October 2007

Introduction

This knowledge path has been compiled by the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources about children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges. Resources tap into the health, education, social services, and juvenile justice literature. The path identifies tools for staying abreast of new developments in mental health care and for conducting further research. Separate sections present resources for families and schools. The final part of the knowledge path presents resources about specific emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges. The knowledge path is aimed at health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, educators, and families, and it will be updated periodically.

Related knowledge paths: Social and Emotional Development in Children and Adolescents and the Community Services Locator: An Online Directory for Finding Community Services for Children and Families. For resources about the general care and development of children and adolescents with special health care needs, including those with chronic illnesses, physical disabilities, or emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges, see the knowledge path, Children and adolescents with special health care needs.

Overview

See Bright Futures in practice: Mental health (2002). This guide contains mental-health-promotion and substance-use-prevention guidelines for infants, children, and adolescents. The guide includes a section about emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges encountered in primarily care practice. The second section of this knowledge path, Resources on Specific Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Challenges, follows the topics covered in the Bright Futures guide with the addition of resources about juvenile justice, schizophrenia, suicide, and Tourette Syndrome.

Resources for Professionals

Web Sites: A-Z

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Contains data and information from the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID), Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), National Guideline Clearinghouse and the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse along with research findings about mental health and children and adolescents. AHRQ is the health services research arm of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Resources and initiatives include

  Child Health Toolbox: Measuring Performance in Child Health Programs Access, Quality, and Health Service Delivery. Contains tips and tools to help state and local policymakers and program administrators evaluate Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Title V, and other health programs for children and adolescents that include mental health services.

• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). Contains information about research, legislative activities, and meetings pertaining to child and adolescent mental health; policy statements; clinical practice guidelines; and a directory of child and adolescent psychiatrists.
  
  
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Mental Health. Contains program information, meeting materials, policy statements, journal articles, grant project information, a newsletter, and other resources for health professionals about mental health and children and adolescents. A separate section presents resources about behavioral health in children and adolescents. Publications include

  Classification of child and adolescent mental diagnoses in primary care: Diagnostic and statistical manual for primary care (DSM-PC) child and adolescent version. (1996).

  Maltreatment of children with disabilities. (2007).

  Strategies for system change in children's mental health: A chapter action kit. (2007).

• American Institutes for Research (AIR). Describes its services for programs that offer help to children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral challenges and their families. AIR administers a number of projects about child and adolescent mental health for the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice, including

  Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice (CECP). Provides a series of monographs, articles, and research briefs for health and education professionals about what is working for children and adolescents with serious emotional challenges in systems of care.

  Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. Contains program and conference information, reports, an electronic newsletter, and other resources to support local communities in their efforts to successfully develop and implement systems of care. Recent publications include

  • Juvenile justice and mental health: Working together for the best outcomes for youth with serious emotional disorders. (2006).
    
    
  • Taking charge: An introductory guide to choosing the most effective services for the mental, behavioral, and emotional health of youth within a system of care. (2006).
    
    
• American Psychological Association (APA). Contains news, articles, brochures, and information about publications and programs on a wide range of mental health issues affecting children and families. APA Books offers several publications about children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges.
  
  
• Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. Provides legislative news, fact sheets, and reports about children's mental health. Topics include health insurance and financing, health care systems, child welfare, education, and juvenile justice. The center works to advance and preserve the rights of people with mental health challenges and developmental disabilities. Recent publications are

  Checklist for advocates of school-wide positive behavior support integrated with mental health. (2006).

  Checklist for local advocates of school wide positive behavior support with mental health. (2006).

  Moving on: Federal programs to assist transition-age youth with serious mental health conditions. (2005). This collection of fact sheets provides information about 57 federal programs that address the wide range of needs of adolescents with serious mental health challenges who are transitioning into adulthood.

  Way to go: School success for children with mental health care needs. (2006).

• Bright Futures at Georgetown University. Contains guidelines, distance-education resources, and training tools for a practical developmental approach to providing health supervision for infants, children, and adolescents, including those with special health care needs. Topics include general health and development, mental health, nutrition, oral health, and physical activity. Some materials are available in Spanish. Bright Futures is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Materials include

  Bright Futures in practice: Mental health. (2002). This guide contains mental-health-promotion and substance-use-prevention guidelines for infants, children, and adolescents. It is designed to inform primary care pediatric health professionals about the essentials of mental health promotion; to identify the support that infants, children, and adolescents need for good mental health; and to assist in the development and implementation of mental-health-promotion programs and policies. A companion volume provides tools to assist in mental health screening, education, and health care management.

