Opportunities Arising From Transformation From Treatment as Usual to Evidence-Based Practice

Is it possible to transform a children's mental health agency from an eclectic, treatment-as-usual approach to clinical care to a program based on evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP), within one year? Facing a fiscal mandate to transition the vast majority of clinical services to empirically supported treatments, an urban children's mental health center successfully implemented rapid and dramatic change. In the process, opportunities including enhanced training for staff and trainees; provision of research-based services to children, youth, and families; and leadership roles for clinicians resulted in an improved system of care and training milieu. Further, the transformed system is enabling the evaluation of EBPP in the context of a diverse client population, including low-income, primarily Latino children, many of whom have comorbid chronic medical illness and developmental disability in addition to complex mental health needs. Lessons learned from the EBP transformation have implications for other agencies and systems that are seeking to change in line with progress in the field of psychology.