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Calling all Children's Mental Health Heroes:
ACTION ALERT!
The House Ways and Means committee released their fiscal year 2019 budget last week. Five key initiatives that support children's mental health are missing, or underfunded.
Your voice can make a difference.
Contacting your State Representative is effective, easy, takes just one minute. Please use the form provided on this page to get started. You'll have the option to personalize your message, and to increase your impact by sharing on facebook and twitter.
There are five amendments that need your support:
#247: Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (#5042-5000)
Lead sponsor: Representative Balser
Ask: Increase of $75,000 for a total of $125,000
Investing in the healthy emotional development of infants and toddlers is the best opportunity we have to prevent the long term impact of behavioral health conditions which begin in childhood. This funding will be leveraged to coordinate cross agency programmatic work, and workforce training and support efforts. Funding will also support collaborations with community-based stakeholders that promote the mental health of children age birth to five, prevent adverse childhood experiences, and provide access to high quality IECMH clinical services, coaching, and support to young children and their caregivers.
Lead sponsor: Representative Golden
Ask: $200,000
MHAP for Kids is a highly sought after service initially piloted in the Lowell, Lynn, and Boston Family Resource Centers (FRCs). MHAP for Kids improves the mental health of youth who have been diverted from juvenile court or are already court-involved and have unmet mental health needs by providing these children with a legal advocate trained in removing barriers to treatment. MHAP for Kids attorneys aim to divert children from possible or further court involvement, help children thrive in school, reduce family conflict, and minimize costly emergency room treatment. The program is support through a combination of public and private funds, and it is designed to be replicable in other FRCs.
Lead Sponsor: Representative Campbell
Ask: $250,000
The focus of Bridge programs is to ensure that youth who have been out of school for psychiatric or other hospitalizations can successfully transition back to school. Many districts already have these innovative programs, which provide emotional and academic support to students who have missed 5 or more days of school due to a mental health crisis, hospitalization, or serious medical problem. 50% of US high school students with serious mental illness drop out of school. Bridge programs are changing that script for Massachusetts youth with a short-term intervention that reduces drop-out rates to 8%.
Lead Sponsor: Representative Barber
Ask: No-cost language
Families and individuals seeking care in Massachusetts are often unable to find accurate, reliable information about the providers available to them through their insurance carrier. Insurers do not regularly update provider directories, so patients or their families who are seeking care cannot find a provider when they need one. This amendment addresses these problems by setting some basic standards for directories and protections for the consumers who rely on them. The amendment requires all health plans to make updates based on information received from providers at least monthly, and to ensure that their electronic directories are easily searchable. It also establishes a taskforce to develop further recommendations to ensure accurate information, with consistency across carriers.
Lead Sponsor: Representative Khan
Ask: $2.2M
FRCs were created in 2015 to meet the needs of families in the community, and keep kids with behavioral health needs out of the court system. They are a place where families can seek help from knowledgeable professionals who can point them in the direction of services that will lead to success. Most recently, FRCs have been a vital resource for families who were displaced by the hurricane in Puerto Rico.
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On behalf of the whole Children's Mental Health Campaign team, THANK YOU for taking action to support kids!
#KidsMentalHealthMAtters
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