  What to expect and when to seek help: Bright Futures developmental tools for families and providers (2006). A companion referral tool helps professionals identify resources in their own communities. These tools are available in English and Spanish.

• Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior. Offers fact sheets, policy briefs, research syntheses, and teaching and training tools for early childhood professionals on evidence-based recommendations for positive behavior support. The center is funded by the Department of Education to promote the use of evidence-based practice to meet the needs of young children who have, or are at risk for, problem behavior. Recent publications include

  Promoting social, emotional and behavioral outcomes of young children served under IDEA. (2007).

• Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). Contains program information and publications about improving the quality of publicly financed health care relating to behavioral health. CHCS is a nonprofit policy resource center that promotes high-quality health care services for low-income populations and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Recent initiatives and publications about child and adolescent mental health include

  Improving Outcomes for Children Involved in Child Welfare. Offers information about this national collaborative with 11 managed care organizations to improve the delivery of physical and mental health care for children and adolescents in child welfare.

  Public financing of home and community services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances. (2006).

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Mental Health Work Group. Offers an electronic guide to CDC's public health information on mental health from across CDC's many agencies. Includes links to CDC data reports and other publications about mental health, links to mental health organizations by state, and links to surveys and instruments used in research studies to measure mental health domains. Recent publications include

  Mental health in the United States: Health care and well being of children with chronic emotional, behavioral, or developmental problems -- United States, 2001. (2005).

  Role of public health in mental health promotion. (2005).

  Also see CDC's Data2010, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), Healthy Youth!, CDC's Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) resource, and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

• Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Online (dbpeds.org). Contains resources for health professionals to promote better care and outcomes for children, adolescents, and families affected by developmental, learning, and behavioral problems. Includes forms, checklists, and other screening tools; online tutorials; an electronic discussion group; and articles to support improvement in developmental and behavioral screening, surveillance, and identification of disabilities. dbpeds.org is affiliated with AAP's Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
  
  
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Drug Information Pathfinder. Links to a wealth of information about specific medications, ensuring safe use of medicine, drug approvals, clinical trials, and more.
  
  
• Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD). Offers program, conference, and training information; publications; and other resources to improve the quality of life for all children and adolescents, especially those with special health care needs or at risk for poor outcomes. GUCCHD is a division of Georgetown University's Department of Pediatrics. Resources and initiatives about mental health include

  National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC). Contains resources and tools to increase the capacity of health and mental health programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems. Materials are available in Spanish. Also see the NCCC Resource Database.

  National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health. Offers program and conference information and other resources about reforming services and building systems of care for children and adolescents who have, or are at risk for, mental health challenges and their families. Recent publications include

  • 2006 Training Institutes: Special Forum Summaries. Offers 14 issue briefs that summarize the presentations and recommendations from special forums that focused on communities and populations with unique service needs that require specialized planning and service delivery approaches within systems of care.
    
    
  • Best beginning: Partnerships between primary health care and mental health and substance abuse services for young children and their families. (2005).
    
    
  • National TA Conference Calls. This monthly series covers important and emerging trends in the mental health field. Presentations from experts are followed by open discussion. Includes descriptions of upcoming calls as well as an archive of previous calls and presentation materials.
    
    
  • Also see the Center's electronic newsletter, Data Matters.
    
    
• Healthy People 2010. Offers information about this national health-promotion and disease-prevention initiative. Focus area 18 addresses mental health and mental health challenges. The initiative is coordinated by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). Also see Data2010 for data about the Healthy People 2010 mental health objectives. See too the HP2010 Information Access Project for access to published literature related to the Healthy People 2010 objectives about mental health and mental health challenges.
  
  
• MCH Training Program: Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics. Offers information about these programs working to prepare health professionals to develop or improve the behavioral, psychosocial, and developmental aspects of general pediatric care. The training program is part of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
  
  
• National Association of Mental Health Planning and Advisory Councils (NAMHPAC). Provides resources for state and territory mental health planning councils to help them function more effectively. Also presents brochures, toolkits, and position statements about key mental health issues, including evidence-based practices in the mental health system. NAMHPAC is an association of advocates, parents, and consumers involved with state mental health planning across the country.
  
