Farmington, CT – CHDI welcomes its new President and CEO Jeffrey Vanderploeg, Ph.D., a leader in children’s mental health who brings a decade of committed service to CHDI’s mission. Vanderploeg joined CHDI in 2009, most recently serving as Vice President for Mental Health Initiatives where he was instrumental in developing the State’s children’s mental health plan and oversaw initiatives to improve access to high quality, trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health care for children. The Board of CHDI approved Vanderploeg’s appointment as President and CEO effective October 1, 2017. He is CHDI’s second President and CEO, following Judith Meyers who led the organization from 1999 – 2017. Meyers will remain President and CEO of the Children’s Fund of Connecticut through September 2018.
“I am honored to continue CHDI’s tradition of applying innovative approaches at the system, policy and practice levels to improve children's health. In collaboration with our partners, CHDI will continue to be a leader in improving child-serving systems, promoting health, and achieving optimal outcomes for children and their families,” said Vanderploeg. “I look forward to working collaboratively with policymakers, academic partners, providers, and community and family leaders to achieve these goals.”
Vanderploeg received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Bowling Green State University, completed Predoctoral and Postdoctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine, and was a research faculty member at Yale before joining CHDI in 2009. He initially began as a Program Associate before being promoted to Associate Director of Mental Health in 2011, and Vice President for Mental Health Initiatives in 2014. In that role, he has overseen a wide range of initiatives including evidence-based practice dissemination, school-based mental health, trauma-informed care, and statewide system development and integration.
Over the past ten years at CHDI, Vanderploeg has demonstrated tremendous leadership and played a central role in developing effective policies, systems, and practices for the prevention and treatment of mental health conditions among children, adolescents and their families. He was the lead author of the Connecticut Children’s Behavioral Health Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for addressing the behavioral health needs of youth. Since the Plan was presented to the General Assembly in October 2014, it has remained a significant guiding framework for system development and integration across health, behavioral health, juvenile justice, education, and other child-serving systems.
Vanderploeg serves on the Behavioral Health Plan Implementation Advisory Board, co-chairs the Quality, Access and Policy Subcommittee of the CT Behavioral Health Partnership, and is a member of several other committees and councils in children’s behavioral health policy development. He was also the co-developer of Connecticut’s successful School-Based Diversion Initiative model and was instrumental in creating a quality improvement system for the State’s mobile crisis and care coordination services. In addition to his role as CHDI President and CEO, Vanderploeg will continue as Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and the UCONN School of Medicine.
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