Analysis of School-Based Behavioral Health Services in Philadelphia

Posted by on December 19, 2011

Behavioral Health Goes To School – An Analysis of School-Based Behavioral Health Services in Philadelphia.

All children should have the opportunity to be happy, healthy and successful. While they strive for this goal, they must learn to effectively cope with life stressors, set-backs and hurts.

Many children need help to build this capacity called resilience, a protective process that enables us to cope effectively when we are faced with significant adversities. Among the factors enhancing a child’s resilience are: positive relationships with caregivers and peers; internal strengths such as problem-solving skills, determination and hope; and environmental factors such as effective schools and communities.

Basing behavioral health services in schools seems to make sense, but the challenges are many. We commend the work so far, but urge that we become better at informing, collaborating, being accountable and keeping the promise to all children to help them become resilient and realize their full potential.

In order to support a more holistic, integrated approach to providing services to children in schools, both systems and individuals have to work more closely together.  PCCY has made several recommendations based on our findings.

https://www.pccy.org/userfiles/file/Publications/PCCY%20-%20Behavioral%20Health%20Report.pdf