Integrating Evidence-Based Practice in the Child Mental Health Agency: A Template for Clinical and Organizational Change

This article describes a linked set of activities designed to address the present "science-to-service" gap in evidence-based practice from the perspective of the nonprofit child mental health agency: (a) implementing "systems-of-care" principles; (b) logic modeling; (c) strategic partnerships with external researchers; (d) selective, in-depth program evaluation; (e) critical comparison with a limited number of evidence-based practice models of national significance; and (f) internal and external dissemination activities oriented to evidence-based practice. Implications are drawn both for continuous quality improvement of existing clinical services and for the potential for agencies to contribute high quality, science-based information to child mental health services, singly and through the future development of a national network of experimenting child mental health agencies.