Difficulties in integrating child and adolescent training and service in a community mental health center

In 1972 the Rutgers Community Mental Health Center opened as an integral component of the department of psychiatry at the new Rutgers Medical School. The center was the primary clinical facility for training and service. The philosophy of the child and adolescent services within the center emphasized community-based programs with a continuum of backup care extending into the center. A multidisciplinary multimodal approach was developed. The author discusses several of the training and service problems that developed during the first two years of the center's operation and the approaches to resolving the difficulties.