ABOUT US
Children’s behavioral health
is our priority.
OUR STORY
The NECBHN began as a collaboration between Bradley Hospital and Connecticut Children’s.
In late 2021, Bradley, the nation’s oldest specialist pediatric psychiatric hospital, and Connecticut Children’s, the only independent pediatric hospital in the state, shared growing concern and frustration about the evolving crisis in children’s behavioral health. In the absence of accessible services, children and adolescents were increasingly presenting in our emergency departments, often “boarding” there for days or weeks while waiting to receive care.
Advocacy
Research
Implementation Projects
Networking
Advocacy Research Implementation Projects Networking
T O F A C I L I T A T E O U R G O A L S W E C O O R D I N A T E:
The Systemic Challenges:
Navigating a system that is fragmented,
under-resourced and ill-prepared to meet rising
demands places a huge burden on families.
Improving this situation requires action
outside of health care.
How NECBHN Addresses Them:
We facilitate collaboration between health care providers, schools, community organizations, payors
and policy makers to move towards a system
where children and families can receive
preventive care in their communities.
COMING TOGETHER
We created the Network to demonstrate consensus for an overhaul of the system of care.
The New England Children’s Behavioral Health Network met in Providence, RI for the first time in March 2022. This initial meeting brought together over 70 stakeholders from health care providers and payors, education, children’s services, community organizations and philanthropy. The meeting demonstrated consensus on the need for a dramatic overhaul of the system of care.
We created 3 different work groups that reflected the top priority areas: Access, Workforce, and Community and Family Assets. We also developed guiding principles that would inform the work of the Network.
In October 2022, we convened the network for a second time in Hartford, CT and the occasion marked the first time that the work groups were in the same room since their inception.
The Network continues to develop and implement plans to improve behavioral health care for children in the region.
