CHDI highlights children's behavioral health funding solutions at Moving Beyond Implications Conference

December 13, 2024

CHDI highlighted sustainable funding solutions in children's behavioral health at the 2nd Annual Moving Beyond Implications: Research to Policy Conference, held at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on December 12. The conference brought together academics, legislators, and other policymakers in advance of the 2025 Connecticut legislative session to help bridge the gap between research and public policymaking.

In a breakout session on children's issues, CHDI President and CEO Jeff Vanderploeg joined colleagues Lisa Tepper Bates (United Way of Connecticut) and Gary Steck (Wellmore Behavioral Health) to discuss ways to preserve Connecticut's youth crisis system after ARPA funds expire. They shared recommendations from their recent policy brief (co-authored with Tammy Freeberg of The Village for Families & Children) and participated in a Q & A at the end of the breakout session with other colleagues working on children's mental health and child welfare issues.

• View the fact sheet presented to legislators at the conference.
• Read the Policy Brief - Caring for the Urgent Behavioral Health Needs of Youth: Preserving Connecticut's Comprehensive Crisis Management System.

In a human services breakout session, CHDI's Jason Lang and Aleece Kelly stressed the need to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates to address workforce shortages in children's behavioral health and improve access to youth behavioral health services.

• View the fact sheet presented to legislators at the conference.
• Read how low Medicaid rates are contributing to behavioral health workforce shortages in CHDI's blog post.

 

 

 

 

  

Click here to watch a recording of all conference presentations on CT-N (CHDI staff presentations are at 3:19 and 4:14). 

The Moving Beyond Implications Conference was hosted by the Connecticut Scholars Strategy Network in partnership with State Representatives Jaime Foster and Dominique Johnson and UConn's Institute for Collaboration on Health Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP). Researchers from across Connecticut presented on a wide range of other critical issues including health disparities, housing, women's health, child welfare, and many others.