Creative and responsive community-based clinical practice has emerged through a host of initiatives and programs that are now recognized as important means for meeting mental health needs. There is increasing evidence that these alternative approaches are an important addition to traditional practice and that they have a special role in meeting the needs of those whom traditional services have failed to help. This chapter tries to orient the reader to the field of community-based clinical practice and its increasing significance. It focuses on addressing what community-based clinical practice is, why it is re-emerging now, what traditions it is building upon and expanding, and what significant ideas are fueling its development.

Abstract This chapter presents the work of Partners for Success (PfS), a collaborative project between Smith College School for Social Work (SSW) and an urban public school system of a mid-size city in the Northeast. In a context of widespread experimentation in locating mental health services in the public schools, this program succeeded in achieving the goals of providing multi-systemic mental health services consistent with system-of-care principles, while preparing social work interns for clinical and leadership roles in school-based mental health services. The chapter describes the impetus for the project, the initial negotiations between the two partners, the agreed-upon goals, the initial stages of entry and engagement, a lengthy period of stability and expansion, the clinical model that evolved over time, evaluative studies of the degree of satisfaction experienced by different stakeholders, and the process of adjustment to recent financial crisis in the schools, with reduction in the scope of the program, coupled with integration into the structure of the school system. The story is supplemented by integrating discussions of important issues from the literature about school-based mental health practice, as well as with case examples.

The culture of mental health care is being reshaped through community-based innovations, both across the United States and internationally, that are enabling healing and recovery in community. This chapter presents where the evolving traditions of community-based clinical practice have been most influential. As the practice examples in this volume are previewed, the values and perspectives of community work come to life. The chapter shows that mental health care is being transformed through clinicians' recognition that working with the resourcefulness and meaning of community is more than simply working in community.

This volume builds the bridge between books on community practice and on clinical practice, including 33 chapters written by social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists, for clinicians making the transition to community-based work. This is the first handbook to address this gap and provide guidance for today's community practitioners. Its overarching goal is to support the ongoing development of community-based mental health care, drawing on practical examples. This collection outlines the history and philosophy of community practice, and also illustrates the state of the art, with examples from early intervention and development programs, school-based practice, and community mental health services for children, families, and adults.

This article traces the development of the collaborative project, Partners for Success, and describes its conceptual underpinnings, purposes, goals, operations and services, the findings from program evaluations, and planned future developments. Insights gained from experience and from several program evaluations are described from the perspective of how they will affect program and practice model development.