Engaging families in child mental health services

To increase the involvement of urban youth and families who need mental health services, child mental health agencies and providers might consider the following: (1) examining intake procedures and developing interventions to target specific barriers to service use; (2) providing training and supervision to providers to increase a focus on engagement in the first face-to-face meetings with youth and families; (3) providing service delivery options with input from consumers regarding types of services offered. Involvement of youth and their families is a primary goal that must receive as much attention as any other part of the service delivery process. One might argue that without youth and family participation, effective services never will be provided to youth and families in need.