(CAMHS) and Schools - London Health Programmes

however, the results do suggest as a general rule that “those interventions which had
positive (promoting) aims, which included attempts to change the culture or
environment within the school or class, and which were implemented continuously
over a longer period, were more likely to demonstrate improvements in the outcomes
measured” (p26).
The third review by Day & Wood (1999) for the North Southwark Education
Action Zone looked at ‘Evidence-Based Child Mental Health Practice in
Schools’ as part of the school based child mental health initiative ‘Improving
Learning and Wellbeing in School’. The authors concluded that the Family and
Schools Together (FAST) Track programme developed by the Conduct
Problems Prevention Research Group in 1992 was an intervention that
particularly stood out. This was a multi-faceted approach with a number of
integrated programmes including parent training, home visiting, social skills
training, academic tutoring, and teacher-based classroom intervention (PATHS
– Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies). While the authors emphasised
the value of collaboration between children, parents, and staff, they did note that
few of the interventions specifically encouraged such collaboration.
Main issues that emerged from all the literature were:
Theoretical basis of initiatives are not discussed much in the literature, but one
research project identified that a social work model of practice with an emphasis on
intervention and social support systems was more helpful than the medical model with
an emphasis on diagnosis and treatment (Pool, 1997).
Access to services Many of the school based programmes cite reaching children and
young people who do not otherwise receive support services. This may be because
school based clinics may be less stigmatising and easier to access. Studies comparing
two groups of young people accessing school based mental health services and
community clinics found that those in schools were less likely to have previous
services, and in one study were more socio-economically disadvantaged (Armbruster,
Gerstein & Fallon, 1997; Weist et al, 1999).
The need for Co-ordinated services is highlighted. Schools usually respond to
concerns about mental health only when these problems are seen as direct barriers to
learning (Adelman and Taylor, 1999). To avoid crisis intervention with fragmented
programmes the research favours the model of ‘full service schools’ where
community services and schools services are brought together, Taylor & Adelman
(1996).
Collaboration Part of the challenge of working in a school based mental health
service is the different practices and traditions in the fields of health and education
Weist & Christodulu (2000). Research in the UK on teachers attitudes toward
CAMHS services suggest that they utilise education-based services before referring to
CAMHS and often try to resolve the problem in-house (Ford & Nikapota, 2000).
Interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration needs to be made an explicit priority
(Porter, Epp and Bryant 2000, Sedlak, 1997).