Expanded school mental health programs: Advancing reform and closing the gap between research and practice

Expanded school mental health (ESMH) programs provide a range of mental hea lth services to youth in special and regular education including prevention , assessment, treatment, and case management. Despite the rapid growth of E SMH progams in the United Stales and elsewhere, many communities still do n ot have ESMH programs and those that do exist often fail to implement empir ically validated intervention and treatment strategies. Systematic preventi on efforts remain a lauded, yet illusive goal. For ESMH programs to fulfill their promise of improved access, increased increased productivity and imp roved behavioral outcomes, researchers, school-based mental health service providers, and educators must work together to move child mental health pro grams beyond limiting constructs and approaches. These issues are reviewed and an example of an "ideal" approach to implement best practices in school s and close the gap between research and practice is offered.