Mary Ann Trost

Nonprofessional human-service personnel in consulting roles

Four nonprofessionals (housewives), each with 6 years of prior experience as a child aide in a school mental health program for early detection and prevention of school maladaptation, assumed consultative responsibilities in an expanded project involving 12 schools and 60 child aides. The nonprofessional consultants engaged in a variety of functions including aide serving, child serving, professional team serving, administrative, and research activities. Consultants were most effective, most satisfied, and contributed most to programs in roles that directly tapped their own prior school experiences, rather than simply as an “extra pair of hands”.