The primary function of schools is to educate students, but they are also responsible for helping to nurture positive social, behavioral, and psychological development in children and adolescents. Many youth attending today's schools face a number of environmental, social, and economic challenges that create stress and often cause significant distraction from the primary task of learning. Educators and health professionals now understand that unresolved physical, mental, or psychosocial problems become barriers to effective learning and that school staff must facilitate access to mental health interventions if they hope to [Page 661]see the majority of their students succeed. School-based and school-connected mental health services offer students the possibility of taking full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them.

Current statistics indicate that the prevalence of mental ...