Prevention Practice Kit

Prevention in mental health is the process of identifying and treating mental illnesses before they become full blown syndromes as well as identifying people at risk for a particular condition. The field of health prevention and mental health prevention are closely tied, and there has been a trend of focusing more efforts on prevention science as it is far less costly to prevent community, health and mental health problems rather than pay the costs associated with treatment. Mental health prevention is focused on identifying risk factors in particular groups and treating mental health issues before they result in costly health care treatments. This project is a proposal to publish a set of slim volumes as a kit to help guide practical elements in prevention practice/science. The books are intended to be quick guides to help with the various aspects associated with prevention work. They will be highly practical, portable and will provide better in depth treatment and guidance than could be found in a single chapter. This kit aims to provide concrete direction for practitioners and students for spreading and improving prevention practice for counselors, psychologists, social workers, and human service personnel. The kit will cover all major aspects of conceptualizing, implementing, and evaluating public policy around prevention. The topical areas of each volume will include best practices, consultation, program development, evidence based programs, dissemination, and public policy analysis. Each book will share a similar outline and will be approximately 75 pages long. The general outline of each book will contain the following: introduction, background and theory, research, application of topic (majority of book). The books will also contain a case example and 5 short learning exercises. The project will be endorsed by the American Psychological Association's Division 17, Counseling Psychology. They have reviewed the proposal and endorsed it and the association will be receiving a portion of the royalties. They will also take charge in promoting the kit to their individual members and advertising it on their website and in their newsletter. The author is a leader in the field of counseling and current president of the American Psychological Association's division of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy.