the development and/or provision of services in school mental health have recognized the promise of evidence‐based practices in meeting the growing unmet mental health needs of children, adolescents, and families in this country. As a result, School Psychology has strongly emphasized the development and dissemination of evidence‐based practices through professional development opportunities and published literature. Despite these efforts, evidence‐based practices are not implemented as widely or as effectively as intended. This article describes a community‐centered (CC) model for closing the research‐to‐practice gap in school mental health. CC models emphasize both adopting new practices successfully and improving existing practices through a process of planning, implementation, and evaluation, and an exemplar framework based in a CC model is presented and applied to school mental health. The role of school psychologists in leading schools to adopt CC models is discussed, and next steps for changes to training, practice, and research paradigms are presented. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.