Collaborating at the Frontier: Multisector, Community-Based Wraparound Services for Youth and the Role of School Leadership and Personnel

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Families First: Involvement, Identity, and Influence

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a study of wraparound services—which bring together social service, civic and school stakeholders in teams that support individual support youth struggling with mental health and addictions issues—in a rural county. Wraparound services are inter-agency collaborations which develop communities of practice at the “social frontier” of social services and public education. Findings suggest that communities of practice developed both on youth-centered teams as well as at the county-wide coordinating committee level. While school leaders were involved in both communities of practice, their leadership (as well as the participation of school personnel in general) was largely underutilized. Implications for school leadership practice and research, and wraparound service implementation and leadership, are discussed.

Authors

• Kate L. Phillippo, Loyola University Chicago

• Martin Scanlan, Boston College

• Laura Harringa, University of Wisconsin - Madison