To reverse the exponential risk in mental illness, and to ameliorate the people-related problems of this post-industrial era, the helping professions must develop new methods of intervention which go beyond interpersonal remediation--methods which ensure that all individuals passing through the social structure systematically develop the interpersonal skills needed to live a satisfied and effective life as an individual and as a working member of the community. This article (a) defines the needed interpersonal communication skills; (b) describes the conditions under which research suggests the learning of such skills is most likely to occur and provides hypotheses as to why such learning is not yet occurring within the social structure on a systematic basis; and based on this research (c) suggests a managerial design by which counseling and student personnel staff can be assimilated into instructional ranks as "helping professors" to systematically implement interpersonal skill training as an integral part of the general, educational curriculum. (Author)