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Sustaining and Expanding Systems of Care to Provide Mental Health Services for Children, Youth and Families Across America
Author(s) -
Miller Bethany D.,
Blau Gary M.,
Christopher Okori T.,
Jordan Phillip E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-012-9517-7
Subject(s) - mental health , cultural competence , workforce , health psychology , public health , health care , nursing , competence (human resources) , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , political science , pedagogy , social psychology , law
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has been instrumental in supporting the development and implementation of systems of care to provide services to children and youth with serious mental health conditions and their families. Since 1993, 173 grants have been awarded to communities in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, the District of Columbia, and 21 American Indian/Alaska Native communities. The system of care principles of creating comprehensive, individualized services, family‐driven and youth‐guided care and cultural and linguistic competence, supported by a well‐trained and competent workforce, have been successful in transforming the field of children's mental health and facilitating the integration of child‐serving systems. This approach has achieved positive outcomes at the child and family, practice and system levels, and numerous articles have been published using data collected from system of care communities, demonstrating the effectiveness of this framework. This article will describe lessons learned from implementing the system of care approach, and will discuss the importance of expanding and sustaining systems of care across the country.