Content area
Full Text
On January 3,2001, U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher released the report of the conference on children's mental health held on September 18 -19, 2000, in Washington, DC (U.S. Public Health Service [USPHS], 2000). A description of the conference, the nursing representatives attending, and recommendations were reported by Dr. Linda M. Finke in the October-December 2000 issue of JCAPN (Finke, 2000). This column presents a follow-up of the conference by providing excerpts from the report.
The Surgeon General's chief priority is "to ensure that every child has an optimal chance for a healthy start in life." Clearly, "mental health is fundamental to overall health and well-being" (USPHS, 2000, p. 3). One goal in this action agenda is to "Improve the infrastructure for children's mental health services, including support for scientifically proven interventions across professions" (p. 8). An action step for that goal is to "provide incentives for scientifically proven and cost-effective prevention and treatment interventions that are organized to support families, and that consider children and their caregivers as a basic unit (e.g., family therapy, home-based treatment, intensive case management)" (p. 9). Another goal is to "increase access to and coordination of quality mental healthcare services" (USPHS, 2000, p. 9). A related action step is to "develop a universal measurement system across all major service sectors that is age-appropriate, culturally competent, and gender sensitive to (i) identify children, including those with special health care needs, who may...