The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has awarded a four-year, $6 million grant to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) to launch the CONNECTing Schools to Care IV Students initiative. CHDI will serve as the Coordinating Center for CONNECT IV.

CONNECT IV will focus on integrating trauma-informed comprehensive school mental health supports into the existing community-based network of care. The new grant will also provide additional funding resources and support to Connecticut school districts to enhance comprehensive school mental health implementation over the next four years.

CONNECT IV is the fourth CONNECT Systems of Care grant awarded to the State of Connecticut since 2013. The toolkit shared below is a product of the previous CONNECT initiative.

The new Connect4Families Toolkit simplifies access to children's behavioral health services and facilitate collaboration among families, schools, and pediatric medical and behavioral health providers.

This free, online toolkit puts everything families, providers, and schools need to coordinate behavioral health care for children together in one place. It includes a comprehensive, up-to-date service directory, customizable communication forms, best practices, billing info, and more.

The Trauma ScreenTIME Pediatric Primary Care Course is now available nationwide! This free, online course provides clinical and administrative staff in pediatric primary care settings with the knowledge to effectively screen children for trauma and connect families with supports and services. It was developed by CHDI in collaboration with families and national experts based on current research and best practices.

Participants have the opportunity to earn 25 points of MOC Part 4 credit through the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) by applying what they learn in the course to create Quality Improvement (QI) Projects for their workplaces. Find an example QI project and application in the Resource Center and visit the ABP website for more details.

Trauma ScreenTIME is part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network

(NCTSN) and is funded through a five-year federal SAMHSA grant to CHDI. Two other ScreenTIME Courses are also available (a general course for any child-serving professional and one specific to school settings).

Connecticut's Mobile Crisis Intervention Services provides 24/7, free mobile mental health crisis services to children and youth statewide. CHDI is contracted with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families to serve as the Performance Improvement Center for the state’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Services, providing data analysis and reporting, training, and technical assistance for providers.

The FY 2023 Mobile Crisis Annual Report is now available. This year's report is of particular interest because it explores the impact of the expansion to 24/7 coverage that began in January 2023.

According to this year's report, nearly 85% of mobile episodes received a response within 45 minutes, the highest rate since the start of the pandemic and an increase over the previous year. Learn more about usage and outcomes of Mobile Crisis services statewide in the full report on our website.

Connecticut residents can call 211 or 988 24/7 to access Mobile Crisis services.

In honor of National Substance Use Prevention Month, we're resharing our Issue Brief from earlier this year, "Improving Early Substance Use Care for Youth: The Essential Role of Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinics."

The brief, authored by CHDI's Christine Hauser and Jack Lu, shares six key recommendations to enhance early substance use screening and treatment for youth statewide and underscores the critical role of outpatient clinics.

As Connecticut determines how to best use millions of dollars in opioid settlement funds, the brief suggests that funding programs that expand Adolescent Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (A-SBIRT) in outpatient behavioral health clinics would be an effective primary prevention strategy to decrease opioid initiation and the progression of Opioid Use Disorders, including fatal overdoses.

Connecticut's Mobile Crisis Intervention Services and School-Based Diversion Initiative play an important role in addressing youth behavioral health crises, according to a recent Think Bigger Do Good article.

The two initiatives were highlighted alongside examples from other states for their role in making crisis services more accessible and minimizing emergency department usage and law enforcement involvement for youth with behavioral health issues.

CHDI serves as Connecticut's Performance Improvement Center for Mobile Crisis Intervention Services and is also the model co-developer and Coordinating Center for the state's School-Based Diversion Initiative, implementing the model in 73 schools across 26 districts since 2009.

As part of CHDI's efforts to increase awareness of the needs of children impacted by trauma, staff presented at the NAMI CT Education Conference on October 20th.

In their workshop, "Introduction to Trauma-Informed Evidence-Based Practices," CHDI's Arielle Wagoner, NCSP, Jaime Brown, MSW and Tiffany Franceschetti, LCSW introduced basic concepts related to child trauma, reviewed key trauma-focused EBTs available in Connecticut, and shared ways service providers can support children, youth, and families who have been impacted by trauma.

From everyone at CHDI, farewell and best wishes to Senior Project Coordinator Sabina Griffith, who will be leaving her position at the end of this month. Sabina served as Senior Project Coordinator for the Connecting to Care initiative, working on statewide children’s behavioral health systems development. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors!

Senior Associate Jamie LoCurto, Ph.D., will soon expand her role leading comprehensive school mental health initiatives for CHDI. Beginning November 1, she will serve as Project Director for the new CONNECTing Schools to Care IV Students (CONNECT IV) initiative while continuing to lead implementation, quality improvement, evaluation, and training for other state-funded school mental health projects.

Jamie has over 10 years of experience working with schools and community mental health centers and holds a Ph.D. in community psychology. Contact Jamie at jlocurto@chdi.org.

Please join us in congratulating CHDI Board member and President & CEO of The Village for Families & Children, Galo Rodriguez, who was inducted into the Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame earlier this month. CHDI President CEO Jeff Vanderploeg attended the induction ceremony in support of Dr. Rodriguez.

We are grateful for Dr. Rodriguez's invaluable contributions to the CHDI Board of Directors and as a leader in the children's behavioral health field. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor!

The Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing effective and integrated system, practice, and policy solutions that result in equitable and optimal behavioral health and well-being for children, youth, and families in Connecticut and beyond.

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