  
• National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD). Offers information about its technical assistance programs, publications, data, and other resources that focus on state mental health services, including programs for children, adolescents, and families.
  
  
• National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). Offers program information and publications about children's mental health. Located at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, NCCP works to identify and promote strategies that prevent child poverty and improve the lives of children and families with low incomes in the United States. Recent publications include

  Challenges and opportunities in children's mental health: A view from families and youth. (2006).

  Child and youth emergency mental health care: A national problem. (2007).

  Facts about trauma for policymakers: Children's mental health. (2007).

  Strengthening policies to support children, youth, and families who experience trauma. (2007).

• National Children's Study. Contains information about this study to examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of more than 100,000 children and adolescents across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. As part of the study, the Development and Behavior Working Group will evaluate environmental factors that are associated with development and behavior. The National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) and a consortium of federal agencies are conducting the study.
  
  
• National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG). Includes an online education programs about genetics and mental illness. NCHPEG promotes health professional education and access to information about advances in human genetics.
  
  
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Contains resources for health and education professionals about the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in children and adolescents. Resources include news about clinical trials and multi-center collaborations as well as sections devoted to medications and to specific mental disorders.
  
  
• National Mental Health Information Center. Offers an abundance of resources about child and adolescent mental health, including publications and program information that are aimed at health professionals, educators, and policymakers. Topics range from specific emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges to mental health systems of care. Also offers a mental health services locator and hotline information. The center is a service of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), which leads federal efforts to treat mental health challenges by promoting mental health and by preventing or minimizing mental illness when possible. CMHS is part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Initiatives and publications include

  American Indian/Alaska Native Circles of Care. Describes this grant program designed to support tribal governments and urban Indian programs in their efforts to design and assess culturally appropriate mental health service models for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children with serious emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges and their families. Lists funded communities.

  Caring for Every Child's Mental Health. Presents this communications campaign that aims to help families, educators, and health professionals recognize mental health challenges and seek or recommend appropriate services. It also strives to reduce the stigma associated with mental health challenges. Includes an order form for a collection of materials about child and adolescent mental health.

  Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Abuse State Infrastructure Grants. Describes this program to strengthen the capacity of states, territories, and Native American tribal governments to develop and sustain substance abuse and mental health services including early intervention, treatment, and/or continuing services and supports at the local level for children, adolescents, and young adults with serious emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges and their families. Lists grantees by state.

  Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their Families. Describes this program to promote more effective ways to organize, coordinate, and deliver mental health services and supports for children, adolescents, and their families. Presents a series of monographs on promising practices in children's mental health services that have potential for replication across the country. Other recent publications include

  • Annual report to Congress 2002-2003. (2007).

  Mental health, United States. This biennial report presents statistics on all aspects of mental health care in the United States to help guide program and policy direction and identify a course toward system transformation in mental health care.

  Partnership for Youth in Transition. Describes this grant program to plan, design, and implement youth transition programs for adolescents with serious emotional disorders and their families. Lists grantees by state. Publications include

  • On the move: Helping young adults with serious mental health needs transition into adulthood. (2007).

  Statewide Family Networks. Describes this grant program designed to increase the capacity of statewide family network grantees to participate in the development of policies, programs, and quality assurance activities related to the mental health of children and adolescents with serious emotional disorders and their families. Lists grantees by state.

• Promising Practices Network (PPN) on Children, Families, and Communities. Offers a wealth of evidence-based information about what works to improve the lives of children, adolescents, and families. Features descriptions of evaluated programs that improve outcomes for children and adolescents. Topic areas include behavior problems and mental health. Also offers a collection of summaries from the research literature about evidence-based programs on topics that include mental health and substance abuse. In addition, PPN contains information about and links to resources on forming, funding, and maintaining community partnerships and collaborations; service integration; program implementation; evaluating the process and monitoring outcomes; and results-based decision-making. Partner Pages link to collections of research and information on specific priority areas regarding children, adolescents, families, and communities that include mental health. Most of the pages focus on a particular state. PPN is a service of the RAND Corporation.
  
  
• Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health. Provides research articles, data summaries, conference presentations, an organizations directory, and program information about improving services and outcomes for children and adolescents with serious emotional or behavioral challenges and their families. The center is part of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. In addition to a series of issue briefs and technical reports containing summaries of lessons learned from established system-of-care communities, recent publications include

  Assumptions, indicators and descriptors for the Family Voice Study: Assessing the role of family organizations in developing family voice in systems of care. (2006).

