Outpatient Mental Health Care for Families

Outpatient care is the most common source of mental health care for families. Outpatient mental health care for families is typically focused on [Page 782]treating a child or adolescent who is referred to an outpatient care provider by the education system, a community resource, or the family. Perhaps the most often used systems of care for outpatient services are community mental health centers. Community mental health centers evolved from the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963. For the most part, treatment was based on a psychodynamic model and focused on the therapist-child relationship and the child's development of insight. Today, the majority of traditional mental health services for children and adolescents still focus on the individual, despite research on ...