Tri-level service delivery: An alternative consultation model.

Presents an alternative model for delivering school consultative service. School psychologists provide consultative training and support to teacher consultants, who then become consultants to their teaching colleagues. All respondent groups perceived the knowledge base of teacher consultants favorably, particularly in areas of children's social–emotional functioning, special education placement guidelines, community resources, and consultative skills. Although consumers had a preference for indirect services, they also desired greater involvement of teacher consultants in direct intervention activities outside the classroom. Overall ratings of teacher consultants' skills and the program were high. Potential advantages of this model are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of school violence on school personnel: Implications for psychologists.

Each year, approximately 234,000 teachers in the United States are victims of school-related violence. After a violent incident, school-based mental health professionals, psychologists from the community, and administrators appropriately intervene to provide counseling and other services for students. Unfortunately, many school personnel who have been victimized do not receive adequate treatment after such incidents occur. In this article, the authors argue that psychologists, school personnel, and mental health counselors must be aware of the needs of teachers and administrators who have been affected by these events and must, therefore, provide counseling for them as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The consultant as expert witness in school and workplace cases—Part 2.

This article provides a review of both Part 1 and Part 2 of a series of the Consulting Psychology Journal on the consultant as an expert witness in school and workplace cases. Part 1 covered topics such as professional consultants as expert witnesses from a legal perspective, sexual harassment and retaliation cases in the workplace, and special education consultants in due process hearings. In part 2, three articles focus on violence in the workplace and two articles alert the consulting psychologist to the issues related to malingering by clients and how to detect it. These articles are meant to provide a sampling of contemporary issues for which the mental health consultant may provide expert testimony in litigation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supporting children's mental health in schools: Teacher perceptions of needs, roles, and barriers.

There is a significant research to practice gap in the area of mental health practices and interventions in schools. Understanding the teacher perspective can provide important information about contextual influences that can be used to bridge the research to practice gap in school-based mental health practices. The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of current mental health needs in their schools; their knowledge, skills, training experiences and training needs; their roles for supporting children's mental health; and barriers to supporting mental health needs in their school settings. Participants included 292 teachers from 5 school districts. Teachers reported viewing school psychologists as having a primary role in most aspects of mental health service delivery in the school including conducting screening and behavioral assessments, monitoring student progress, and referring children to school-based or community services. Teachers perceived themselves as having primary responsibility for implementing classroom-based behavioral interventions but believed school psychologists had a greater role in teaching social emotional lessons. Teachers also reported a global lack of experience and training for supporting children's mental health needs. Implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

West Midlands regional training scheme for orthodontics in dental practice

The need for continuing education in orthodontics is recognised by many practitioners and the demand for post-graduate courses is high. The limitations of such courses, particularly the short technique type, are recognised and within the West Midlands the value of a longer term clinical attachment has been emphasised. The West Midlands has a well established orthodontic consultant service with fifteen NHS and one honorary consultant; the specialist practitioner service is small by national standards. All of the orthodontic consultants have long supported the clinical assistant post as a valuable vehicle for practitioners' continuing education. Building on the example given by the consultants in the four Thames Regions, a structured, centralised academic programme has been developed to enhance the clinical training given during these two year posts.     

Mental health in schools: expanded opportunities for school nurses

Emerging trends are reshaping the work of school nurses and other school service personnel. With respect to direct service and consultation, school nurses increasingly are called upon to deal with psychosocial and mental health problems. Beyond that, school nurses must continue to actuate their roles as advocates, catalysts, brokers, and facilitators of the type of reforms that can effectively address barriers to student learning and promote healthy development. Continuing education is seen as key to enabling school nurses to build capacity for such roles and functions. The newly formed Center for Mental Health in Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) hopes to be of assistance in this respect. This presentation highlights the Center's orientation to mental health in schools and offers a draft outline for related continuing education.     

Burnout: current knowledge and relevance to old age psychiatry

OBJECTIVES: To review the literature on burnout and consider its relevance to old age psychiatry and the role of the consultant. DATA SOURCES: Medline and PsychLit computerized databases. DATA SYNTHESIS: Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and decreased sense of personal accomplishment which is recognized in people working in the human service professions and can have adverse effects on the workforce. There is little evidence of unique stressors related to care of elderly mentally ill people. Burnout is likely to be modified by workplace interventions. Relevant areas for intervention are political and social, organizational and management, training and personal issues. Support to consultants and their continuing professional development need to be radically reviewed.     

Anticipating the school consultant role: Changes in personal constructs following training.

Investigated developmental changes in novices' personal theories of consulting. A variation of G. Kelly's (1955) role repertory grid technique was used to explore changes in school psychology students' cognitive representations of the consultant role following a 9-mo consultation practicum experience. Nine graduate students in school psychology were interviewed prior to and following a program of consultation training. Results document subtle and interesting changes in how these beginning consultants construed their role. Ss applied slightly more varied constructs to the hypothetical consultation situations. Although they continued to primarily focus on the child, Ss demonstrated a shift in the way they approached problems, following the training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple functions for psychologists in community consultation.

