State of Connecticut Behavioral Health Plan

DEVELOPING A PLAN FOR IMPROVED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

The State of Connecticut was charged to develop a plan to improve children's behavioral health services and systems across the state.

The 2013 legislative session ended with the General Assembly passing Public Act 13-178, which directed the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to produce a children’s behavioral health plan for the state of Connecticut by October 2014. The Act requires the plan to:

• Be comprehensive and integrated
• Meet the behavioral health needs of all children in the state
• Prevent or reduce the long-term negative impact of children’s mental, emotional and behavioral health issues

CHDI facilitated the development of this plan with funding and support from a public/private partnership including DCF, the Connecticut Health Foundation, the Children’s Fund of Connecticut and the Grossman Family Foundation.

CHDI, along with external consultants, solicited input from a diverse group of families, youth, providers, advocates, and other stakeholders through:

• Open forums (open to the public)
• Advisory committee meetings
• Facilitated discussions
• Family, youth and young adult community conversations
• A website and online input form (also downloadable)

In preparing the final Connecticut Behavioral Health Plan for Children, CHDI worked with key stakeholders to collect, analyze and synthesize relevant research, background documents, reports and other data.

CHDI created the www.plan4children.org website to provide information about the plan and opportunities for families, community members, mental health experts and other interested people to provide feedback.

Contact Jeffrey Vanderploeg to learn more about the plan and our efforts.