Toward collaboration in the growing education–mental health interface

Expanded school mental health (ESMH) programs involve the provision of comprehensive mental health services for youth in schools, including assessment, intervention, prevention, and consultation. Related to increased awareness of the benefits of these programs, and growing disenchantment with traditional forms of mental health service delivery for children, ESMH programs are growing rapidly in the United States. Coinciding with the growth of these programs is a developing interface between and among education and mental health professionals in schools. In this interface, there is an increasing need for real collaboration; however, associated with differences in professional training, language, and expectations, and related to “turf,” such collaboration is often an elusive prospect. In this article, we review historical trends that provide background to the growing education–mental health interface in schools. We discuss tensions that arise between staff of various disciplines when ESMH programs are developed, and provide recommendations on strategies to develop truly collaborative approaches to the provision of comprehensive mental health services in schools.