Stepped Care 2.0: The Power of Conundrums

Stepped Care 2.0: A Paradigm Shift in Mental Health, by Dr Peter Cornish, made a compelling argument for why the existing mental health care system has consistently struggled to meet the needs of clients from all walks of life, and laid out key principles and guidelines for how the system could be changed. But what challenges are involved in putting these ideas into practice? Stepped Care 2.0: The Power of Conundrums features essays, interviews, and arguments from a wide range of contributors who have tried to do just that.
The Power of Conundrums dives deep into the practical application of the Stepped Care 2.0 model (SC2.0), looking at the ways SC2.0 has succeeded, the difficulties administrators face when implementing it, and how it could be improved. Chapters touch on topics including: the evidence for stepped care, the way SC2.0 can be stymied by the Western cultural values that dominate mental healthcare, implementation science and SC2.0, the risk paradigm and SC2.0, the model's one-at-a-time approach to therapy, what co-design means in an SC2.0 context, a case study on how implementing SC2.0 can go wrong, the understanding of recovery put forward by the model, and how SC2.0 can work for clients experiencing complex, persistent, or chronic mental health issues. Each chapter is followed by a reflection from Cornish, and the book concludes with a roundtable discussion about how SC2.0 can evolve to meet the challenges it faces.
This text brings theory and practice together by including an updated version of Stepped Care 2.0: A Paradigm Shift in Mental Health, as well as the full text of Stepped Care 2.0: The Power of Conundrums.



Peter Cornish
Since developing the Stepped Care 2.0© (SC2.0) methodology, Peter Cornish has provided mental health system consultation and on-site implementation training to over 150 organizations across North and South America. In addition to his role as faculty and senior adviser at Stepped Care Solutions, Cornish is an honorary research professor at Memorial University and co-director of Student Mental Health (Strategic) at the University of California, Berkeley, where he established the Berkeley Center for Mental Health Innovation. He is collaborating with colleagues on a three-book series expanding on the SC2.0 methodology. He is a principal investigator for a $1.14 million Canadian Institutes of Health Research transitions-in-care, four-year research grant aimed at digitizing and evaluating SC2.0 across three Canadian provinces.


Gillian Berry
Dr. Gillian Berry is vice president of culture, diversity, and workforce development at Stepped Care Solutions. She has over 35 years of experience as an educator and practitioner. She has overseen the counseling and psychological services at George Washington University, leading a multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals through the implementation of the Stepped Care 2.0 approach into their service delivery. She has been a faculty member at the University of Botswana's Department of Social Work Southern Africa and the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Her clinical interests are strongly influenced by her grandfather's Indigenous philosophy, and provides short-term solution-focused services/therapy from this perspective.