Chapter 4: Mental Health Delivery in Urban Schools: It Takes a Village to Empower a Child

Meeting the mental health needs of school-age children is a national concern. Given the considerable amount of time that children spend in school and the effects of behavior and psychological functioning on student learning (Welsh, Parke, Widaman, & O’Neil, 2001), schools provide the most optimal setting for providing psychological services to children. The delivery of mental health services in urban schools is particularly important given the barriers many families and children from urban communities face with respect to accessing quality and affordable mental health care. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the mental health needs of students in urban schools and to highlight two urban school districts that are successful in providing mental health services to students.