  Examining the research base supporting culturally competent children's mental health services. (2006).

  Family driven care: Are we there yet? A road map for system transformation for family members, educators, and mental health professionals. (2007).

  Organizational cultural competence: A review of assessment protocols. (2006).

  Quick guide for self-assessment of family-run organizations in systems of care. (2007).

• Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health (RTC). Contains program information, reports, and electronic news services about community integration for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral challenges and their families and about strengthening family participation in child and adolescent mental health services. Located at Portland State University, RTC is dedicated to promoting effective services for families and their children with emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges. Recent publications include

  Employed parents of children with mental health disorders: Achieving work-family fit, flexibility, and role quality. (2007).

  Wraparound: Key information, evidence, and endorsements. (2007).

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Contains program and funding information about improving mental health services for children, adolescents, and their families. Also offers electronic news services. SAMHSA focuses on building resilience and facilitating recovery for people with or at risk for mental health or substance use disorders. Recent publications and initiatives include

  From exclusion to belonging: Transforming mental health care in America. (2006).

  Reducing substance abuse in America: Building the nation's demand reduction infrastructure. A framework for discussion. (2006).

  Systems of Care. Offers program information and resources about promoting a coordinated network of community-based services and supports that are organized to meet the challenges of children and youth with serious mental health needs and their families.

  Note: Many of SAMHSA's publications and initiatives about child and adolescent mental health are disseminated via the National Mental Health Information Center.

• Zero to Three. Provides a wealth of research-based resources to promote early childhood mental health by supporting and strengthening families, communities, and those who work on behalf of children from birth to age 3. Recent publications include

  Building system capacity: Improving infant and early childhood mental health in Philadelphia. (2006).

  
  

Additional Electronic Publications

• Ablorh-Adjidja A, Bryant B, Green E, Ingoglia C, Ingoglia JN, Joh J, Phillips C, Punja S, Rajan R, Schaff K. 2005. Supporting collaboration between mental health and public health. Washington, DC: National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). This issue brief provides background on the connection between practice and systems of public health and mental health and offers recommendations for incorporating mental health into public health practice at the federal, state, and local levels. Also see NACCHO's companion publication, Guiding principles for collaboration between mental health and public health (2005).
  
  
• Anda R. 2006. Health and social impact of growing up with alcohol abuse and related adverse childhood experiences: The human and economic costs of the status quo. Rockville, MD: National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACOA). This paper presents findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, a decade-long, ongoing study designed to examine the childhood origins of many health and social problems. The paper describes the study design and discusses the interrelatedness of ACEs. Types of ACEs discussed include abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and domestic violence. The relationship of ACE scores to alcohol consumption, risk factors for HIV and AIDS, smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; depression and suicide attempts; worker performance; and health care costs are examined.
  
  
• Center for Best Practices. 2005. Funding for children's mental health services: Making the most of Medicaid. Washington, DC: National Governors Association (NGA). This issue brief describes the cost to society of unmet mental health needs and outlines the Medicaid options available to states to expand treatment capacity for children with mental health challenges.
  
  
• Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (CLC). 2007. Making reform real: Addressing the mental health needs of children in the dependency system. Monterey Park, CA: Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (CLC). This report summarizes the discussion and recommendations of the 2006 Foster Youth Mental Health Summit, which brought together mental health professionals, social workers, foster parents, relative caregivers, advocates, community leaders, and children and adolescents to identify and develop concrete, workable solutions pertaining to the provision of mental health services to foster children in Los Angeles County.
  
  
• Herman M. 2006. Difficult passage: Helping youth with mental health needs transition into adulthood. Washington, DC: National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). This policy brief addresses the challenge of helping adolescents with mental health needs transition into adulthood and highlights the approaches different states are taking to meet the challenge.
  
  
• Hess C. 2007. Building better systems for child and adolescent mental health. Portland, ME: National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP). This paper summarizes the results of a meeting convened as a means of engaging state, federal, professional, and consumer experts from the child mental health and maternal and child health fields in a conversation about how to develop stronger collaborative approaches to improve systems for child and adolescent mental health.
  
