Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Rounds Up Mental Health News
The following is a round-up of recent mental health news in Connecticut and Tennessee:
- Connecticut: The state Department of Children and Families has launched the Connecticut Community KidCare mental health initiative, which provides 24-hour emergency, mobile psychiatric services and "expanded mental health care" for children, the Hartford Courant reports. Through the program, parents can call a hotline for an immediate assessment of children with mental health problems and can receive a referral to appropriate mental health services. The program also provides home-based counseling and therapy, therapeutic mentoring and respite services (Hartford Courant, 5/24).
- Tennessee: Appropriate mental health care for children is generally not available and is worse than services offered 12 years ago, according to reports delivered on May 21 to the state Select Committee on Children and Youth, the Nashville Tennessean reports. The reports said that children with autism, bipolar disease and depression suffer from a "lack of coordination" between TennCare, the state's Medicaid managed care program, and local school systems. Under TennCare, the number of mental health facilities for children has dropped from 27 in 1995 to three statewide. In part as a result, a Vanderbilt University study found that 48% of parents of "severely emotionally disturbed" children felt their children did not receive necessary mental health services, Charlotte Bryson, executive director of Tennessee Voices for Children, said (de la Cruz, Nashville Tennessean, 5/22).
