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Strengthening Components and Processes of Family Involvement in School Mental Health

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Handbook of School Mental Health

Part of the book series: Issues in Clinical Child Psychology ((ICCP))

Abstract

Involving families in youth mental health services is foundational to achieving positive youth outcomes (for review, see Hoagwood et al., 2010). Unfortunately, this can be a particularly challenging process, and families are often not meaningfully involved in services. In studies of engagement in community mental health services, youth and family no-show rates at initial appointments range from 28 % to 62 % (Harrison, McKay, & Bannon, 2004; McKay, Lynn, & Bannon, 2005; McKay, McCadam, & Gonzales, 1996). Thus, at a basic level of involvement, some families are not being engaged in services. This has the potential to compromise the delivery of evidence-based interventions given that family involvement may be an essential factor in obtaining and maintaining positive outcomes for youth (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2001). As national mental health policy calls for families to become active consumers of mental health services, and for children and youth to receive more comprehensive services (New Freedom Commission on Mental Health [NFCMH], 2003), it is increasingly important to review empirically supported strategies for effectively involving families in mental health services so that these approaches can be consistently integrated into practice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Strengthening Quality in School Mental Health (PI, M. Weist). National Institute of Mental Health, US DHHS, #R01MH0819141; 2010–2014

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Heather L. McDaniel, Bryn E. Schiele, Leslie K. Taylor & Mark D. Weist

  2. Center for School Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Jill Haak

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  1. Heather L. McDaniel
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  2. Bryn E. Schiele
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  3. Leslie K. Taylor
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  4. Jill Haak
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  5. Mark D. Weist
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Correspondence to Heather L. McDaniel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

    Mark D. Weist

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Nancy A. Lever

  3. Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Catherine P. Bradshaw

  4. Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA

    Julie Sarno Owens

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McDaniel, H.L., Schiele, B.E., Taylor, L.K., Haak, J., Weist, M.D. (2014). Strengthening Components and Processes of Family Involvement in School Mental Health. In: Weist, M., Lever, N., Bradshaw, C., Owens, J. (eds) Handbook of School Mental Health. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7624-5_15

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