ICMHP History

Spring 2001

A small group of advocates and education leaders discover Illinois children confronting striking and disturbing mental health issues. These findings result in the formation of a workgroup that produced a White Paper recommending that the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority convene a Task Force on Children’s Mental Health in Illinois.

June 2002

Task Force begins work. Over 100 people from various backgrounds and professions come together to research findings and formulate recommendations to create a comprehensive, coordinated and more responsive children’s mental health system.

April 2003

Final Report — Children’s Mental Health: An Urgent Priority for Illinois finds the current children’s mental health system highly fragmented, limited in scope, under-resourced and alarmingly inadequate in providing the badly needed full range of treatment services.

• There is little or no emphasis on prevention or early intervention, and only a small percentage of the Illinois children who need treatment, receive it.

• While many agencies and systems in Illinois attempt to address children’s mental health, there is little coordination and resources are not maximized, leaving children, families, schools and communities struggling to cope with mental health problems.

• Task Force presents a cutting edge approach to the continuum of mental health development, support and treatment for children from birth to age eighteen.

• Implementation of the Task Force’s recommendations would give Illinois the resources and tools to begin creating a children’s mental health system that meets the needs of all Illinois children.

• By building on existing programs and creating new ways of doing business, Illinois can create a comprehensive, coordinated children’s mental health system of prevention, early intervention and treatment.

• The new system would engage families and caregivers, deliver services in natural settings, and integrate mental health services within and across early childhood, education, mental health, juvenile justice, health, human services, substance abuse, violence prevention, corrections, and other relevant systems

August 2003

Illinois General Assembly passes Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003 and Illinois becomes a nationwide leader in recognizing the importance of mental health to children’s overall health, well-being and academic success.

• CMH Act of 2003 creates Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership to develop a plan to build a comprehensive, coordinated Children’s Mental Health system

February 2004

Collaborative Process for Plan Development:  ICMHP and it’s working Committees meet to prioritize recommendations from final ICMH Task Force Report.

July 2004

Five public forums were held across the state. More than 400 participants provide positive input to Preliminary Plan. Input is evaluated and the Plan is amended.

September 2004

ICMHP submits Preliminary Plan to Governor Rod Blagojevich and receive positive response from the Administration.

June 2005

ICMHP publishes Strategic Plan for Building a Comprehensive Children’s Mental Health System in Illinois.

• The Plan identifies Six Priority Goals with recommendations for achieving them:

August 2005

State Board of Education in partnership with ICMHP creates the Social and Emotional Learning standards as part of the Illinois Learning Standards, an Implementation Plan, and a Professional Development Plan for to enhance children’s school readiness and ability to achieve academic success.

• 100% of Illinois school districts have developed a policy for incorporating social and emotional development into school educational programs and for responding to children with mental health needs.

November 2005

Residential Treatment Workgroup is formed to improve delivery of residential treatment services for Illinois youth, youth at risk of residential treatment placement and youth returning to the community after treatment.

June 2006

ICMHP monitored the expansion and enhancement of the Screening, Assessment and Support Services (SASS) system — extending it to all Medicaid-eligible children.

• Illinois achieves $44.1 million in cost-savings as a result of implementation of the SASS system in FY 05 and 06, while providing a wider array of mental health services for children and showing increased clinical outcomes.

• Healthcare and Family Services submitted Medicaid claims for Individual Care Grants and Illinois recoupes $4.5 million in additional Federal Financial Participation for FY 04, 05 and a portion of 06.

August 2006

Conducted two Children’s Mental Health Assemblies that gathered over 200 participants for each event. The Assemblies featured national leaders and exemplary state systems in children’s mental health focused on family involvement and cultural competence in CMH services and programs. They also heightened awareness about children’s mental health and the ICMHP Strategic Plan

September 2006

Created a Mental Health Screening Work Group and engaged national leaders in children’s mental health to identify best practices in a variety of settings where voluntary mental health screening takes place.

• The deliberations of the Work Group were integrated into the Strategic Plan and form the basis of many of the recommendations on Early Intervention.

January 2007

Conducted numerous presentations at the national, state, and community level to educate Illinois communities, other states, federal agencies, and national organizations about Illinois efforts to reform the children’s mental health system. ICMHP has become a national leader in children’s mental health and is recognized by federal agencies for its work in improving the children’s mental health system

April 2007

Completed a comprehensive statewide research process to develop a Public Awareness Campaign Plan to educate the public and other key target audiences about the importance of children’s social and emotional development and mental well-being, and reduce the stigma of childhood mental illness. July 2007

July 2007

ICMHP joins with the ISBE, the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA) to begin implementing the statewide SEL Standards Professional Development Project (Project), through two grant programs.

• With the SEL Standards Professional Development Grant, a statewide Cadre of trainers and technical assistance providers was hired and trained to work with school districts to implement the standards.

• The SEL Standards Implementation Grant afforded school districts across the state the opportunity to select local schools to receive SEL implementation training and ongoing technical assistance from the Cadre.

October 2007

Initiated and implemented an Early Childhood Children’s Mental Health Consultation Project to develop and pilot test a Children’s Mental Health Consultation model to help build the capacity of mental health provider agencies to respond to the mental health needs of young children ages 0-7.

January 2008

The Consultation Workgroup was formed to provide leadership in implementing mental health consultation efforts for children and youth ages 0-21 years. To date, the committee has:

• Helped identify gaps in overall consultation initiatives (e.g., consultation to schools and school systems) and strategies for addressing these gaps.

• Identified and promoted strategies for enhancing workforce development

• Helped establish quality “standards” (e.g., core competencies of consultants) across consultation models.

• Looked for a structural way to systematically address consultation in key child-serving systems.

May 2008

ICMHP launches new public awareness campaign, “Say It Out Loud” which seeks to de-stigmatize mental health and promote greater understanding of children’s social and emotional development needs.

The multi-year statewide campaign features advertising (outdoor, radio and print), media relations and an innovative, educational website, (www.mentalhealthillinois.org)