ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the process of policy making and how mental health policies get made using the Boomerang Policy Making Model. Good policy should not go in one direction, like a Frisbee; it should come full cycle like a Boomerang. There is a functional need in the schools for practice to impact policy, not for policy to always impact practice. Including school-based mental health professionals and educators in the policy making process benefits students, school staff, families, and communities. Policy levers are introduced along with the Advocacy Action Phases to describe how policies are advocated for, processed, revised, and passed along to the next lever. The need for iterative revision and multiple feedback loops, both single and double, is discussed.
