A Study of School-Based Mental Health Services in the USA.

In October 2013 I was awarded the Florence Nightingale Foundation Travel Scholarship, which enabled me to visit the USA in order to learn about School-Based Mental Health (SBMH) services.

I had been considering if more could be done to prevent inpatient admission for young people and believed that SBMH may contribute to this. I hoped to learn what makes SBMH effective in order to campaign for its implementation in the UK. I also hoped to learn new ways of working that could improve the links between Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and education services.

In March 2014 I flew out to the USA for five weeks, dividing my time between New York City, Boston, MA and Bethlehem, PA. I spent time with numerous SBMH programs and professionals. I found that there were some recurrent themes in SBMH that were greatly valued by students and education staff and that were important in the success of SBMH programs. From this I formulated the SPICE model, which encapsulates the elements of SBMH that are effective and valuable to young people (Space, Presence, Integration, Collaboration, and Expertise). The SPICE model enabled me to identify areas for improvement within UK services, with specific reference to the county of Lincolnshire. In addition, I learned about the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) model and its contribution to the wellbeing of young people. I believed that the use of this model would be beneficial at Ash Villa, the CAMHS inpatient unit in which I currently work.

Based on what I learned in the USA I have made recommendations to improve collaboration between CAMHS and education services, as well as implementing an adapted PBS model at Ash Villa.