SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM The UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools

[SMHP]

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM
The UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools

The Policy Leadership Cadre for Mental Health in Schools has been
working for some time on a major document entitled:

     "Mental Health in Schools: Guidelines, Models,
        Resources & Policy Considerations."

This field-defining resource and reference work is now available
   on-line and in hard copy.

It is designed to address national policy and practice concerns about
what mental health (MH) in schools is, is not, and should be.

Major topics covered include:

  *definitional concerns
  *the rationale for MH in schools
  *specific guidelines for a comprehensive, multifaceted approach
  *ways in which MH and psychosocial concerns currently are addressed in schools
  *ways to advance the field.

To enhance the document's resource value for policy and capacity building, a
variety of supportive documents and sources for materials, technical assistance,
and training also are provided.

As is widely recognized, there is a tendency to discuss mental health mainly in
terms of mental illness, disorders, or problems. This de facto definition has led
school policy makers to focus primarily on concerns about emotional disturbance,
violence, and substance abuse and to deemphasize the school's role in the positive
development of social and emotional functioning. This document redresses this
tendency by stressing a comprehensive, multifaceted orientation to MH in schools
and operationalizing this perspective into a set of specific guidelines.

The document (along with an executive summary) can be downloaded from the Cadre
webpages which are currently hosted on the website of the Center For Mental Health
in Schools – go to http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/policy.htm   Hard copies of the document
are available from the Center for a slight fee to cover copying and shipping charges. The
executive summary of the report is available at no charge.

School Mental Health Project/
Center for Mental Health in Schools
UCLA Dept. of Psychology
Los Angeles, CA  90095-1563
(310) 825-3634 / Fax: (310) 206-8716
Email: smhp at ucla.edu
Web: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu