Initiative seeks to strengthen children’s wellness

An initiative in New Haven, Conn., aims to strengthen the integration and collaboration between physical and mental health services and increase early interventions and access to services in the city’s Dwight neighborhood. The goal is to duplicate the efforts throughout the state.

The state Department of Children and Families, with support from the Department of Public Health, is receiving a $4 million, five-year federal grant to promote the wellness of young children from birth to age 8 in New Haven. The Elm City Project Launch will address the physical, social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral aspects of child development, using a public health approach to promote children’s health and wellness.

“We want to see real growth around early identification, early intervention, services being more coordinated and that that is sustained over time,” with the goal of scaling this project to other areas of the state, said Kristina Stevens, DCF director of clinical and community consultation. Stevens said the project aligns with the direction the department is taking with the new behavioral health plan that was presented to the legislature in October as required under a law passed in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. The law included integration of physical and mental health care in a number of ways.

The plan offers ways to reach families where they spend their time. “Families often tell us, think about where my family and my children often are as a vehicle, or hub if you will, of where services are most needed and helpful to us,” Stevens said. With that in mind, the initiative will embed care coordination and clinical services in pediatric practices to ensure early screenings, referrals and case management; and embed consultants in area schools to focus on early identification, staff development and triage, for example.

“It’s an opportunity to intervene in real-time,” Stevens said.

Kim Nilson, DCF program manager, said a group called Mom’s Partnership will be proactive in trying to make connections with mothers of young children at a local supermarket. “So they can even connect at the grocery store,” Nilson said.

Stevens said New Haven was selected in part because of its robust community partnerships and services. “It is an area that has strong partnerships and strong community participation and involvement and a strong interest in continuing to improve outcomes for children,” Stevens said.

Connecting families to services is a priority. “There are a lot of services in the New Haven community,” Nilson said. “One of the goals is to really coordinate the services. There are a lot of silos currently that exist.”

Added Stevens, “We want a much more seamless and effective and timely response for children and families, so in the face of challenges families don’t find themselves having to deal with disparate systems.”

Stevens said the level of community participation and long list of partners in this effort is encouraging. “This really is bringing the entire community together to think strategically about how to create this kind of infrastructure and deliver services in a way that is most effective and most helpful,” Stevens said. “You have to have a solid infrastructure of services and supports and really active participation by the community because we know it really does take a village.”

Nilson said there is also a workforce development component to the project. Medical and educational practitioners will receive training in mental health screening and referrals. It will help identify issues and connect families to the appropriate resources. Mental health training will be offered to home visiting programs in the region and efforts to achieve greater public awareness will occur.