ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to challenge the prevailing reactive and treatment-based approach usually adopted by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) teams. Families and Schools Together (FAST) was founded by Professor Lynn McDonald as a programme which could be implemented by parents working alongside professionals to increase child well-being, parent involvement in school and social capital. The FAST programme exists in a wider culture of evangelical manual programmes that present themselves as the ultimate answer to social problems. The FAST is able to address the political aspects of the lives of families in interventions that go beyond therapy, towards creating community; that is, being responsive to the needs of local families and communities, prioritising prevention and empowering parents by bringing them together. In the FAST programme school staff, parents, CAMHS professionals and local people from youth work, library, sport or religious settings, all work together, which makes these community settings more approachable and inviting for families.
