International education and training for clinical child and adolescent psychology

Abstract

Psychological problems in youth and adequate mental health service delivery to children, adolescents, and families are critical public health dilemmas around the world. Central to effectively addressing the mental health needs of youth and families is focusing attention on the evaluation and development of specialized training programs in clinical child and adolescent psychology. All countries to more or less degree face challenges, but lower-income countries have additional limitations (e.g., scarce resources for training, high demand for services, cultural barriers) to establishing clinical psychology programs and specialized services for children and adolescents. This article discusses the status of efforts in the United States to define clinical child and adolescent psychology and develop standard training recommendations for mental health providers who work with youth and families, international considerations for intervention implementation and training, and future directions in the field of clinical child and adolescent psychology.