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The mission of the Children’s Mental Health (CMH) Initiative is to facilitate collaboration among providers and referral sources, deliver mental heath community education and assess, monitor and evaluate current children’s mental health services in Cass County, ND and Clay County, MN.
DMF hosted a CMH summit in the fall of 2006 to determine strategies to improve access to mental health services for children age 0-8. Over 50 mental health provider and referral organizations represented at the summit identified hiring a coordinator to facilitate collaboration as a priority. DMF provided a $75,000 grant to Southeastern North Dakota Community Action Agency to fund the initiative’s first year and the coordinator position.
In April, 2007, a CMH coordinator was hired and began working on additional summit-identified priorities. The first was to meet with children’s mental health service providersin Cass and Clay counties to gather information about their services. Once accomplished, this information was compiled into a comprehensive Children’s Mental Health Resource Guide and distributed to all Cass and Clay county providers and referral sources and to the general community. An advisory council comprised of over 20 area children’s mental health experts was also formed.
A second summit was held in the fall of 2007. Educating the community about children’s mental health issues and how to access services was identified as a priority. A community children’s mental health fair was held in May 2008 with informational booths and a keynote speaker addressing the key warning signs of children’s mental health disorders. Two free follow-up community education sessions were also held to provide information on behavior management, child advocacy and early childhood psychiatric disorders. A website and newsletters were developed to provide ongoing information and education to the community.
The third annual Children's Mental Health Summit is scheduled for September 23, 2008.
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