Eastern North Carolina Public-Academic Liaison: 
Curriculum Development and Training

One of the outcomes of this project is a shared curriculum, entitled “Interdisciplinary Practice – Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disorders and their Families,” for students in the Department of Psychology, the Department of Child Development and Family Relations, School of Social Work, and School of Nursing.  This course provides an overview of the interdisciplinary, collaborative process and a "System of Care" (SOC) model to be used across disciplines in mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families.  Students learn the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration for children with serious emotional disorders as well as the strengths and weaknesses if using an interdisciplinary model.  Students are able to differentiate parallel practice, multidisciplinary practice, and interdisciplinary care.  Students compare and contrast care planning by each discipline and learn to build interdisciplinary practice guidelines for collaborative care.  Although predominantly a campus-based course, teaching methods also include discussion groups, role-playing, small group exercises, panel discussions, and guest lectures by individuals in a variety of disciplines (including psychiatry).  This course has been well received and is linked to a series of subsequent field experiences for students in these disciplines where they can learn to apply these concepts of interdisciplinary practice. 

Initial support for the Eastern North Carolina Public Academic Liaison (ENC-PAL) evolved from a contract between East Carolina University and the Child & Family Services section of the Division of Mental Health of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.  This project, formerly called Pitt-Edgecombe-Nash Public Academic Liaison (PEN-PAL), was designed to promote the development of the region’s system of care for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families.  An interdisciplinary academic component included pre-service training and curriculum development.  Subsequently, other universities partnered with their local communities and the state to develop similar initiatives and the North Carolina PAL network had developed.  These participants have included: Appalachian State University, Mars Hill College, Sandhills Community College, UNC Asheville, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro.  These academic partners have made numerous presentations at national conferences and produced scholarly publications on their interdisciplinary collaborative efforts.   "The Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health at the University of South Florida is in the process of creating a set of resources and partnerships aimed at incorporating key concepts from SOC approaches into university curricula. A web-based access point for these resources, with an accompanying moderated list serve component is being developed."

"Currently the Eastern North Carolina PAL (sometimes referred to as the Social Sciences Training Consortium) is comprised of faculty from the following departments/schools:  Marriage and Family Therapy, Nursing, Psychiatry, Psychology, and Social Work.

  Last updated June 11, 2003