Expanding the Continuum of Care: Improving Equitable Outcomes through Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultations - Children’s proposes to implement Expanding the Continuum of Care: Improving Equitable Outcomes through Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultations in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties in Southeastern Wisconsin. The goal is two-fold to: 1) build a robust Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) program at Children’s, in order to; 2) build the capacity of other child and family serving professionals using culturally-responsive trauma informed strategies to extend the continuum of care to strengthen and support the healthy social and emotional development of young children. This project will build on Children’s robust Mental and Behavioral Health program to give child and family serving professionals and mental and behavioral health clinicians, direct access to mental health consultants that will empower them to effectively address mental health concerns early and access developmentally specific, culturally responsive and equitable mental health services for children in need. Additionally, the project will allow Children’s to expand mental and behavioral health services by increasing the settings and age groups who receive mental health consultation. We will target our expansion to providers and children served through our Early Childhood Mental Health program (61% White, 31% Black, 64% enrolled in Medicaid), children served through our Child Welfare programs (67% ages 0-11, 67% Black, 14% White, 14% Hispanic, 80% enrolled in Medicaid, elevated adverse childhood experiences, and mental and behavioral health concerns), our Home Visiting programs (100% ages 0-3, 59% Black, 28% Hispanic and 17% White) and to early care and education settings. By September 2027, Children’s will design and implement the necessary system structure and functions of a centralized IECMHC program (organizational reporting, financing, policies and procedures, etc.) that prioritizes health equity and sustainability. This work will increase access to a full range of infant and early childhood services and build workforce capacity for individuals serving children from birth to age 12 years by expanding IECMHC to multiple settings (e.g., child welfare, home visiting, early care and education and medical) and age groups (e.g., up to 12 years of age). We will further develop, maintain, and enhance existing infant and early childhood mental health promotion, screening, referral and treatment services currently offered through Children’s. During the five-year grant, we anticipate serving 1,401 unduplicated individuals with grant funds and training 1,086 unduplicated individuals. Annual unduplicated individuals served includes: 137 (Y1), 190 (Y2), 288 (Y3), 361 (Y4) and 425 (Y5). Annual unduplicated individuals trained includes: 81 (Y1), 157 (Y2), 234 (Y3), 278 (Y4) and 336 (Y5). Children’s is a leading provider of innovative, evidence-based mental and behavioral health services for kids and families. We are committed to addressing health inequities and improving health outcomes. We bring mental and behavioral health programming to racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Wisconsin where many residents face discrimination and other socio-economic barriers. Services are provided regardless of a client’s ability to pay. We treat children and families together through dyadic treatment that is aimed at improving parenting, the parent-child relationship and the child’s behavior. We treat thousands of children with mental and behavioral health challenges through programs at our primary care and specialty care clinics, in schools and communities across the state and through our foster care and adoption programs. Yet a large treatment gap exists and children and families are not always able to get the mental health services they need.
