This promising practice describes a statewide effort to address the surging youth mental health crisis through the provision of Youth Mental Health First Aid training in West Virginia public schools. Youth Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based training for adults who work with youth. This interactive training increases participants'…

The transition to postsecondary education can be challenging for any student, particularly for those facing impending personal crises, mental disorders, or with undiagnosed disabilities. The link between mental health and academic performance has been well established. Both work in tandem to predict important areas of concern for colleges and…

This demonstration brief provides teaching and learning stories from districts and schools implementing PBIS with an integrated systems focus and is organized across the following areas: (a) the context of the school/district, (b) the changes made in the systems, (c) the impact of the changes made in the systems, and (d) next steps to improve the…

Guided imagery is a valuable intervention strategy that can benefit children who are at risk for social, academic, and mental health problems. Guided imagery is a technique that employs imagination, emotions, and a spectrum of bodily senses (Naparstek, 1994). This particular technique can be applied in community and academic settings to help…

Leadership in infant and early childhood mental health must take into consideration issues of diversity, historical context, power dynamics, and difference in worldview and experiences. This article describes the importance of equitable and effective partnerships with rural/remote, underserved, and Indigenous communities in the United States and…

Schools and communities continually strive to develop more effective methods of educating children and youth about mental health and how to access available resources. Despite this apparent need, several barriers prevent youth from engaging in discussion and taking action. Young people are of special concern since three fourths of all mental…

School counselors are a well-positioned resource to reach the significant number of children and adolescents with mental health problems. In this special school counseling issue of "The Professional Counselor," some articles focus on systemic, top-down advocacy efforts as the point of intervention for addressing child and adolescent…

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative offers a unique opportunity to conduct large-scale, multisite, multilevel program evaluation in the context of a federal environment that places many requirements and constraints on how the grants are conducted and managed. Federal programs stress performance-based outcomes, valid and reliable…

Despite huge investment over the past 10 years, improving outcomes for looked-after children remains elusive. A challenge for practitioners, researchers and policy-makers alike has been the absence of a shared conceptual framework for considering and responding to the needs of looked-after children. A second challenge relates to the measurement of…

This article describes five creative experiential classroom activities used in teaching addictions. The activities were integrated into the classroom curriculum and were processed weekly in focused dialogue. Student reflections throughout the article add depth to the meaning gained from the experience of the change process. The students' feedback…

Police agencies across the country are struggling to respond to significant number of persons with serious mental illness, who are landing on their doorsteps with sometimes tragic consequences. Arguably, the most widely adopted approach, the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model, is a specialized police-based program designed to improve officers'…

This article describes the opportunities and challenges encountered in the service-learning adaptation of an early childhood primary prevention program through the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston Auburn College. In the face of economic and social challenges confronted by many communities, service-learning models are proposed as essential…

The lack of culturally appropriate health and mental health care has contributed to the large number of African American youth and families involved in the child welfare system. This article reviews the consequences of the insufficient access to culturally sensitive, evidence-supported interventions for African American foster youth. The authors…

Continuous quality improvement (CQI) is increasingly being adopted by health care, including child and youth mental health services. As part of the commitment to ongoing quality improvement, child and youth mental health teams in the Fraser region in British Columbia undertook CQI projects over a one year period (2007-2008). The projects covered a…

The commissioning and provision of mental health services for people with intellectual disability is often complex and characterised by different service delivery models. This paper looks at the current situation 7 years after the White Paper, Valuing People (From words into action: London learning disabilities strategic framework, Department of…