Providing short-term primary preventive crisis intervention for children in schools

Abstract

This chapter discusses some ideas about how the Caplanian approach to preventive mental health — specifically the method of crisis intervention — might be applied in state schools, a non-stigmatic site for primary prevention. It argues that there is a strong prima facie case, based both on evidence from children and young people and from theory, for finding ways and means to apply crisis intervention methods of support for children in schools to help them cope with stressful upheavals associated with intense interparental conflict, separation and divorce. The main challenge is how to persuade practitioners and policy makers and educational and school health services that this is a promising approach worth developing.