ABSTRACT
The primacy afforded to individual psychopathology creates dilemmas for practitioners who think systemically, as well as for those undertaking mental health initiatives in non-western communities: Salwa Massad and Umaiyeh Khammash, point out that an imported medicalised view of trauma and distress in Palestine sidelines efforts to recognise and promote children's resilience, while may not be suited to Japan's collectivist culture. Schools in many countries have a long history of supporting students' physical health, but many challenges face the more recent efforts to introduce mental health and wellbeing initiatives. Adaptive leadership is wise leadership, and this includes working to ensure that wellbeing initiatives are based on good evidence. However, what constitutes good' evidence may be contested and, unfortunately, as noted by various contributors, schools may be convinced by slick marketing to adopt unevaluated commercial programs, and some well-intentioned leaders have achieved widespread diffusion of programs lacking an evidence base.
