Innovations Institute

Children and youth with complex behavioral health needs often rely on multiple systems for support—but too often, those systems operate in silos.

A recent SAMHSA TA paper explores how states can strengthen coordination across child-serving systems to improve outcomes for children and families. It also highlights practical opportunities to reduce fragmentation and build more connected systems. Collaboration isn't just best practice—it's essential.

We're proud that helped author this important resource in partnership with National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and the Center for Health Care Strategies.

📖 Read the full paper to learn how states can bridge gaps in care and create more coordinated, family-centered systems: s.uconn.edu/samhsa-csc

🚨 Registration is now open for the Fall 2026 cohort of Crisis 365: Academy for Comprehensive Crisis Care!

Following a successful spring launch, Crisis 365 returns with a three-part virtual training series designed for crisis responders, peers, and leaders. Participants will gain practical strategies to strengthen family-centered crisis support, build cross-system partnerships, and enhance coordination across their communities.

Space is limited to support meaningful collaboration.

🔶 Learn more & register today: s.uconn.edu/crisis-365
🔶 Sign-up to receive our brand new quarterly Crisis 365 nwesletter: s.uconn.edu/CrisisSignup

📬 Have you read the latest TA Telegram?

Our recent Policy Corner spotlights "Series Emotional Disturbances (SED) in Children, Youth & Young Adults," part of a new series of TA papers from SAMHSA focused on serious mental illness (SMI) and SED and co-authored by faculty and staff.

The publication examines how functional impairment is used to identify needs, explores prevalence and risk factors, and offers recommendations for improving treatment and supports for children, youth, and young adults with SED. It also includes a series of clinical briefs covering trauma-related, neurodevelopmental, anxiety, mood, and disruptive behavior disorders.

📖 Read the issue for more: s.uconn.edu/6-1-telegram

🔗Subscribe today to receive next week's issue, highlighting another paper in the SAMHSA series co-authored by Innovations faculty and staff: s.uconn.edu/subscribe2ii

📝 What separates meaningful care coordination from simply checking boxes?

In the latest CCFG short, Covi and Conan explore how care coordinators can move beyond isolated incidents and referral language to identify the patterns, contexts, and stressors shaping a family's experience.

Learn practical strategies for:
✔️ Replacing labels with clear descriptions
✔️ Identifying ongoing patterns and trends
✔️ Understanding concerns across settings
✔️ Using language that promotes partnership, not blame

Because when families feel understood, teams can respond more effectively.

🎧 Listen now: s.uconn.edu/ccfg4

💚 Children’s Mental Health Action Month may have ended, but the work continues.

Throughout May, highlighted resources, stories, strategies, and actions that help strengthen the systems, relationships, and communities children and families rely on every day. Together, we explored what it means to move beyond awareness and take meaningful action for children's mental health.

From celebrating youth leadership (Youth MOVE National) and supporting early childhood social-emotional development to elevating Community-Defined Evidence Practices (CDEPs) and dropping a bonus podcast episode, one message remained clear: children thrive when families, communities, and systems work together!

Missed something? Visit our hub to explore all of this year's resources and continue taking action year-round: s.uconn.edu/2026cmham

Don't miss this month's session of our Parent, Infant & Early Childhood team's Pyramid Model Practice Lunch & Learn, which will focus on emotional literacy. This session is for anyone interested in learning more about strategies to support young children with identifying and expressing emotions in both home and educational settings.

🖥️ June Pyramid Model Practice Lunch & Learn
📅 Thursday 6/25, 12:00–1:00 PM ET
🎟️ Register: s.uconn.edu/piec-6-25

Learn more about our PIEC team's work: s.uconn.edu/piec

Thinking about pursuing a Master of ? Learn more and apply for UConn School of Social Work's fully online MSW program by July 1!
🔗 s.uconn.edu/applymsw

🧠💼 Children & Families Cannot Wait: Igniting Collective Action

Following the announcement of the newly formed Children’s Behavioral Health Collective (CBH Collective), we are sharing 2 essential resources to help partners, providers, and policymakers take action: our Communications & Media Toolkit and the CBH Collective Infographic.

The need is urgent:
✅ 1 in 7 children ages 3–17 has a diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition, & half of all MH conditions begin by age 14.
✅ Up to 80% of youth with MH needs do not receive adequate care.
✅ 60% to 70% of youth with MH needs have at least 1 co-occurring condition and often navigate 3 to 5 systems at once.

But coordinated, cross-system care can change outcomes for children and families.

📥 Use these tools to:
✅ Align messaging around early intervention and shared solutions
✅ Educate your community about building a seamless continuum of care

The solutions exist—and together, we can help children remain safely connected to their homes, schools, and communities.

🔗 Access the Communications & Media Toolkit: s.uconn.edu/cbhc-comms
🔗 Access the CBH Collective Infographic: s.uconn.edu/cbhc-infogra

🤝🌐 Announcing the Children’s Behavioral Health Collective (CBH Collective): We are thrilled to share that is a founding member of the newly formed CBH Collective!

With approximately one in five children in the US experiencing a mental health condition each year, the need for community- and home-based behavioral health services has never been more urgent. Too often, gaps in care lead children and youth into systems like child welfare and juvenile justice, which can further exacerbate trauma.

No single organization can fix these systemic gaps alone. That is why the CBH Collective brings together extensive national expertise across sectors to transform child-serving systems, advance cross-sector collaboration, and develop solutions grounded in data, evidence, and lived experience.

As a collective, we are uniquely positioned to strengthen the national continuum of care by developing actionable goals for policy, governance, and program implementation.

We are proud to stand alongside our incredible founding partners to achieve a lasting, collective impact for children, youth, and families:
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Casey Family Programs
Center for Adoption Support and Education
Center for Health Care Strategies
Chapin Hall
Child Welfare League of America (CWLA)
Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators - CJJA
Family-Run Executive Director Leadership Association (FREDLA)
Foster Care Alumni of America, National
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD)
Social Current
American Public Human Services Association - APHSA

👉 Read the full announcement on our website: s.uconn.edu/bhcollective