Teaching Interprofessional Practice: A Course on a System of Care for Children with Severe Emotional Disturbance and their Families

Abstract

A college course was developed to educate preservice mental health professionals about a model for mental health care titled Family-Centered Interdisciplinary Practice: System of Care. System of Care is a seamless system of collaborating agencies providing services that are wrapped around families of children with severe emotional disturbance (SED) so that there is a safety net as family members struggle with their child’s illness. The course was inter-disciplinary in design, construction, and teaching and involved family members of children with SED as faculty partners. The underlying principles of the course were interprofessional collaboration, family empowerment, family-centered care, cultural competence, and community-based services. The primary goal for the course was the development of a model for educating preprofessionals to work collaboratively with other professionals and with families.