This chapter discusses comprehensive school crisis interventions, identifies the characteristics that define a crisis, finds ways to assess for the level of traumatic impact, and determines what interventions can be provided to help with response and recovery. It highlights the PREPaRE Model of crisis prevention and intervention. There are six general categories of crises: acts of war and/or terrorism; violent and/or unexpected deaths; threatened death and/or injury; human-caused disasters; natural disasters; and severe illness or injury. Children are a vulnerable population and in the absence of quality crisis interventions, there can be negative short- and long-term implications on learning, cognitive development, and mental health. Evidence-based interventions focusing on physical and psychological safety may be implemented to prevent a crisis from occurring or mitigate the traumatic impact of a crisis event by building resiliency in students. Crisis risk factors are variables that predict whether a person becomes a psychological trauma victim.

This chapter illustrates three important elements such as individual and institutional betrayal trauma, and reparative individual and institutional experiences. Military sexual trauma (MST) survivors receive psychological care from a wide swath of mental health professionals, within the context of both veteran and civilian institutions. The therapeutic orientations draws a combination of cognitive, dialectical behavioral, and relational-cultural theories, will influence the way we conceive of MST. A caregiver having cognitive, emotional, and physiological reactions of love, protectiveness, affiliation, and nurturing toward an infant buffers against the huge responsibility and effort it takes to provide sufficient care. Therapists may be able to gain clinical traction with MST survivors by understanding that MST almost always includes experiences of both individual and institutional betrayal. A therapeutic environment where mutual empathy and empowerment are present can provide an antidote to the patient’s previous environments, lacking in empathy and rife with disempowerment.

This chapter provides an overview of many optional approaches to consider after the initial intervention has occurred. There are a number of potential outcomes that can occur from helping a young adult with psychosis. Young adults experiencing psychosis will be agreeable to professional intervention and seeking treatment and go on to achieve success in recovery. The individual may require hospitalization in order to ensure safety and allow for the opportunity to reduce symptoms. A team of medical and mental health professionals complete a variety of assessments, both physical and psychological, in order to determine the specific nature of the problem. Outpatient services can differ in their intensity and time requirements. Outpatient treatment programs vary greatly in their structure and intensity, as they are designed to meet the needs of individuals in different stages of recovery. The chapter explains the valuable emotional support and assistance in accessing services.

Active Minds offers many resources for individuals with mental illnesses and allies. Suicide prevention website provides information about wealth and how to support someone who may be experiencing suicidal thoughts. American Psychological Association (APA) is a national organization for psychologists that are also dedicated to improving public access to information and services related to psychology. The government website for mental health provides a directory of government mental health programs as well as general information related to mental health. A national addiction recovery program aimed at building skills that help to combat addictive behaviors offering meetings in many communities as well as online. OK2TALK is an online support community for young adults living with mental illness. Community members are supported in sharing and learning from the stories of others in a stigma-free environment.

This chapter provides basic and fundamental knowledge that will be helpful in identifying if psychiatric symptoms are present and assisting when there may be concern about psychiatric stability. It discusses what one can expect from individuals who are being approached with concern about their current mental health status. The chapter facilitates connection to a treatment provider who can evaluate the signs and symptoms of distress. Paranoia can elicit denial if auditory hallucinations are present that threaten safety if any information is revealed. Negative symptoms and disorganization can also impair reality-based thinking through difficulty engaging with the environment. The chapter provides the idea of some important considerations and expectations after one have made the decision to approach someone about concern for psychotic symptoms. Empathy is critical to the practice of psychology and psychological intervention, but it is also very helpful to use in everyday life and conversation.

Treating emotional and behavioral disorders in children and adolescents is a complex issue; that is, practitioners must understand children’s typical patterns of social, emotional, and cognitive development and determine what is responsible for having taken the referred child off that “normal” path. Most children identified as socially maladjusted benefit from treatment and schooling provided in alternative education classes. Social maladjustment has historically also been synonymous with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnoses of conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and oppositional-defiant disorder. The diathesis-stress model is the balance between stressors and coping that accounts for the onset and continuation of mental health and other medical disorders. Three psychosocial intervention approaches are effective for all youth with conduct problems: parent training, contingency management, and cognitive behavioral skill training. As skills develop and stabilize, interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence form emotional intelligence.

Conduct disorder in childhood and adolescence is considered to be a significant mental health concern because of its connection to numerous other social, emotional, and academic outcomes, both in terms of concurrent and future functioning. This chapter focuses on the examination and explanation of the treatment strategies for the conduct disorder. There are four main groupings of behavior for conduct disorder: aggressive conduct, nonaggressive conduct, deceitfulness or theft, and serious rule violations. The chapter examines the role of genetic, neurological, and environmental factors implicated in the development of conduct disorder. Psychosocial treatment programs such as multisystemic therapy (MST), functional family therapy (FFT), and multidimensional treatment foster care that combine parental management training (PMT), structural family therapies, and skill-building appear to have a moderate to large-effect size in reducing aggression and symptoms of conduct disorder.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions to impact school-aged children. A particular diagnostic subtype termed “separation anxiety disorder” accounts for the majority of referrals seen within child and adolescent psychological service delivery systems including schools. The developmental connection between childhood separation anxiety disorder and adolescent/ adult panic disorder has also been well documented in the literature. Associated features of separation anxiety include parent-child dysfunction, school attendance difficulties, and challenges to social functioning. Biological and environmental factors play a role in the development of separation anxiety disorder. Evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents with separation anxiety disorder include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), family therapy, pharmacological treatments, or a combination of these biopsychosocial therapies. Parental behaviors and parenting style are associated with increased risk for childhood anxiety, including separation anxiety disorder.

Perceived quality of life is shaped by internal beliefs and social interactions. There is empirical support for the dual nature of emotions in mental health, both among adults and youth. Although many well-being studies have focused on adults, research over the past two decades has examined subjective well-being (SWB) in school-aged youth. There are empirically validated SWB promotion strategies that warrant attention. This chapter provides an overview of a number of these programs and strategies that have been used to foster youths’ positive SWB, with a particular focus on school-based practices. It describes the benefits of SWB among youth, describes specific domains that have been addressed vis-à-vis SWB promotion strategies and summarizes multicomponent programs and narrowband strategies that have been shown to promote SWB levels. The chapter concludes with a description of the factors to consider when implementing efforts to foster SWB and provides key resources to support these efforts.