Abstract
Child-and-family-centered systems of care and the inclusion of child, youth, and family voice represent an alternative to traditional, authoritarian approaches to children’s mental health treatment. Although much has been written about the centrality of child, youth, and family voice in creating responsive and effective mental health systems, the literature contains limited research highlighting the viewpoints of youth and caregivers themselves who have participated in systems of care. Our exploratory study seeks to narrow that gap. Utilizing eight semi-structured youth and caregiver interviews, we assessed the perceptions of youth and their caregivers participating in a community-based mental health system of care. Five primary themes emerged. The families we interviewed described negative previous experiences with mental health treatment and a strong sense of satisfaction with the care they received using a system of care approach. In addition, they expressed appreciation of the quality of relationships developed as a part of their treatment, felt individualized services made treatment more personally meaningful, and were empowered to act as active agents in obtaining future mental health treatment and achieving life goals. Implications for practice and future research are discussed, with the goal that the insights gleaned from our exploratory study can be used to inform future research and practice efforts seeking to incorporate child, youth, and family voice into children’s mental health services.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, R., & Petr, C. (1996). Towards developing standards and measurements for family-centered practice in family support programs. In G. Singer, L. Powers, & A. Olson (Eds.), Family support policy and America’s caregiving families: Innovations in public private partnerships. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.
Becker, K. D., Lee, B. R., Daleiden, E. L., Lindsey, M., Brandt, N. E., & Chorpita, B. F. (2015). The common elements of engagement in children’s mental health services: Which elements for which outcomes? Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 44(1), 30–43.
Bickman, L., Lambert, E. W., Andrade, A. R., & Penaloza, R. V. (2000). The Fort Bragg continuum of care for children and adolescents: Mental health outcomes over five years. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(4), 710–716.
Bruns, E. J., Suter, J. C., Force, M. M., & Burchard, J. D. (2005). Adherence to wraparound principles and association with outcomes. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14(4), 421–434.
Burns, B. J., Farmer, E., Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Behar, L. (1996). A randomized trial of case management for youths with serious emotional disturbance. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25(4), 476–486.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Mental health surveillance among children—United States, 2005–2011. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6202a1.htm.
Champine, R. B., Schreier, A., Whitson, M. L., & Kaufman, J. S. (2019). Comparing youth and caregiver experiences in a school-based system of care. Journal of Family Social Work, 23(1), 35–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/10522158.2019.1681334.
Crouch, M., & McKenzie, H. (2006). The logic of small samples in interview-based qualitative research. Social Science Information, 45(4), 483–499.
Davis, T. S., Gavazzi, S. M., Scheer, S. D., Kwon, I. A., Lammers, A., Fristad, M. A., & Uppal, R. (2011). Measuring family caregiver perceptions of support in caring for children and youth with mental health concerns. Journal of Social Service Research, 37(5), 500–515.
Friesen, B. J., Koroloff, N. M., Walker, J. S., & Briggs, H. E. (2011). Family and youth voice in systems of care: The evaluation of influence. Best Practices in Mental Health, 7(1), 1–25.
Golan, M. (2014). Parenting and the parallel processes in parents’ counseling supervision for eating related problems. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 19(2), 273–285.
Gutierrez, L. M., Parsons, R., & Cox, E. O. (1990). Empowerment in social work practice: A sourcebook. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Hawley, K. M., & Garland, A. F. (2008). Working alliance in adolescent outpatient therapy: Youth, parent and therapist reports and associations with therapy outcomes. Child & Youth Care Forum, 37, 59–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-008-9050-x.
Head, A. (1998). The child’s voice in child and family social work decision making: The perspective of a guardian ad litem. Child and Family Social Work, 3, 189–196.
Higgins, B. (2017). Reinventing human services. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315128313.
Hogan, M. F. (2003). New Freedom Commission Report: The President’s New Commission Report: Recommendations to transform mental health care in America. Psychiatric Services, 54(11), 1467.
Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
McDonald, K., Sundaram, V., Bravata, D., Lewis, R., Lin, N., … Owens, D. (2007) Care Coordination. In S. McDonald, R. Wachter, & D. Owens (Eds.), Quality gap: A critical analysis of quality improvement strategies. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Mendenhall, A. N., & Mount, K. (2011). Parents of children with mental illness: A look at caregiver strain and caregiver-focused interventions. Families in Society, 92(2), 183–190.
Olin, S. S., Hoagwood, K. E., Rodriguez, J., Ramos, B., Burton, G., Penn, M., … Jensen, P. S. (2010). The application of behavior change theory to family-based services: Improving parent empowerment in children’s mental health. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 462–470.
Osher, T. W., & Osher, D. M. (2002). The paradigm shift to true collaboration with families. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11(1), 47–60.
Owens, P. L., Hoagwood, K., Horwitz, S. M., Leaf, P. J., Poduska, J. M., Kellam, S. G., & Ialongo, N. S. (2002). Barriers to children’s mental health services. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(6), 731–738.
Padgett, D. K. (2009). Qualitative and mixed methods in social work knowledge development. Social Work, 54(2), 101–105.
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Rubenstein, H., & Lawler, S. (1990). Toward the psychosocial empowerment of women. Affilia, 5(3), 27–38.
Russell, S., & McCloskey, C. (2016). Parent perceptions of care received by children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 31(1), 21–31.
Snyder, E. H., Lawrence, C. N., & Dodge, K. A. (2012). The impact of system of care support in adherence to wraparound principles in child and family teams in child welfare in North Carolina. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 639–647.
Taber, B. J., Leibert, T. W., & Agaskar, V. R. (2011). Relationships among client-therapist personality congruence, working alliance, and therapeutic outcome. Psychotherapy, 48(4), 376–380.
Teyber, E. (2006). Interpersonal process in psychotherapy: An integrative model (5th ed.). Belmont CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Wald, H. P., Zubritsky, C. D., & Jaquette, N. (2014). Measuring system of care core values in a behavioral health system of care. Community Mental Health Journal, 50, 275–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-013-9639-x.
Walker, J. S., & Bruns, E. J. (2007). Wraparound—Key information, evidence, and endorsements. Retrieved from http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/wraparound%20evidence%20recognition%20070316.pdf.
Walker, J. S., & Matarese, M. (2011). Using a theory of change to drive human resource development for wraparound. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20(6), 791–803.
Walker, J. S., & Schutte, M. S. (2005). Quality and individualization in wraparound team planning. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14(2), 251–267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-5052-6.
Zimmerman, M. A., Israel, B. A., Schultz, A., & Checkoway, B. (1992). Further explorations in empowerment theory: An empirical analysis of psychological empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20(6), 707–727.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors of this manuscript declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the authors’ Institutional Review Board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Frauenholtz, S., Mendenhall, A.N. “They’ll Give You a Second Chance”: Perceptions of Youth and Caregivers Regarding Their Experiences in a Community-Based Mental Health System of Care. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 37, 477–485 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-020-00654-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-020-00654-8