  
• Institute of Medicine (IOM). 2006. Improving the quality of health care for mental and substance-use conditions. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. This book examines the distinctive characteristics of health care for mental health and substance-use disorders, including payment, benefit coverage, and regulatory issues, as well as health care organization and delivery issues.
  
  
• Melnyk BM, Moldenhauer Z, eds. 2006. KySS (Keep Your Children/Yourself Safe and Secure) guide to child and adolescent mental health screening, early intervention, and health promotion. Cherry Hill, NJ: National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP). This guide for pediatric health professionals focuses on mental health screening and early intervention and mental health promotion for children and adolescents. Chapters cover assessing and screening for common mental health problems; diagnosing, managing, and preventing mental health disorders; anxiety disorders; attention deficit hyperactivity disorders; eating disorders; grief and loss; mood disorders; marital separation and divorce; maltreatment; sexuality; substance abuse; violence; reimbursement; and brief interventions. Screening tools, Web-based resources, and educational handouts for parents as well as school-age children and adolescents are also included.
  
  
• Office of the Surgeon General. 1999. Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This report reflects an extensive review of scientific literature on mental health, as well as consultations with mental health professionals and consumers. A chapter is devoted to child and adolescent mental health, and it examines normal development, risk factors and prevention, mental health challenges, and health service delivery.
  
  
• Office of the Surgeon General. 2001. Mental health: Culture, race, ethnicity. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This supplement to Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General (1999) discusses the barriers to services that are encountered by persons of certain social and cultural groups.
  
  
• Office of the Surgeon General. 2000. Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health: A national action agenda. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This report introduces a blueprint for addressing children's mental health needs in the United States.
  
  
• Podmostko M. 2007. Tunnels and cliffs: A guide for workforce development practitioners and policymakers serving youth with mental health needs. Washington, DC: National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth. This guide is designed to help workforce development practitioners, administrators, and policy makers enhance their understanding of adolescents with mental health needs and the supports necessary to help them transition into the work force successfully.
  
  
• President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. 2003. Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America -- Final report. Washington, DC: President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. This report describes the problems and gaps in the mental health system and makes recommendations for immediate improvements that the federal government, state governments, local agencies, and public and private health professionals can implement. The report describes several model programs.
  
  
• President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. 2003. Major federal programs supporting and financing mental health care. Washington, DC: President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. This document outlines federal support for mental health care. Each program description includes the responsible agency, what is provided, eligibility criteria, the application process, the method of payment, and Web site address for further information.
  
  
• Saldana D. 2006. Assessing mental health needs in local communities: A primer in research methods to assess community needs and develop local planning strategies. Austin, TX: Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. This manual outlines a planning process for local community mental health services development. It is designed for service agencies, civic planners, and community organizations that are interested in using a research-based model that may be especially appropriate for rural or underserved areas.
  
  
• Shalwitz J, Sang T, Combs N, Davis K, Bushman D, Payne B. 2007. Behavioral health: An adolescent provider toolkit. San Francisco, CA: Adolescent Health Working Group, San Francisco. This toolkit for health professionals focuses on adolescent mental health and substance use and includes screening and assessment tools, evaluation and treatment algorithms, brief office interventions and counseling guidelines, behavioral health information and worksheets for health professionals, and health education materials. Body basics is the fourth module of the Adolescent provider toolkit: A guide for treating teen patients.
  
  
• Van Landeghem K, Hess CA. 2005. Children's mental health: An overview and key considerations for health system stakeholders. Washington, DC: National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation. This issue paper presents (1) an overview of important considerations for health system efforts to promote and improve the mental health of children and adolescents and (2) key policy considerations for promoting and advancing comprehensive mental health systems for children and adolescents.
  
  
• World Health Organization (WHO). 2005. Atlas: Child and adolescent mental health resources. Global concerns: Implications for the future. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. This report presents a compilation of information about country resources for mental health program development including policy availability, professional resources, and mechanisms for financing services to help governments and other interested parties support the development of child and adolescent mental health services.
  

  
  

Databases

The databases listed below are excellent tools for identifying data, additional literature and research, and programs about children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges. Many of the entries below contain tips on how to use the databases efficiently. Please note that databases vary in how terms should be entered; for example, some require quotation marks and others don't. Enter search phrases as shown in bold below.

Data

• Childstats.gov. Presents statistics and reports about children and families, including population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior, and social environment, and education. Includes statistics about children with e