Family Engagement in Mental Health Interventions for Young Children

This book examines the critical nature of engaging families in mental health interventions that promote well-being and resilience in young children, from birth to 8 years of age, with a particular focus on the importance of equity and systems of care. It addresses evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions to promote family engagement to improve behavioral, social, and emotional functioning of infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and children in the early elementary school years. The book is grounded in empirical knowledge on reducing health disparities and promoting equity in mental health care for young children, including equitable access, services, and outcomes. It emphasizes a community-based systems of care approach to family engagement in mental health interventions and highlights the most promising policies and practices. Key areas of coverage include: Mental health interventions for different developmental levels, including infancy and toddlerhood, the preschool years, and in early elementary school. Inequities and gaps in systems of care for young children. Evidence-based and evidence-informed prevention practices and intervention strategies to engage families and support children’s psychological well-being. Family engagement in interventions for young children with special needs or who are recovering from trauma. Family Engagement in Mental Health Interventions for Young Children is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and other professionals in developmental psychology, child and adolescent psychiatry, family and systems therapy, school and clinical child psychology, social work and counseling, pediatrics and school nursing, and all interrelated disciplines.