Training Manual for Paraprofessional and Allied Professional Programs.

This training manual is published by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) program Improving Mental Health Services on Western Campuses as a result of work done on a grant from the Experimental and Special Training Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health. The manual details considerations and ideas that have been found essential in planning programs that use paraprofessionals and allied professionals. Much of the material was assembled in preparation for on-campus testing and refining of the WICHE program's paraprofessional/allied professional model. The remainder of the material results from the knowledge and experience gained through this model's application. The model incorporates ideas and recommendations of task forces that were convened during the first three years of the grant. Membership of the task forces represented all segments of the university community. One of the recommendations the task forces made was that student volunteers or paraprofessionals and allied professionals should become more consistently and intimately involved in the delivery of services to students. The manual deals with planning, selection and training of personnel; the role and evaluation. It also includes a selection process example. (Author/NG)