"Psychologists are assuming a wider range of responsibilities in community program administration and community consultation: in mental health, corrections, education, and anti-poverty." A program for training consultants was developed in New Mexico during a 4-yr demonstration project. Selection criteria include: (1) sound graduate training including the PhD for psychologists, (2) substantial clinical skills in diagnosis and therapy, (3) experience in consultation and administration, and (4) experience in community work. A 2-mo., full-time orientation program was conducted for the consultants hired. The project stimulated development of various new resources in local communities including, among others, a day school for retarded children, a family casework agency, a day center for emotionally disturbed children, a training and consultation service to an orphanage, and an alcoholism treatment and rehabilitation program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effectiveness of a partnership-centered approach in conjoint behavioral consultation.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the extent to which a partnership orientation in conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) may predict case outcomes and determine the relationship between a partnership orientation and implementation integrity of CBC. CBC is a problem-solving process by which families and teachers work collaboratively with a consultant to address students' academic, behavioral, and social needs. Twenty children, their parents and teachers, and consultants were involved in CBC services. Outcomes included parent and teacher ratings of acceptability, satisfaction, perceptions of effectiveness, and child performance across home and school settings. Partnership orientation scores and process integrity data were collected across interviews for each case. Results suggest that both parents and teachers consistently find CBC to be an acceptable, effective, and satisfactory form of service delivery. Findings reveal that consultants can conduct CBC interview objectives effectively within a partnership orientation. A partnership orientation in CBC was significant in predicting teachers' acceptability and satisfaction with the process; however, parents' acceptability and satisfaction with the CBC process was not predicted by a partnership orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In the Eye of the CEO!

Consultants need to seek more client advice and counsel. This article shares an interview with a chief executive officer (CEO) regarding the need for consulting services, expectations, able and less able consultants, and the issue of consultant training and experience from the client's perspective. The CEO's views might provide a platform for thinking about the education and continuing growth and development of the consultant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health consultation in the pediatric intensive care unit.

The need for psychosocial intervention to be integrated with medical care on intensive care units is high, but too often mental health professionals are ill-equipped by traditional training programs for such work. Medical crisis counseling provides a conceptual framework useful in developing the skills needed to effectively intervene in such settings. The pediatric intensive care unit ( PICU ) is arguably one of the most emotionally demanding and high-stress areas where mental health clinicians may be asked to consult. This article describes medical crisis consultation in the PICU setting, suggests survival strategies for the mental health consultant to the PICU, and provides illustrative case examples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two little magic words.

Discusses the importance of perceived program need and agency and consultant contracts to the development of agency-based community mental health programs. For programs that depend significantly on the contributions of an outside consultant, 2 steps must be taken. First, the nature of the perceived program need and the relevance of the consultants' interests and skills to that need must be established. Second, contracts clarifying the agency's and the consultant's specific roles and responsibilities in the prospective program must be developed. Problems in need determination may involve misidentification of need or disagreement among agency staff about needs. A hypothetical program for training volunteers as companions of discharged mental patients is described to illustrate the steps taken in establishing contractual responsibilities. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Passages: Career ladders for college counseling center psychologists.

Uses the stages of adult development set forth by G. Sheehy (1976) as a model for analyzing the careers of counseling psychologists. The careers of counseling center personnel are traced from graduate school days to the period Sheehy refers to as resignation or renewal, and the following conclusions are made: (a) The counseling center career ladder is short, forcing many psychologists in their early 30's into other job avenues; (b) the flexibility provided by counseling center positions is a 2-edged sword, producing disadvantages in later career stages; (c) reward systems should be developed to keep competent therapists in the counseling center; (d) administrative training should be provided during graduate school for future counseling psychologists; and (e) renewal alternatives need to be developed for burned-out counselors and counseling center directors in the midlife transition. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior consultation: A five-year evaluation of consultant and client outcomes.

Examined the effects of training in behavioral consultation (BEC) on school psychology graduate students and on client outcomes. 169 children (aged 3–11 yrs), 29 teachers/consultees, and 26 consultants participated. The consultants were comprised of 4 groups of graduate students and 1 no-training undergraduate control group. The procedure involved 3 phases of assessment: pre-training, competency-based training, and post-training. Training focused on the principles and mastery of applied behavioral therapy and BEC, relationship skills, and systems entry issues. The dependent variables included indices of mastery of the BEC process, knowledge and attitude toward behavior modification (BEM), consumer satisfaction, and treatment outcome. Each consultant achieved a predetermined minimum criterion of 80% of BEC interview objectives. Training resulted in large increases of BEM and no changes in attitude toward BEM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personnel Psychology and Small Business.

The psychologist acting as consultant to a small concern operates under serious restrictions on his usual personnel methods. Often the selection of employees is only a small part of his general services. The number of new men being hired is small, the turnover rate may be infinitesimal, and even a survey of the men on the job may yield paltry information in comparison with usual employment studies. Ideally this sort of operation should be carried on at a national level with many or all of the local concerns of the same sort participating in the project. This would probably only be feasible through arrangements between an association of these concerns and some psychological consultants similar in scope to the Psychological Corporation. Lacking these connections, the psychologist locally still faces these persistent difficulties. In the opinion of the writer, there are three lines of evidence which can lend support to the consultant in making his judgments and recommendations. The author describes this evidence in detail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using emotional intelligence to develop executive leadership and team and organizational development.

This case study explores how emotional intelligence (EI) was used to facilitate team and organizational cohesiveness. An organizational development (OD) consultant and an executive coach, both senior consultants, facilitated this engagement. An EI assessment and a team-building retreat served as the foundation for the process. In addition, the relationship between the executive coach and the OD consultant is examined, and comments from the CEO in this engagement and consultants are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serving large numbers of adolescent victim-survivors: Group interventions following trauma at school.

A major tragedy involving a school community can elicit tremendous sadness, fear, and anxiety among students. Although many school districts provide crisis intervention services at such a time, the demand for counseling can easily outstrip the available mental health resources in a school. This article describes procedures for efficiently serving large numbers of high school students affected by a tragedy, through the use of large assemblies and small groups. The objectives of these interventions are to provide brief crisis counseling and to identify students who may be at risk for more serious disturbance. Issues that can arise during the interventions, such as the discovery of earlier unresolved losses, the eruption of anger, and the exacerbation of preexisting tensions at the school, are discussed, and methods for managing these concerns are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)