Strengthening Mental Health Programs for Secondary School Students With High Support Needs: A Framework for Effective School Case Management

Abstract

MindMatters Plus (MM+) is a program that focuses on building the capacity of secondary schools to meet the needs of students who have high support needs in the area of mental health. A necessity to supplement this work with specific strategies and processes allied to the delivery of mental health programs in secondary schools was identified. Effective school case management was one key strategy of MM+ that subsequently was targeted for further identification and development. To this end, the Australian Guidance and Counselling Association was commissioned to produce a resource on effective school case management for staff who work with secondary school students who have high support needs in the area of mental health. This article briefly describes the School Case Management Project that was established to achieve this aim, and presents a work-in-progress framework of the principles, definition, aims and strategies of effective school case management. This framework is the basis upon which the resource, a tool kit designed to appraise and improve the quality of a school's case management practices, is currently being developed. The project is due for completion by the end of October 2005.