CHDI and the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood are excited to share a new resource to help early childhood educators, home visitors, and families introduce behavioral health concepts to young children ages 3-5.

The CHDI team adapted the "Gizmo’s Pawsome Guide to Mental Health" curriculum, widely used in elementary schools in Connecticut, including a free, printable activity book and implementation guide for early childhood educators, home visitors and other caregivers.

Early childhood is a critical period for building resilience and laying the foundation for healthy development and positive mental and behavioral health.

Young children can and do experience mental health concerns, and an estimated 25% of children will experience a potentially traumatic event by age 4. Despite these concerns, they are less likely than older children to receive intervention and treatment.

Our latest Issue Brief, "Building a Strong Foundation: Increasing Access to Mental Health Services for Young Children" identifies effective strategies for strengthening promotion and prevention efforts and ensuring access to high-quality mental health services for young children. CHDI's Kellie Randall, PhD and Jason Lang, PhD co-authored the brief.

Many evidence-based treatments (EBTs) have been found to be effective across different populations and even reduce racial and ethnic outcome disparities.

However, clinicians may sometimes question whether the treatments they provide should be adapted to meet the needs or preferences of children and families from diverse backgrounds.

Our Issue Brief, "When to Adapt: Ensuring Evidence-Based Treatments Work for Children of Diverse Cultural Backgrounds," explores when and how clinicians can adapt EBTs for children's behavioral health to ensure they are effective for diverse populations.

The brief, co-authored by CHDI's Brittany Lange, DPhil, MPH and Jason Lang, PhD, with Stan Huey, PhD of the University of Southern California, explains how clinicians can balance EBT adaptations while preserving the treatment's core components.

This brief was inspired by Dr. Huey's keynote address at CHDI's 2022 Evidence-Based Practices Conference.

Our Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report on Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is now available. The report shares data on access, quality, outcomes, and equity in the implementation of this evidence-based treatment among the network of 48 providers supported by CHDI across Connecticut.

Nearly 900 children across Connecticut completed TF-CBT treatment in FY 2022. Our analyses confirm that TF-CBT remains effective at helping children recover from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, with more than two out of three children reporting remission in PTSD symptoms upon completion. Youth from diverse sociodemographic identities (race, ethnicity, sex) who received TF-CBT experienced equivalent rates of service and improved treatment outcomes.

Our infographic highlights other key findings:

Thank you to our TF-CBT provider partners for their hard work and dedication to helping children recover from trauma.

To learn about how CHDI can support your organization in implementing TF-CBT, please contact Arielle Wagoner, Senior Project Coordinator, at awagoner@chdi.org, or visit our website.

Find a TF-CBT Provider in Connecticut.

CHDI's Jeana Bracey, Vice President of School & Community Initiatives, was a panelist on the Center for Policing Equity's September 20th webinar, "Do We Need Police in Schools? Creating Safety for All Students."

The webinar discussed steps communities can take to limit the involvement of police in K-12 schools and implement equitable, public health-based strategies to promote student safety and behavioral health.

Dr. Bracey discussed Connecticut's School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) as one strategy for reducing student juvenile justice involvement and supporting student mental health and well-being.

Over the past year, our Evidence-Based Treatment (EBT) Spotlight video series reviewed six key evidence-based children's behavioral health treatments CHDI has helped to disseminate:

Highlighting Connecticut's Innovative Approach to Diverting Youth from the Criminal Justice System (Route Fifty)

CHDI President and CEO, Jeff Vanderploeg, PhD, was interviewed for a recent Route Fifty article about how programs like Connecticut's School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) and Mobile Crisis Services are providing relief to strained systems and giving young people a brighter future. Read the article here.

State and national media outlets have been covering the chronically underfunded children's behavioral health system and how that affects clinicians, nonprofit providers, schools, and families seeking care:

Connecticut Nonprofits Struggle to Find Staff, Adequate Funding for Health Services (CT Examiner, 9/14/23)

In a Crisis, Schools Are 100,000 Mental Health Staff Short (The Washington Post, 8/31/23)

These timely pieces underscore the need for CHDI's work to develop a coordinated, statewide strategy to address the children's behavioral health workforce shortage in Connecticut.

Alyssa Korell, PhD, has been promoted to Project Coordinator. In her new role, Alyssa will work primarily on CHDI’s substance use disorder initiatives, including prevention and intervention work in youth outpatient settings and in-home services.

Alyssa joined CHDI in July 2022 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and has worked on projects assessing engagement and completion of evidence-based treatments, analyzing use of measurement-based care practices in outpatient settings, and supporting enhancements to site-based consultation. Congratulations, Alyssa!

Adiba Anzum is a Data and Quality Improvement Intern. In this role, she will provide consultation services for several evidence-based treatment projects, including MATCH-ADTC, TF-CBT, and CBITS, and assist with a student peer support project.

Adiba is an Allied Health Sciences student at the University of Connecticut with concentrations in public health and health promotion. Following her undergraduate career, she intends to pursue a dual master’s in public health and public administration for a career in health policy and health care.

Peri Sosensky also joins us as a Data and Quality Improvement Intern. She primarily assists with projects related to Mobile Crisis Intervention Services.

Peri is currently a second-year Master of Public Health (MPH) student at the Yale School of Public Health. She previously spent several years working on state-funded infectious disease research and programs. In her public health career, she aspires to shape policy at the state and local level by leveraging program evaluation and data analytics.

CHDI's Annual Staff Picnic was held on September 21st at Winding Trails in Farmington. In recent years, our team has grown to over forty staff members, and with nearly everyone working on a hybrid basis, this year's picnic was the first opportunity for many staff to meet one another in person!

The team enjoyed an afternoon of beautiful fall weather, a food truck, and having fun together outside the office. A few lucky staff even got a lesson from our resident pickleball expert (and Chief Program Officer), Jason Lang. It was great to reconnect and reaffirm our shared commitment to children's behavioral health.

Director of People and Culture: Lead the human resources functions of the organization and manage the development and implementation of internal initiatives that advance anti-racism, equity, inclusion and a culture of belonging at CHDI.

Project Coordinator: For projects related to evidence-based practice dissemination and quality improvement initiatives in children’s behavioral health, including substance use and co-occurring disorder programs.

Post-Doctoral Fellowship: Post-doctoral Fellows spend one year working on one or more initiatives focused on improving children’s behavioral health in Connecticut, with an emphasis on working at the systems, policy, and practice levels. Potential areas of focus include dissemination and sustainment of evidence-based treatments (EBTs), quality improvement of children’s behavioral health services, policy and system innovation, developing trauma-informed systems and programs, and/or school-based behavioral health.

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.

Is there anything you want to see in future newsletters? Let us know here.