The Connecticut School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) promotes positive outcomes for both schools and students. Instead of arresting and suspending children with behavior problems, SBDI schools support students and connect them to community-based behavioral health services. 

Among schools participating in SBDI since 2010, the average reduction in court referrals was 34% and increase in Mobile Crisis Intervention Services was 47%. In Connecticut, SBDI has benefited schools serving over 47,000 students and trained over 4,300 teachers and staff to recognize trauma and mental health concerns to better manage behavioral health crises in schools.

Learn more at www.ctsbdi.org .

Connecticut’s current health reform efforts offer an opportunity to improve children’s health and well-being by broadening the role of pediatrics to support population health, mitigate disparities, and integrate care with other services. In this newly envisioned health care system, pediatric primary care providers would continue to provide guidance on development, well-child visits, and medical care when children are sick, but they would also expand their practices to include family support services and connect families with community services such as behavioral health care, assistance with food or housing, help with school issues, and treatment for maternal depression. To ensure pediatric primary care providers have the resources they need to support health reform efforts, CHDI has partnered with the Connecticut Health Foundation and Commonwealth Medicine to develop, test, and advance strategies for redesigning pediatric primary care payment and delivery systems.

 

Learn more about this work by visiting the new health reform section of our website . The website features information on:



CHDI 's Lisa Honigfeld and Susan Macary co-authored an article with two medical students from the Frank Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. The article, " The Relationship Between Body Mass Index in Children and Insurance Type, Parental Eating Concern, Asthma, and Allergies ,” appears in the September issue of the Journal of Pediatric Health Care . Students worked with CHDI staff to analyze data from the Early Childhood Health Assessment records that child care and preschool sites are required to have on file for all children in attendance. The analysis explored critical factors associated with childhood obesity. Results indicated that overweight/obese children were more likely to be of lower socioeconomic status with government-funded insurance and have asthma.  

CHDI's Vice President for Mental Health Initiatives, Jason Lang, discussed early childhood trauma and Bounce Back (an elementary school-based trauma treatment) with John Voket on the ' For the People ' podcast and radio show.

Listen as Lang shares information about early childhood trauma, statewide efforts to improve trauma-informed care for young children, and how integrating mental health services in school settings benefits schools and students. (Lang's interview starts 21 minutes into the podcast)

Lori DiPietro joined CHDI this month as a Project Coordinator for the Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH-ADTC) initiatives. Prior to joining CHDI, she served as a Program Coordinator for the Kohl’s Start Childhood Off Right (SCOR) initiative at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. She has a Bachelor of Science and Master’s Degree in Public Health from Southern Connecticut State University.

Ashley Loser joined CHDI this month as a Data Analyst for Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH-ADTC) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) initiatives. Prior to joining CHDI, Ashley worked at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders. She has a Masters in Psychology from Boston University.

Brittany Lange joined CHDI this month as a Postdoctoral Fellow and will assist with the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based and best practice initiatives . She completed her Doctor of Philosophy in Social Intervention at the University of Oxford and her Masters in Public Health in Health Policy at the Yale School of Public Health. Her primary research interests include mental health, child sexual abuse, parenting, substance use, qualitative research methodology, and the creation of evidence-based mental health policy.

A list of Brittany's publications is available at:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brittany_Lange