Preparing psychologists to link systems of care in managing and preventing children's health problems

Abstract

Objective: To describe the need for innovations in training to link health, educational, and family systems and to illustrate how this can be accomplished through child-oriented psychology training programs. Methods: We describe multiple pathways for the preparation of child-oriented psychologists to link health, educational, and family systems, in keeping with the National Institute of Mental Health guidelines for preparing professionals in child and adolescent psychology. These pathways include training embedded in graduate programs specializing in clinical child, pediatric, school, community, and family psychology. This article highlights a training initiative for preparing child-oriented psychologists based in a school psychology program. Results A partnership between Lehigh University and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has been developed to prepare school psychologists to coordinate community-based systems of care to promote positive educational and health outcomes for children. This program emphasizes both intervention and prevention and provides a set of integrated experiences in both health care and educational settings. Conclusions: We highlight components of this program relevant to the preparation of pediatric psychologists. We identify and discuss potential challenges in establishing training programs for the preparation of professionals to link health, school, and family systems.