Abstract
There are many Web resources for health professionals seeking guidance to meet the mental health needs of their clients. Some of those resources are specifically designed for professionals working in schools. School nurses participate in assessment teams and contribute to individual education plans to enable students with mental health needs to achieve academic success. Mental health issues in a school setting involve preventive care, as well as providing and advocating for an environment and policies that promote healthy students and school employees. This article identifies valid and reliable mental health Web resources for school nurses.
INTRODUCTION
There are many Web resources for health professionals seeking guidance to meet the mental health needs of their clients. Some of those resources are specifically designed for professionals working in schools. School nurses participate in assessment teams and contribute to individual education plans to enable students with mental health needs to achieve academic success. Mental health issues in a school setting involve preventive care, as well as providing and advocating for an environment and policies that promote healthy students and school employees. School nurses may have difficulty locating valid and reliable materials for program design, health education, and family and student care. The following links provide an excellent starting point when attempting to locate child and adolescent mental health materials on the Web.
SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH WEB RESOURCES
Two federally funded sister sites at the University of Maryland and the University of California—Los Angeles are specifically designed to provide mental health resources for professionals working in schools.
Center for School Mental Health Assistance: http://csmha.umaryland.edu/csmha2001/main.php3
The Center for School Mental Health Assistance (CSMHA) supports schools and communities in the development of school-based mental health programs and offers an online message board for exchange of ideas. With the National Assembly on School-Based Mental Health Care (NASBHC), the center compiled a Directory of Expanded School Mental Health (ESMH) Programs (http://csmha.umaryland.edu/csmha2001/dirprog.php3). The goal of the directory is to facilitate networking and collaboration among existing mental health programs in the schools. Resources are divided into five areas: Comprehensive Focus on Mental Health in Schools, Concerns Related to Children’s Severe Mental Health Disorders, Concerns Related to Children’s Psychosocial Problems, Positive Social/Emotional Development and Prevention of Psychosocial/MH Problems, and Matters Relevant to Addressing Barriers to Learning and Development.
School Mental Health Project: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/
School Mental Health Project at the University of California—Los Angeles School Mental Health Project addresses mental health and psychosocial concerns through school-based interventions. The Center for Mental Health in Schools Web site provides a comprehensive gateway to a large number of resources suitable for school nurses’ needs. The site contains links to continuing education and regional conferences, guidebooks and guidelines, networking, and consultants who are willing to share expertise without a fee. Especially valuable is the Responding to a Crisis button at the top of the home page for school professionals who need immediate information on violence, grief and bereavement, gangs, and other school emergencies. The resources are organized into five areas, mirroring the CSMHA Web site: Comprehensive Focus on Mental Health in Schools, Concerns Related to Children’s Severe Mental Health Disorders, Concerns Related to Children’s Psychosocial Problems, Positive Social/Emotional Development and Prevention of Psychosocial/MH Problems, and Matters Relevant to Addressing Barriers to Learning and Development. School nurses can subscribe to ENEWS, an electronic monthly e-mail newsletter that focuses on emerging issues and provides up-to-date news and information about recent reports, publications, resources, and funding opportunities.
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH SITES
About Our Kids: http://www.aboutourkids.org/
About Our Kids is the Web site of the New York University Child Study Center. The multidisciplinary center’s goal is to be the premier source for child mental health information by translating scientific development and innovative practices into understandable material for care providers, parents, and educators. The information on the Web site is divided into three areas: parenting, mental health, and “Is my kid OK?”
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: http://www.aacap.org/
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) site helps parents and families understand developmental, behavioral, and mental disorders in children and adolescents. The site provides information on child and adolescent psychiatry, current research, and practice guidelines. Facts for Families (http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/index.htm) offers concise and up-to-date information, in English and Spanish, on 81 issues affecting children, teenagers, and their families.
Center for Mental Health Services: http://www.mentalhealth.org/cmhs/ChildrensCampaign/
The Child, Adolescent, and Family Branch of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ensures that mental health needs of children and families are met within community-based systems of care. The CMHS Web site is part of a national campaign to increase awareness of the importance of protecting and nurturing the mental health of young people, foster recognition that many children have severe mental health problems, and encourage caregivers to seek early and appropriate treatment. School nurses working to promote mental health in their school and community will find materials on school violence prevention, “Girl Power,” suicide prevention, and strategies for finding local resources. The “Make Time to Listen, Take Time to Talk * 15+” campaign (http://www.mentalhealth.org/15plus/aboutus.asp) provides concrete and practical suggestions for parents to prevent violent behavior in their children or help them cope with bullies.
The Child and Family WebGuide: http://www.cfw.tufts.edu/
The Child & Family WebGuide is a product of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University. The WebGuide is an online rating and review guide for parents and child development professionals. The information is divided into six categories: Family, Education, Health, Typical Development, Childcare, and Activities. The first five categories contain sites with research-based information screened by child development graduate students on the quality of content, author and sponsoring organization credentials, currency of information, and ease of use.
National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/childmenu.cfm
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the biomedical and behavioral research agency. NIH is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This Web site provides child mental health applied research information for professionals and parents on topics ranging from attention deficit to schizophrenia. Family education fact sheets are provided in English and Spanish.
MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES FOR ALL AGES
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill: http://ocd.nami.org/youth/index.html
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) is a nonprofit, grassroots organization of families and friends of people with severe mental illnesses. NAMI provides education about severe brain disorders, endorses funding for research, and advocates for people with serious psychiatric illnesses. The child and teen menu lists a Kid’s Newsletter, youth research, brochures and fact sheets, local contacts, and a reading list. Topics include teen suicide, depression, terrorism, school violence, and custody issues. One of their resources, “Coping Tips for Siblings and Adult Children of Persons with Mental Illness” (http://ocd.nami.org/helpline/siblings.htm) is frequently cited in government and academic mental health Web sites. The coping tips can be tailored to children and teens who live with a parent or sibling with severe mental illness.
MEDLINEplus Mental Health: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mentalhealth.html
The National Library of Medicine MEDLINEplus is designed to link consumers and health professionals to appropriate and authoritative health information. Sites are evaluated and selected for MEDLINEplus based on the quality, authority and accuracy of content, the educational intent of the site, and the availability and currency of the Web page. Although the MEDLINEplus Mental Health page is not limited to children and adolescents, it includes links to press releases, clinical trial information, consumer health information, professional and family support organizations, glossaries, newsletters, child and teen links, and materials in Spanish.
SUMMARY
The school nurse requires a wide range of resources to implement preventive mental health programs and provide care and health teaching for children and families with mental health needs. The child and adolescent Web sites provided by the agencies, universities, and professional organizations listed in this article can be relied on to provide current and research-based content to the school nurse and other professionals in the schools.