MENTAL-HEALTH-CARE IN A HIGH-SCHOOL BASED HEALTH-SERVICE

This paper describes the mental health services provided at a high sch ool based health center that integrates mental health and medical serv ices. Five years after the inception of the center in 1988, mental hea lth visits had quadrupled. In 1992 alone, students made 1,002 mental h ealth visits. Strikingly, one-third of these students reported problem atic substance use among other family members. Other leading reasons f or utilizing mental health services included pregnancy (19%), past or present suicidal ideation (14%), obesity (8.7%), ongoing depression (8 %), and issues related to sexuality (7.5%).