Barriers to Learning: The Case for Integrated Mental Health Services in Schools

A key concern for educators, administrators, professional support services personnel, parents and policy makers are barriers to learning, particularly student mental health. Statistics reveal that up to 20 percent of children and youth have mental health issues and up to 80 percent do not receive proper intervention. Barriers to Learning enables readers to gain valuable insight into the challenges presented in classrooms today. This book presents a unique classification and review of various mental health and learning issues. The authors link current education and child and youth mental health reforms to make the case for improving services to address barriers to learning. This book includes a unique School-based Integrated Student Support Model (SISSM), which, within the context of exceptional school leadership and instruction, provides a framework for timely and evidence-based integrated and collaborative services to reduce, manage, and prevent barriers to learning for all students.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Prologue: ABC District School Board Chapter 4 Barriers to Learning Chapter 5 Biological-Psychological Barriers to Learning Chapter 6 Environmental-Circumstantial Based Barriers to Learning Chapter 7 Negative Outcomes of Inadequate Intervention for Barriers to Learning Chapter 8 Education and Mental Health System Reforms and Barriers to Learning Chapter 9 School System Responses to Barriers to Learning Chapter 10 Reduction, Management and Prevention of Barriers to Learning: The School-based Integrated Support Services Model (SISSM) Chapter 11 Epilogue: ABC District School Board Revisited Chapter 12 Conclusion

About the Author :
Debra S. Lean has more than twenty years of experience in children's mental health and school psychology. She is the chief psychologist at the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and is a member of several government-supported child and youth mental health initiatives. Vincent Colucci has more than thirty years of professional social work experience in the fields of mental health and education. His current responsibilities at the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board include working with students, parents, and school personnel at the elementary and high school levels.

Review :
There are very few if any books in the literature that furnish a grounded account of the major historical and current barriers to integrating mental health services and school life and then make the practical case for such integration. Barriers to Learning makes a critical, powerful, and timely contribution to making schools and school systems effective for all children. Well written, clear, and compelling this is a must-read for education reformers. At long last . . . a clear, articulate and well-researched argument in support of mandated student support professionals in all publicly funded schools. Education policy makers interested in removing barriers to learning have a road map to move forward.The argument in support of integrated mental health ervices in schools has been made. Colucci and Ginsherman have drawn on their research and many years of frontline, school-based experience in articulating an integrated model. The model they present willremove barriers to learning and diminish the multi-ripple effect. Key to its success is the education system's commitment to ensuring that school-based support professionals are mandated in every school... This book is extremely well done and contains a lot of useful information on providing mental health services in schools. I particularly like the graphics and Venn diagrams, which provide a clear conceptualization of school systems' organizational variables and how they interact. This book could be used in school psychology classes and interventions. Educators are naturally and logically drawn to understanding learning and behaviour, while recognizing and trying to sort out the inherent challenges. Lean and Colucci unravel the complexity of the twenty-first-century classroom. Barriers to Learning is a practical call to action that integrates years of experience with theory. At long last . . . a clear, articulate and well-researched argument in support of mandated student support professionals in all publicly funded schools. Education policy makers interested in removing barriers to learning have a road map to move forward. The argument in support of integrated mental health ervices in schools has been made. Colucci and Ginsherman have drawn on their research and many years of frontline, school-based experience in articulating an integrated model. The model they present will remove barriers to learning and diminish the multi-ripple effect. Key to its success is the education system's commitment to ensuring that school-based support professionals are mandated in every school. This book is a comprehensive source for all involved in pediatric well-being, presenting a thorough approach to address the issue of increasing pediatric mental health problems. Theirs is a slim book and an immensely readable one. It is also a book that needs to be read….Barriers to Learning is a book with a vision of what might be, a vision of not a single child being lost from the education system. It needs to be read by those who can share the vision and can also implement it.