Problems Encountered on School Mental Health Services: School Psychological Counselors’ Opinions

Abstract

Early and timely identification of children having emotional-behavioral disorders and providing mental health services that they are in need of is very important. Schools are establishments through which it is most probable to reach children and provide services or refer them to appropriate services. School psychological counselors have a key role to provide services known as school mental health services. The present study aimed to identify the problems encountered in relation to school mental health services. This study is designed as a qualitative typical case study. A total of 22 school counselors from city of Amasya participated in the study. Data were collected through interview. In order to find out the themes, a coding procedure was utilized. The emerging themes are as follows: “Expectations, duties and responsibilities: We do not know what we are”; “Sources of the problem: It is all due to families”; “A collaborative school mental health services” and “We did not learn it properly: Problems encountered during undergraduate education”. Each theme was construed exclusively and they were also discussed in relation to the roles of school psychological
counselors and the provision of school mental health services in educational settings.