SCHOOL-LINKED AND SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH-SERVICES - A RENEWED CALL FOR COLLABORATION BETWEEN SCHOOL-PSYCHOLOGISTS AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

Health care and education reform provide opportunities to build system s that promote rather than retard collaboration between school psychol ogists and medical professionals. School-linked and school-based healt h services (SLSBHS) are a family of approaches that provide medical, s ocial, and mental health services to students through school settings. These services have potential to provide more than acute care or firs t-aid services. SLSBHS provide medical care to uninsured children, stu dents with chronic medical needs, at-risk children, and the overall sc hool population. However, there are usually not enough funds to hire n ew staff members in most school districts. Expanding the roles of curr ent school staff, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, and imple menting creative fiscal strategies are necessary to develop SLSBHS. In terdisciplinary collaboration may be the largest hurdle to developing SLSBHS. As such, school psychologists and medical professionals may ne ed to rethink their professional roles and develop new techniques of i nterdisciplinary consultation to fulfill the potential of SLSBHS.