Mental Health Services in Schools: Literature Review

It all started in St. Louis. An inspiring presentation fueled conversations with faculty and fellow scholars about the need to consider mental health-related characteristics to inform intensive interventions, thus planting the seed for collaboration. Our project, a meta-analytic review of the effects of school-based Mental Health Services for students with or at-risk for mental health disorders, has allowed us the opportunity to engage with other scholars and faculty members to explore an area of shared interests.

As scholars, we have been able to use this project to learn meta-analytic techniques with the continued support of faculty. We have worked cohesively as a team, engaging in frequent conference calls for decision-making and management of task assignments. Our mantra – to maintain high levels of communication and stay decisive in our plan of action – in addition to our complementary work styles have been driving forces for this project’s success. While we have hit obstacles along the way, we worked through challenges by drawing upon each other’s previous research experiences. In this way, we each provided leadership during different aspects of the project, capitalizing on each of our respective strengths. Finally, we have greatly appreciated the support of our faculty member mentors (Betsy Talbott and Dan Maggin), who have provided a context situated in our early-career researcher “zone of proximal development.” Betsy and Dan have provided us the space required to hone our independent research skills, while also providing guidance as needed throughout the process.

-Scholars: Skip Kumm, Sam Gesel, Caitlyn Majeika