School-linked mental health interventions: Toward mechanisms for service coordination and integration

Despite increasing activity aimed at integrating health and social services and linking them to schools, little attention has been paid to the mechanisms that must be created to accomplish this policy direction. The purpose of this paper is to highlight briefly (1) concern about inadequate interfacing among programs and (2) specific tasks and mechanisms for coordination (and eventual integration) of school-linked programs. It is suggested that community psychologists can play an important role by helping clarify essential system tasks and mechanisms and how to address these needs through judicious redeployment of existing resources.