California, which has some 2.8 million students on its public higher education campuses, is taking steps to reduce the gap between students' need for mental health treatment and their use of mental health services. Beginning in 2011, as part of a statewide initiative to improve mental health outcomes for all Californians, the California Mental…

There are twice as many suicides as homicides in the United States, and the suicide rate is rising. Suicides increased 12% between 1999 and 2009. Mental health professionals often treat suicidal patients, and suicide occurs even among patients who are seeking treatment or are currently in treatment. Despite these facts, training of most mental…

Objective: College students face a significant number of stressors, increasing risk for internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. The current study examines two promising avenues of intervention aimed to reduce stress and prevent psychopathology in this population: a coping skills group and a cognitive training program. Participants: 62…

Background: Adolescent depression has been recognized as a complex problem that presents a global public health challenge. Left undetected and untreated, depression can significantly reduce quality of life. Objective: The main purpose of this paper is to re-visit risk and protective factors for depression in adolescents with a specific focus on…

Background: In this cross-sectional study we explored relationships between aggressive and violent behaviors and emotional self-efficacy (ESE) in a statewide sample of public high school adolescents in South Carolina (N = 3836). Methods: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey items on aggressive and violent…

School resource officers (SROs) are being increasingly employed in schools to respond to incidents of school violence and to help address safety concerns among students and staff. While previous research on school safety and crisis teams has examined the role of school mental health professionals' and administrators, fewer studies have evaluated…

This study explored the mental health influence on resident assistants associated with their training in suicide prevention and their subsequent role as campus mental health gatekeepers. Despite considerable prior personal experience with their own suicidal thinking as well as with others who have thoughts of suicide, a multiple regression…

There are a growing number of children who begin to develop mental concerns during the school-age years. As such, it is important that schools recognize and understand mental health issues and are actively engaged in supporting these students. This article provides a review of mental health in schools, highlighting the importance of school-health…

Commonly used in clinical and medical settings, no-suicide contracts (NSCs) solicit commitment from suicidal individuals not to attempt suicide. The prevalence of community and school-based Mental Health Professionals' (MHPs) use of NSCs with suicidal youth (SY) is unknown. Additionally, minimal feedback is available regarding MHPs' current…

In 2013, national education groups representing principals, school-employed mental health professionals, and school resource officers developed "A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools" (ED612657) to provide a common set of recommendations for policies and practices that create and sustain safe, supportive learning environments. The…

This resource provides frameworks and strategies to guide schools as they encounter common psychosocial problems. It is designed as a desk reference aid. After an introductory overview of mental health in schools, Part I stresses ways to keep the environment in perspective as a cause of certain types of problems. Part II frames the full range of…

Home visitation has the potential to improve parent, child, and maternal outcomes and has become a widely implemented prevention program across the United States. The purpose of this research was to use a randomized controlled trial to assess the short-term effectiveness of the Arizona Healthy Families program across a range of outcomes. Two…

The aim of the study was to investigate Swedish school nurses' perceptions of schoolchildren's health. The study is based on two national surveys in which school nurses responded to questions about schoolchildren's health in 2015 (n = 181) and 2005 (n = 129). A statistical comparison showed that physical and mental health of schoolchildren in…

Depression is a major and increasingly frequent health problem among young people (WHO, 2017). Adolescence is a peak time for the first onset of depression (Seeley & Lewinsohn, 2008). However despite discovering high prevalence rates among young people in recent studies , teachers tend to overlook depressive symptoms in adolescents, while…

When evidence-based prevention programs are implemented in schools, adaptations are common. It is important to understand which adaptations can be made while maintaining positive outcomes for students. This preliminary study evaluated an abbreviated version of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) Curriculum implemented by…