Resources

The State of California recently released a working draft of “California’s Children and Youth Behavioral Health Ecosystem“. Breaking Barriers, a coalition of child and youth serving leaders from across the state, was commissioned to draft and present the paper, and convened a multidisciplinary team that conducted extensive research, literature review, interviews with subject matter experts from across the state and country, and gathered input and recommendations from over 100 youth, families, and practitioners, across the state’s communities and geographies. A host of needs and challenges were identified, and based on the interviews and research conducted, a set of interdependent recommdations was identified. The recommendations are centered in collective impact, System of Care, and related integrated frameworks, and the paper represents a blue print for linking long disconnected service systems into a truly whole-family/whole child approach.