Investing in children, youth, families, and communities: Strengths-based research and policy.

The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has called for a fundamental transformation of the nation's approach to mental health care. In the report Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America (2003), the commission identifies two principles as the foundation for successful transformation: Services and treatments must be consumer and family centered, building on strengths, and care must focus on coping with and building resilience to face life's challenges. These principles are given legs in Investing in Children, Youth, Families, and Communities: Strengths-Based Research and Policy, in which coeditors Maton, Schellenbach, Leadbeater, and Solarz bring together a diverse and expert team of authors to highlight an impressive body of evidence that supports just such a transformative shift away from the deeply ingrained, historical deficits approach and toward a focus on building on strengths and fostering resiliency.