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Preventing Childhood Obesity IMPACT
In September we released our newest IMPACT entitled "Preventing Childhood Obesity: Maternal-Child Life Course Approach." The report reviews the scientific evidence on what is known about early determinants of child obesity and offers recommendations for Connecticut. On October 20, CHDI hosted a meeting of childhood  obesity prevention partners to help advance IMPACT recommendations including: developing a database of best practices, drafting consistent messaging for providers and advancing policy change. To read our two-page Issue Brief on preventing childhood obesity, click here. To read a news article from the CT Mirror click here.
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State Awarded CONNECT Grant
This month, the State was awarded a four year, $4,000,000 Systems of Care Expansion Implementation grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to fund the Connecticut Network of Care Transformation (CONNECT). CHDI serves as the Coordinating Center for CONNECT. This funding will enable Connecticut to implement and sustain an integrated statewide Network of Care and create linkages between systems that serve and support children, youth, and families including early childhood, child welfare, behavioral health, education, and juvenile justice. |
CT Behavioral Health Plan Update
The final Connecticut Behavioral Health Plan for Children was submitted to the Legislature by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) on October 1, 2014. The plan proposes major changes for Connecticut's behavioral health system, including fundamentally reforming financing, integrating care across sectors and enhancing the array of services and supports available to children and families. CHDI was contracted to prepare the plan on behalf of DCF, with funding from a public private partnership involving DCF, the Connecticut Health Foundation, the Children's Fund of Connecticut and the Grossman Family Foundation. On October 8, Governor Malloy announced an immediate action plan on children's mental health to fast track some of the goals and strategies related to emergency and crisis services in the Connecticut Behavioral Health Plan for Children. Download the final plan and read related news articles at www.plan4children.org.
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CFTSI Learning Collaborative Begins
CFTSI Learning Collaborative Begins
The Learning Collaborative for the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI) model began in October with a 2-day clinical training on the model. CFTSI is used within 45 days of a traumatic event or recent disclosure of abuse. CHDI is working with DCF and the model developers at Yale University to disseminate CFTSI to behavioral health providers in Connecticut, as part of the CONCEPT grant. The agencies participating in the CFTSI Learning Collaborative include:
- Charlotte Hungerford Hospital Center for Youth and Families (Torrington)
- Community Health Resources (Manchester)
- Family and Children's Aid (Danbury)
- Family Services of Greater Waterbury (Waterbury)
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New Trauma Resources Available  Jason Lang was featured in a video discussing Connecticut's dissemination of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), an evidence-based therapy for children suffering from exposure to trauma. The video is part of a national, free online tool, Trauma Informed Care: Perspectives and Resources, created by the Georgetown University National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health and JBS International, Inc. to support trauma informed systems of care. Lang leads CHDI's efforts to disseminate TF-CBT and other evidence-based practices for children across CT.
Click here for a map of TF-CBT providers.
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New Children's Fund Grants AwardedThe Children's Fund of CT awarded the following grants in September: - $55,000 to the Yale School of Nursing to provide training in medication administration to early care and education and child development programs in CT. The grant was awarded through CHDI and includes a $5,000 contribution from the Head Start Collaborative at the CT Office of Early Childhood;
- $5,000 to the Commission on Children to support staffing for the CT Kids Report Card initiative of the CT General Assembly's Committee on Children. Judith Meyers serves on the Leadership Committee for this initiative;
- $5,000 to the CT Early Childhood Alliance to provide operating support. This statewide organization advocates for policy and systems development that benefit CT's youngest children.
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Optimizing Children's Health Services
CHDI's August 24th Issue Brief entitled: "Optimizing Children's Health Services in Connecticut" offers insights for health policymakers based on a survey of Connecticut parents' experiences with child health services. Click here to download the Issue Brief.
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Staff News
Chris Bory left CHDI last week to become the Director of Implementation and Quality Improvement at Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston. During his six years at CHDI, Chris worked on the implementation of Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH-ADTC), a quality improvement framework for Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and co-developed the REACT model (Responding to Children of Arrested Caregivers Together). Jack Lu was promoted from Data Analyst to Senior Project Coordinator. In this new role, Jack will oversee and manage the implementation of MATCH-ADTC throughout Connecticut. In addition, he will continue his work with the Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS) Performance Improvement Center, a quality improvement initiative developed at CHDI. CHDI welcomes two new staff members scheduled to start on November 3rd:Darce Costello, EdD, MPH was hired as a Senior Associate. She brings a wealth of research, data analysis, and evaluation knowledge and has previously worked at the UCONN School of Medicine, the Department of Children and Families' Office of Research and Evaluation, and the Yale University School of Medicine. Darce will work on data, evaluation, and quality improvement for multiple initiatives focused on dissemination of evidence-based practices for children.
Sarah Oravecz, MPH was hired as a Data Analyst. Sarah recently earned her MPH from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, and has experience working on a number of health improvement initiatives. She will work on projects focused on dissemination of evidence-based practices, primarily around data collection, analysis, and reporting.
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