Psychiatrists in Boston, Massachusetts, once thought they had the perfect way of encouraging families to join a programme aimed at tackling their emotional problems. Therapists hit the target neighbourhood with an attention-grabbing, rainbow-painted luxury trailer, brightly labelled as a mobile mental health unit - and wondered why the locals failed to climb aboard.
Dr Jacqueline Barnes of the Leopold Muller Centre at University College London, recounts this tale as an example of how early intervention programmes, no matter how well meaning, may founder.
Joint author of a Mental Health Foundation report called From pregnancy to early childhood; early interventions to enhance the mental health of children and families, Dr Barnes is certain that no single approach will have all the answers.
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