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 Raines goes beyond creating a catalog of interventions that will soon be outdated and provides school social workers with a detailed road map of the EBP process.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.

Though schools have become the default mental health providers for children and adolescents, they are poorly equipped to meet the mental health needs of their students. Evidence-Based Practice in School Mental Health differs from other books that address child and adolescent psychopathology by focusing on how to help students with mental disorders in pre-K-12th-grade schools. Chapters address the prevalence of a disorder in school-age populations, appropriate diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosis, comorbid disorders, available rapid assessment instruments, school-based interventions using multi-tiered systems of support, and easy-to-follow suggestions for progress monitoring. Additionally, the text shares detailed suggestions for how school-based clinicians can collaborate with teachers, parents, and community providers to address the needs of youth with mental health problems. Each chapter finishes with extensive web resources and real-life case examples drawn from the author's clinical practice. This book serves as a helpful resource for school-based mental health providers (e.g., school social workers, school psychologists, and school counselors), communities-in-schools coordinators, and MSW students focusing on child and adolescent mental health.

The movement to make medicine more scientific has evolved over many decades but the specific term evidence-based medicine was introduced in 1990 to refer to a systematic approach to helping doctors to apply scientific evidence to decision-making at the point of contact with a specific consumer.

"Mental health professionals comprise a nation of differences. Those differences do not necessarily make us weak; differences can serve as sources of creativity, strength, and progress if constructively harnessed. In this volume, we have tried to constructively harness the active interplay of these various tenaciously held views, to find the harmony among these diverse voices on EBPs in mental health. In terms of process, informed dialogue and respectful debate are surely the ways to progress. In terms of outcome, we should remember that the overarching goal of EBPs, however defined and disseminated, is to enhance the effectiveness of patient services and to improve public health"--Book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

The challenges of providing mental health services to school children are numerous and diverse, ranging from staffing shortages to insufficient funding to family resistance to administrative indifference. Yet with the U.S. Surgeon General estimating that approximately 20% of young people display signs of psychological problems, the need for such services – particularly for interventions that not only address mental health issues but also reinforce protective factors – is considerable. Evidence-Based School Mental Health Services offers readers an innovative, best-practices approach to providing effective mental health services at school. The author draws on the widely used and effective three-tiered public health model to create a school-based system that addresses the emotional and behavioral needs of students most at risk for experiencing, or showing strong signs and symptoms of, emotional problems or disabilities. This prevention-oriented program adapts cognitive behavioral and other clinical therapies for use in primary through high school settings. In several concise, easy-to-read chapters, the author addresses such important topics as: The rationale for building a three-tier mental health system in schools. The importance of making emotion regulation training available to all students. Designing strategies for adding affect education and emotion regulation training at each tier. Providing empirical support for implementing CBT in school settings. Preparing young children to benefit from school-based CBT. Also included is an Appendix of specific group activities and exercises that can be put to use in the school setting. Evidence-Based School Mental Health Services is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in school psychology, clinical child psychology, pediatrics, psychiatry, social work, school counseling, education as well as for those who develop or influence public policy. And it is essential reading for any professional who is responsible for and interested in children’s well-being and development.

A Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title of 2017! School-based mental health professionals intervene daily to address a variety of student mental health concerns. From challenges that arise in the educational context to those carried over from home, from managing daily care to handling emergent traumatic events, they must be prepared for an extremely varied work life. While some of the most common issues recur with such frequency that they may seem straightforward to address, others crop up with changing student populations. Each chapter in this volume addresses a different key topic, giving current and future professionals an overview of the most recent scholarship on the topic, and then outlining evidence-based interventions. With chapters on learning disabilities, substance abuse, bullying, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, trauma, LGBT youth and more, this book prepares school-based mental health professionals to face some of the most difficult, common, and politicized issues affecting students today.

"The second edition of Clinician's Guide to Evidence-Based Practices is the concise, practitioner-friendly guide to applying EBPs in mental health"--