Defragmenting the System: Inter-Professional Collaboration for Meeting the Needs of Adolescents with Learning Disabilities and Mental Health Issues in British Columbia

Mental health issues and learning disabilities are common problems faced by adolescents. The intersection of mental illness and learning disabilities leads to multiple complex problems that cannot be easily addressed by any single professional or agency. This report focuses on how schools and educators can play a role in improving cooperation for meeting the needs of these students. Many policies need to go into creating a well-established inter-professional collaboration framework. In-depth interviews and review of best practice documents resulted in recommendations of a handbook and community service directory as well as steering committees to be formed in each school district in order to create a better foundation for inter-professional collaboration in the communities in BC.