Building an Integrated Behavioral Health Workforce for Children and Families

April 14, 2022, 2:00 – 3:00 pm Eastern

The lack of accessible, effective behavioral health care is among the greatest threats to the healthy development of children and adolescents, especially in structurally marginalized communities. In response to this critical care gap, a group of federally qualified community health centers (FQHCs) and foundations in Massachusetts developed the TEAM UP (Transforming & Expanding Access to Mental Health Care in Urban Pediatrics) for Children Initiative, an eight-year, $22 million initiative that builds the capacity of FQHCs to deliver high-quality, evidence-informed, trauma-responsive, integrated behavioral health care to children, adolescents, and families. Speakers explored lessons learned and resources from the initiative’s past six years, including design and investment decisions that have enabled improved access to care, workforce development and training approaches, state-level advocacy and reimbursement strategies, and evaluation and monitoring tools.

Speakers included Genevieve Daftary of Codman Square Health Center, Anita Morris of TEAM UP for Children, Jessica Rittner of The Klarman Family Foundation, Amy Rosenthal of Health Care for All, and Shanna Shulman of the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation.