Baystate behavioral health center for young children and families (cycaf) - the baystate behavioral health center for young children and families (cycaf) at baystate health has the overarching goal of…

Baystate behavioral health center for young children and families (cycaf) - the baystate behavioral health center for young children and families (cycaf) at baystate health has the overarching goal of addressing critical gaps in services for infants and young children ages 0-5, prioritizing latino children, who show early signs of or who have been diagnosed with mental illness including serious emotional disturbance (SED) and/or symptoms that may be indicative of developing SED, including children with a history of in-utero exposure to substances and their caregivers. Cycaf will achieve this goal in the following overlapping phases: 1. Increasing access to assessments and evidenced based practices (EBP) for treatment of early childhood mental health concerns for children 0-5 y/o and their caregivers by providing trauma informed mental health assessments (350 assessments over the course of the project), multigenerational evidenced-based therapy (250 children and families served over the course of the project) and access to a peer navigator with lived experience to help engagement, coordination of services and provide short term follow up (serving 375 families over the course of the project). 2. Providing specialized iecmh consultation to early childhood educational programs including direct care workers (50 group consultations a year using reflective supervision to improve engagement and decrease burnout in staff, 500 children served though on-demand classroom consultation) and building the capacity of infant and early child-serving service systems (csss) to identify, respond effectively to, and prevent mental illness in children 0-5Y/o who are at risk for or have been diagnosed with mental illness and their caregivers by providing training in the diagnostic classification of mental health and developmental disorders of infancy and early childhood (DC-0-5), collaborative problem solving, and special topics related to the target population (890 csss professionals trained over the course of the project). 3. Strengthening iecmh competence in the mental health workforce at all stages of career in order to promote sustainability by providing training in the following ebps: parent-child psychotherapy, collaborative problem solving, mothering from the inside out, as well as DC 0-5 for clinical professionals (122 mental health providers trained in the course of the grant) and incorporating iechm didactics in mental health higher educational levels (psychiatry residents and fellows, psychology and social work students) and creating cycaf rotations for two child psychiatry fellows and two psychology doctoral students a year in order to promote interest and increase competency early in their careers. Thus, cycaf will address critical gaps in services for infants and young children with behavioral health needs with the ultimate goal to achieve better long-term outcomes for children and caregivers by identifying, and intervening with, children at an early age in order to prevent the development of SED.