Title: School mental health services in the United States: A national survey

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Gail K. Robinson, PhD, Abt Associates Inc, 4550 Montgomery Avenue Suite 800, Bethesda, MD 20814, 301 634 1787, gail_robinson@abtassoc.com, Susan Foster, MSSW, MPH, National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, The National Center on Family Homelessness, 181 Wells Avenue, Newton Center, MA 02459, Judith Teich, ACSW, Department Of Health and Human Resources, Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, One Choke Cherry Rd., Rockville, MD 20857, and Mary Rollefson, PhD, home, 4515 Q St NW, Washington, DC 20007.

Recent research on mental health services for children and youth points to public schools as major mental health providers, but little is known about the characteristics of these services. This need for data prompted the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to undertake the first national survey of mental health services in public schools. The study collected data for the 2002-2003 school year from a nationally representative sample of public schools and their associated district offices. The final report, released in November 2005, provides new baseline information that has never before been available at the national level.

The survey found that on average, one-fifth of students received some type of school supported mental health services in the year prior to the study. The most common types of school mental health providers were school counselors, followed by nurses, school psychologists, and social workers. While survey findings indicate that schools are responding to the mental health needs of their students, often in collaboration with community-based providers, they also suggest increasing need for services coupled with financial constraints and inadequate funding and community-based resources. More research is needed to explore the mental health training of school staff who deliver mental health services, the intensity and effectiveness of services provided, and the adequacy of funding for school mental health services.

Learning Objectives:

1.Increase participants’ understanding of the scope, methodology, and methodological challenges associated with conducting a national school survey;
2.Familiarize participants with key survey findings, including mental health problems, services, and staffing, administration and coordination of services, and funding for school mental health services; and
3.Discuss the study’s implications for children’s mental health policy and practice.

Keywords: Child and Adolescent Mental Health, School-Based Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

The System of Care for Children's Mental Health

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA