ABSTRACT
The Memphis City Schools Mental Health Center (MCSMHC) has a 25-year history of innovation and creativity in serving the needs of students in the Memphis City Schools (MCS). Founded in 1969, the MCSMHC received the inaugural Award of Excellence for School Psychological Services Programs awarded jointly by the American Psychological Association's Division of School Psychology (APA-Division 16) and the National Association of School Psychology (NASP) in 1982 (Paavola, Hannah, & Nichol, 1989). The MCSMHC is an administrative component of the MCS and a state-licensed mental health center. As nearly as can be determined, it is one of only two school-based, state-licensed mental health centers in the country. Licenses granted by the State of Tennessee, Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation include: Mental Health Outpatient Facility, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Nonresidential Treatment Facility, and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Early Intervention Facility. A comprehensive array of mental health serv ices, including psychological assessment, alcohol and drug abuse preven tion and outpatient therapy, crisis intervention and postvention, family therapy, sex abuse counseling and prevention, skill development and prosocial prevention groups, parent groups, and consultation are provided to students and their families through three centers: Berclair Mental Health
Center, serving schools in the north area of the city; Oakville Mental Health Center, serving schools in the south; and the Center for Drug Free Schools, which houses the alcohol and drug prevention program (A & D), the A & D clinical program, and the mental health component of the adolescent parenting program. Employing an outreach philosophy with the belief that mental health services must be made accessible to clients, the majority of services are provided in schools rather than at the centers.
