The Application of a Strengths-Based Mental Health Approach in Schools

The President’s New Freedom Commission: Capitalizing on Opportunities to Advance School-Based Mental Health Services

The report from President George W. Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (NFC), Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America(2003), proposes goals and recommendations for improving mental health services. This report has significant implications for the delivery of mental health services through the schools. A focused discussion of the potential opportunities and challenges of implementing NFC recommendations related to school-based mental health is presented. Strategies for addressing five key areas at the intersection of school mental health and the Commission's recommendations include: stigma reduction, suicide prevention, expansion and improvement of school mental health, and screening and treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders.

Fulfilling the promise of school-based mental health: moving toward a Public Mental Health Promotion approach

School-based mental health (SBMH) programs and services are growing progressively in the United States for many reasons. However, the SBMH field is young and tenuously supported, and challenges are being confronted on many levels. There are major needs to continue to bring research-supported interventions into schools, and to better equip educators and mental health programs and staff in schools to function effectively. Articles in this special issue present the many challenges well and point to important directions for advancing SBMH. To truly advance the field a Public Mental Health Promotion approach is needed. Elements of this approach, in advancing training, quality assessment and improvement (including empirically supported practice), and advocacy and policy influence are discussed, as are strategic connections to the Community Science perspective and to the development of a growing Community of Practice in SBMH.