“Best practices” are treatments and services that have been scientifically tested and can be used by mental health professionals in real-life settings for children.
The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has developed an online list of best practices in mental health and substance use services. Texas Department of State Health Services also has an online clearinghouse of best practices.
Examples:
Texas Nurse-Family Partnership pairs bachelor's-level registered nurses with low-income, first-time mothers to improve prenatal care and provide one-on-one child development education and counseling until the child turns 2 years old.
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is for children and adolescents with more serious behavioral health needs. It is delivered at home, in school or in the community in collaboration with family members, making it family-driven rather than therapist-driven. Home-based MST services have proven especially effective with juvenile offenders.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors.CBT helps people change the way they think to change the way they feel. Trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT) integrates cognitive and behavioral treatment with traditional child abuse therapy to help children, youth and their parents overcome traumatic life events, such as child sexual or physical abuse, traumatic loss of a loved one, violence and exposure to disasters, terrorist attacks or war trauma.
Systems of Care is a promising practice to address mental health needs for children and youth with serious behavioral health problems. A system of care is a coordinated network of community-based services and supports. Systems of care build on the strengths of individuals, address each person's cultural and linguistic needs, and bring public and private organizations together to serve a child's mental health needs.
Texas Integrated Funding Initiative (TIFI) combines systems of care with the wraparound approach. The wraparound process uses a facilitator and team to create a personalized plan of care for children and youth and their families. Team members typically include the youth, parents or caregivers, other family members, community members, mental health professionals, educators and others who can play a supportive role for the youth. Team members met regularly to design, implement and monitor the personal plan.
Online Resources
Best Practices Clearinghouse for Mental Health Systems: practical and proven approaches to improve mental health services, with an emphasis on practices that are working in Texas.
Texas Systems of Care: description of systems of care in Texas.
National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health: Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development's evidence-based practice initiative.
Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice on Systems of Care: three series of monographs on Promising Practices in Children's Mental Health.
Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatments Report: provides a definition of evidence-based treatments and examples.
National Governors' Association Center for Best Practices: a good starting point for a variety of best practices for children and families.
Institute for Mental Health Research: best practices for system design and service delivery.
Child Welfare League of America: information on best practice frameworks for children's mental health.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: best practices in collaborating state Medicaid and mental health programs.
Washington Institute for Mental Health Research and Training: resources on training and technical assistance for best practices.
