DEVELOPING MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES FOR NATIVE-AMERICAN CHILDREN

Important cultural, linguistic, traditional, and spiritual differences among Native American reservations are likely to go unrecognized to t he detriment of children in need of mental health intervention. The au thors discuss the impact of these factors on the expressions of psychi atric distress of Native American children, their care-seeking behavio rs, and the acceptability of the forms taken by mental health systems that serve them. They suggest new innovative models of care that can b e developed within the context of contemporary Native American culture . Although the roles envisioned for child psychiatrists include the pr ovision of direct clinical service, the authors posit that a model in which child psychiatrists provide consultation and supervision to nati ve outreach and other mental health workers is a more acceptable and p otentially more effective use of scarce resources.