Home      Login

Abstract: 

Although offering mental health services in schools has improved access for youth experiencing mood disorders, a research-to-practice gap continues to exist in the implementation of evidence-based practices for treating these youth. The common elements approach, which distills from the evidence-based practice literature common practice elements found to be efficacious in the treatment of specific mental health problems, has been found to help reduce these implementation barriers and improve practitioners’ access to evidence-based practices. School mental health (SMH) practitioners can match specific client demographics and mental health concerns to common practice elements through an Internet database. This paper presents three case studies that illustrate the use of the common elements approach to treat youth with, or at-risk of developing, a mood disorder. Specifically, the case studies illustrate how clinicians were able to provide the most common practice elements to their clients in conjunction with additional practice elements that met the clients’ individual needs and contexts. The paper discusses, in particular, the implications of this approach for SMH practitioners and researchers.

Keywords: School mental health, mood disorders, youth, common elements approach, Student Emotional and Educational Development (SEED) project

Affiliations:  1: University of South Carolina; 2: University of South Carolina; 3: University of South Carolina; 4: University of South Carolina; 5: Appalachian State University.