Psychology is the science of human behavior. Thus, service providers in the area of mental health should have a foundational knowledge of psychological science; but do they? To investigate this question university calendars and websites were systematically reviewed to ascertain how many psychology courses and related training is required by entry level degrees for nursing, social work, medicine, counselling psychology, and clinical psychology. Results clearly show that clinical psychology graduates take more courses in psychology and related training than any other group, followed by counselling psychology. It is possible to graduate without any exposure to psychology or mental health issues in some of the other professions including medicine, yet many people's first choice for many mental health issues is a family physician. The discussion focuses on the significant implications for an increasingly interprofessional field with the emergence of primary care networks and other forms of interprofessional collaboration.

PurposeThis paper reports on a study exploring a sustained coaching model of teacher professional development (PD). The study was undertaken with middle school teachers in a small rural school division in Alberta, Canada. The goal of the study was to theorize about the components of the sustained coaching model of PD that supported or was a barrier to teachers engaging in a year-long PD series.Design/methodology/approachA grounded theory methodology was used to theorize about the components of a teacher PD model that participants viewed as being a support or barrier to their engagement in the PD. Data were collected from two individual participant interviews: one interview at the beginning of the year and one interview at the end of the year.FindingsFindings indicate that teacher PD should include a constant community, accountability to other participants in that community, and a balance of theoretical and practical support and be provided over multiple sessions. In addition, in order for the PD to be sustainable, barriers to engaging in the PD should be minimized.Originality/valueA recognition of the complexity of the factors influencing a teacher's interaction with PD provides a lens with which to consider the potential for a teacher's engagement with PD.

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