Work, Life, and the Mental Health System of Care: A Guide for Professionals Supporting Families of Children with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (SCCMH)

When a child has an emotional or behavior disorder, parents experience a host of extra challenges as they attempt to meet their caregiving and employment responsibilities: stigma, increased stress, child care difficulties, lack of workplace supports. Professionals need to know how to help parents address these critical issues-and now there's a book that shows the way. Expertly researched and enhanced with actual strategies used by parents, this accessible resource gives professionals the up-to-date knowledge they need to support entire families, ease the pressures they face, and connect them with the best help and services.

Readers will start with an inside look at what happens within a family when a child has an emotional or behavior disorder. Then they'll get a primer on parents' support needs and in-depth information and guidance they'll use to help parents

• overcome stigma, an inhospitable workplace culture, and other challenges to work–life integration
• communicate effectively on the job and with service providers to receive support and information
• solve the child care dilemma with options such as flexible work schedules, in-home care, and the use of inclusive child care centers
• improve access to school programs—and their child's outcomes
• navigate the complex mental health system
• manage the direct and indirect financial costs of having a child with an emotional or behavior disorder
• connect with community supports through the neighborhood, churches, cultural groups, friendship networks, and peer support groups

Throughout the book, expert contributors blend the latest research with candid stories from parents, giving readers the wisdom and sensitivity they need to work skillfully with families. And to help professionals move the field forward with confidence, the book clarifies current policies, pinpoints gaps in knowledge, and maps out what needs to be done to improve family supports and services. A clear and informative resource that will benefit a wide range of readers—including social workers, special educators, psychologists, human resource professionals, and family support specialists—this is the book professionals need to empower and educate families in their quest for successful work–life integration.

Learn more about the series.

Eileen M. Brennan, Ph.D. is Co-Principal Investigator of the Work–Life Integration Project at the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health; and Associate Dean and Professor of Social Work at Portland State University, Oregon. Since the early 1990s, Dr. Brennan has been a principal or co-principal investigator of federally funded research and training projects on the social and emotional health of children and support for their families. Her research has examined the challenges faced by employed parents of children and adolescents who have emotional or behavioral disorders and the strategies the families have used to meet these challenges. A developmental psychologist, Dr. Brennan has also examined the importance to families of the successful inclusion of children with mental health difficulties in child care. Currently, she is participating in research on transforming transitions to kindergarten for children with emotional or behavioral challenges and their families.

The late Jane Knitzer, Ed.D. was Director of the National Center for Children in Poverty, and Clinical Professor of Population and Family Health in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.

In addition to her work with the National Center for Children in Poverty, Dr. Knitzer was also a Clinical Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. As a psychologist, Dr. Knitzer focused her own research on improving public policies related to children's mental health, child welfare, and early childhood. Her work on mental health included the ground-breaking policy report, Unclaimed Children: The Failure of Public Responsibility to Children and Adolescents in Need of Mental Health Services (Children's Defense Fund, 1982). Most recently, she was a leader in calling attention to the importance of addressing social and emotional issues in young children. Dr. Knitzer was on the faculty at Cornell University, New York University, and Bank Street College of Education. She was a member of the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children and a past president of Division 37: Child, Youth, and Family Services of the American Psychological Association, and a member of the American Association of Orthopsychiatry. She was the first recipient of the Nicolas Hobbs Award for Distinguished Service in the Cause of Child Advocacy from the American Psychological Association.

Ms. Penn began to navigate the children’s mental health system through efforts to care for her own son and subsequently became an advocate for other families. She was the founding executive director of the Family Support Organization of Burlington County, and currently serves as a consultant on building family leadership within child-serving systems to communities and universities throughout the country.

Julie M. Rosenzweig, Ph.D., LCSW is Co-Principal Investigator of the Work–Life Integration Project at the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health; and Associate Professor of Social Work at Portland State University, Oregon. Dr. Rosenzweig's research focuses on the work–life integration experiences of parents whose children are struggling with serious emotional or behavioral disorders. Her research projects in this area have received funding through the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Of particular interest to Dr. Rosenzweig are the challenges faced by parents of children with mental health disorders in the workplace and the strategies they develop to meet both employment and exceptional caregiving responsibilities. In addition, she is concerned with work–life integration supports available in the employing organizations, including formal support through policies and informal support provided by human resource professionals, superv