Mental Health Service Providers

Mental health providers are professionals who diagnose and/or treat mental health conditions. The specific type of service they provide depends on their training and their area of specialty. Listed below are some of the most common types of mental health providers you might come in contact with:

Case Manager/Case Coordinator:

A case coordinator is an individual who organizes and coordinates services and supports for children with mental health problems and their families. Case managers are often responsible for the coordination, development and implementation of service care plans for the families they work with. They must ensure that services are coordinated and that they meet the changing needs of the child and family.

Child Psychiatrist:

A Medical Doctor who is specially trained to treat children and youth with emotional, behavioral and mental health disorders. Child Psychiatrists are qualified to prescribe medications and are the people who decide if a young person needs to be hospitalized if their mental health symptoms are severe and they are a danger to themselves and others.

Child Psychologist:

A mental health professional with a Ph.D. in psychology or a Psy.D., that can evaluate and treat children’s emotional, behavioral and mental health disorders. Child Psychologists are not qualified to prescribe medicine.

Counselor:

A person trained to give advice or guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems.

Licensed Clinical Social Worker:

A mental health worker who is licensed under law to provide social work services to children and their families. Licensed Clinical Social Workers are able to diagnose psychiatric problems and develop treatment plans to address those problems along with young people and their families. Social workers offer a broad range of services, from assessment, emotional support, counseling services and referrals to community resources.

Mental Health Care Professional:

A person with specialized training to provide help people with mental health problems. Examples include social workers, teachers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and parent support partners and mentors.

Neuropsychologist:

A neuropsychologist is a physiologist who specializes in understanding the relationship between the physical brain and behavior. The brain is extremely complex, and disorders within the brain or nervous system can alter behavior and cognitive function. The role of a neuropsychologist is to understand how brain structures and systems relate to behavior and thinking.

Parent Support Partner:

Parent Support Partners are specially trained parents/caregivers of youth with behavioral, emotional, or mental health disorders, who have had first-hand experience with the public mental health system who use their personal experiences and knowledge to support other families as they navigate the mental health and other service systems and meet the goals in their person or family plan of service. Parent Support Partner services are available to eligible families receiving services from community mental health.

Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse:

Psychiatric/mental health nurses have specialized training in nursing and mental health. Depending on their level of education and licensing, they provide a broad range of services under the supervision of another mental health professional.

Pediatrician:

A medical doctor who specializes in treating children and adolescents. Pediatricians are allowed to prescribe all medications including psychotropic drugs but may have little training or experience treating psychiatric disorders depending on their background.

School Psychologist:

School staff who are specially trained in psychology and education, who work to identify behavioral and learning problems in students, conduct testing to see if a student is eligible for special education services and support student’s social emotional and behavioral health.

School Social Worker:

A school social worker helps students reach their potential at school by providing social work services and assistance to young people to help improve their social, psychological and academic functioning. As members of the educational team social workers promote and support students success by providing specialized services that may include: individual and group counseling, support groups, crisis prevention and intervention, home visits, social-developmental assessments, parent education and training, information and referral, collaboration with community agencies and organizations, and advocacy for students. They also serve as the link between home, school, and community and may also assist parents, school staff and community members.

Therapist:

A person skilled in a particular kind of therapy who helps people deal with mental or emotional problems by talking about those problems. A therapist may specialize in child and family therapy, group therapy, and other areas of specialty.

Wraparound Coordinator/Facilitator:

The Wraparound coordinator’s role is to coordinate the Wraparound process and help ensure meetings and plans run smoothly. They may also be responsible for assessing your family’s strengths, goals, and needs; helping you develop an initial safety and crisis plan, build your Wraparound team and create your plan; they often facilitate or manage meetings; help follow up on the progress towards the goals in your plan; ensure documents get where they need to be and do the background work to ensure plans and funding get approved. Sometimes the facilitator just runs the meetings and other team members do the rest. Other times, facilitators work with you to support every aspect of your family’s Wraparound experience.