The inclusion of evidence-based psychological interventions within Medicare through Better Access addresses an inequity within the Australian health system against people with mental disorders. The question of "Who is qualified to provide these services" is the overriding focus of many commentaries on Better Access within psychology.…

It is unlikely that every parent with intellectual disability comes under the scrutiny of the care and protection system. That many do is evident in the figures from a number of countries that report between 30 and 40% of the children of parents with intellectual disability are removed from their parents' care and placed in protective custody, in…

This review of studies on clinical and nonclinical populations explores outcomes of adoption and developmental issues for adolescents, and in particular, developmental problems for adopted adolescents. Studies on nonclinical populations demonstrate that adoption is a highly successful form of substitute care. Prospective longitudinal studies show…

This article outlines considerations in planning inpatient groups for psychiatric patients and presents a model for group psychotherapy with a heterogeneous admission ward population. The model includes session plans based on objectives graded according to patients' levels of functioning. Also discussed are group rules and the therapist's role.…

In this paper, the author argues for a more humanistic approach to children and young people who face difficulties in their personal and social lives. Increasingly, young people in the developed world who are troubled or troublesome in school or in their neighbourhoods are categorised and labelled in terms of psychiatric disorder. The number of…