Integrated mental health care in pediatric primary care at Federally Qualified Health Centers linked to improvements in school functioning, study finds.

Integrating Mental Health Services into Pediatric Primary Care at Federally Qualified Health Centers Improves Mental Health Care Engagement for Children, Study Finds

This study examines the association of a comprehensive mental health integration model with health care utilization, psychotropic medication use, and mental health follow-up care among Medicaid-enrolled children at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs).

Addressing pay scale, loan assistance, and other steps must be taken.

MENTAL HEALTH CARE is, like many industries, facing a workforce shortage, as clinicians flee the field in record numbers. But looming alongside that shortage is a second and equally troubling mental health crisis, one that threatens our nation’s children.

So, what happens when the two crises intersect? 

Good news! Chris Sheldrick, PhD, TEAM UP Evaluation Co-Director, will increase his efforts with TEAM UP as he expands his reach by joining the Department of Psychiatry at UMass Chan Medical School. Dr. Sheldrick's work with the UMass team will focus on the research with the national perinatal psychiatry programs network. Join us in celebrating this big news and thanking Dr. Sheldrick for the quality of experience and knowledge he brings to TEAM UP!

TEAM UP is excited to announce that Megan H. Bair-Merritt, MD, MSCE, TEAM UP's Evaluation Co-Director, has been named Boston Medical Center's (BMC) first Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. Bair-Merritt will provide strategic leadership for BMC's research efforts across the academic medical center, which ranges across the translational spectrum, from basic science to clinical research to population and community health.  

BBC recently interviewed TEAM UP Evaluation Co-Director, Chris Sheldrick, PhD, with an article focusing on childhood developmental milestones. Reporter Amanda Ruggeri, BBC, highlighted Dr. Sheldrick’s expertise in explaining the importance and complexities of milestones. A topic Dr. Sheldrick is well versed in through his collaborative work with Dr. Ellen Perrin, with whom he helped create the Survey of Well-being of Young Children (www.theSWYC.org), a freely-available comprehensive screening instrument for young children. Read the full article on BBC.com.

The Childhood Trauma Task Force (CTTF) of the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) recently issued their annual report, “Identifying Childhood Trauma: Recommendations on trauma identification practices in child-serving organizations.” The task force highlights TEAM UP for Children as “an example of an initiative that works to increase the capacity of community health centers to deliver trauma-responsive integrated behavioral health care to children and their caregivers.”

Anita Morris was interviewed by CNN.com, offering the TEAM UP Model as a solution to the challenges of accessing behavioral health care for children and families. Read the full article, “Long waiting lists, long drives and costly care hinder many kids’ access to mental health care,” on CNN.com

Explore the Poster Presentations from TEAM UP for Children’s 4th Annual Symposium that highlight the work by TEAM UP for Children and our seven partnering community health centers.