Closing the gap in school mental health: A community‐centered model for school psychology

Disciplines involved in the development and/or provision of services in school mental health have recognized the promise of evidence-based practices in meeting the growing unmet mental health needs of children, adolescents, and families in this country. As a result, School Psychology has strongly emphasized the development and dissemination of evidence-based practices through professional development opportunities and published literature. Despite these efforts, evidencebased practices are not implemented as widely or as effectively as intended. This article describes a community-centered (CC) model for closing the research-to-practice gap in school mental health. CC models emphasize both adopting new practices successfully and improving existing practices through a process of planning, implementation, and evaluation, and an exemplar framework based in a CC model is presented and applied to school mental health. The role of school psychologists in leading schools to adopt CC models is discussed, and next steps for changes to training, practice, and research paradigms are presented. C � 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Schools have rapidly evolved to become the de facto context for the provision of mental health supports and services for young people in this country. This shift has been paralleled by an increased emphasis across all health and service disciplines on “doing what works” to produce positive, measurable outcomes. As such, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in school mental health have focused almost solely on the development of evidence-based practices (i.e., evidence-based programs [EBPs]) for schools and the implementation of EBPs in schools (Hoagwood & Johnson, 2003). School Psychology as a field has been pivotal in this movement. The discipline includes researchers who are developing and researching school-based interventions and practitioners who are adopting EBPs in their schools. In these roles, school psychologists trained as research practitioners can work together to bridge the gap in school-based research and practice within a single discipline, making them crucial in efforts to translate evidence-based mental health practices to school settings. Despite laudable successes thus far, the development of EBPs has not resulted in the effective and widespread implementation of EBPs in schools. This article will argue that unilateral emphasis on EBPs in school mental health has stymied progress in the field of School Psychology and that a new framework that dually promotes best practices and best practiceprocesses should be considered. As key stakeholders supporting effective practices in school mental health, school psychologists’ knowledge of EBPs is necessary but not sufficient to achieve positive outcomes in schools. This article will describe the potential role of school psychologists in a comprehensive and concrete process of planning, implementing, and evaluating EBPs and existing practice in the school setting. Finally, the typical skills of a school psychologist will be compared to the skills required to engage in this process, and next steps for improving training and practice will be recommended. NEED FOR EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES IN SCHOOL SETTINGS