The 2008 Institutes will focus on three "new directions" to strengthen systems of care and improve outcomes.
Research and experience have clearly demonstrated that children with mental health needs are found in many systems-health, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, early childhood, substance abuse, and developmental disabilities. As a result, efforts to improve systems of care for children with mental health needs and their families have emphasized the need for collaboration and partnerships across service sectors.
While there are many promising system and service interventions, the creation of partnerships between mental health and other child-serving systems is an area that warrants great attention.
Accordingly, the 2008 Training Institutes will focus on the strategies and skills needed to strengthen partnerships in three specific areas to improve outcomes for children and youth with mental health needs and their families. Each will comprise a
distinct "track" at the Institutes:

Track 1: Implementing a Public Health Approach
The extent, severity, and far-reaching consequences of mental health problems in children and adolescents make it imperative that our nation adopt a systematic, public health approach to improving the mental health status of children. A public health approach broadens the vision for children's mental health to one in which communities provide access to comprehensive services and supports for children with mental health disorders and their families, while at the same time striving to create conditions that promote positive mental health and emotional well-being for all children and prevent the onset of emotional problems. Sessions will focus on strategies for: 1) enhancing health by promoting optimal mental health, 2) prevention by addressing risk factors in vulnerable groups, 3) early recognition and intervention by identifying problems at an earlier stage and increasing access to effective treatment, and 4) treatment and rehabilitation by intervening to reduce symptoms and improve functioning and quality of life.

Track 2: Partnering With Schools
The mission of schools is to educate all students, and, in order to ensure academic achievement, schools have identified the need to attend to the health and emotional well-being of their students. Recognizing that children receive more services through
schools than through any other public system, strengthening mental health services in schools offers a strategic opportunity to provide prevention and intervention services to many children. Partnerships between mental health and education systems can provide a natural entry point and a promising vehicle for recognizing the mental health needs of youth and increasing access to effective services and supports.
Sessions will focus on a continuum of school-based interventions, including:
1) interventions targeted to the general school population that promote social and emotional well-being,
2) interventions aimed at youth who are at risk for developing mental health disorders, and 3) interventions targeted to youth who meet the diagnostic criteria for mental health disorders.

Track 3: Partnering With Child Welfare
The child welfare system is designed to serve children who are experiencing or are at risk for child abuse or neglect and their families and caregivers, with the goals of ensuring safety, permanency, and well-being. Children in the child welfare system are at high risk for health, mental health, and developmental problems. Strong linkages between mental health and child welfare systems are critical for addressing the emotional well-being of children involved with the child welfare system, as well as for meeting the mental health needs of their families. Sessions will focus on strategies for: 1) systematic assessment procedures to identify behavioral health problems, 2) early intervention and treatment services for children at risk of being removed from their homes, 3) treatment, support services, and care coordination for children with identified behavioral health needs, 4) services and supports for families, kinship care providers, and other community caregivers to prevent unnecessary placement disruptions and placement in institutional care, 5) services to support family reunification, adoption, and postadoption adjustment, and 6) strategies for partnering with families
and caregivers.

The Institutes are comprised of four types of sessions:

• General Sessions - focus on important cross-cutting issues and themes related to serving children and adolescents with emotional disturbances and their families.
• Institutes - are three-and-a-half-hour training sessions that offer an integrated training experience focusing on an aspect of system of care development or service delivery, providing strategies and examples of effective approaches. Institutes are intended to provide practical "how to" training.
  
• Workshops -  are one-and-a-half-hour sessions that focus on a wide range of issues related to system development or service delivery and offer a variety of approaches and strategies that participants can apply.
  
• Poster Presentations - will offer an opportunity to highlight promising strategies or approaches on a wide range of issues related to system development and service delivery through displays and discussion with participants in an informal setting.
  

The Institutes will include a track on services in Native American communities. Institutes and workshops specific to the issues facing Native American communities will be offered throughout the program.

A Youth Leadership Track will be offered at the Training Institutes in collaboration with the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health and will provide training for youth to develop the knowledge and skills needed to become effective leaders and advocates. The Youth Leadership Track is designed for youth ages 13 to 22 who are registered attendees or faculty at the Institutes and will enable interested youth to: participate in leadership training, learn how to create change in policy and practice in their communities, increase their capacity to advocate for themselves and others, and work with and learn from other youth leaders. An orientation for all Youth Leadership Track participants will be held on Wednesday, July 16 from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM.

Start your Training Institutes experience by participating in shaping future policy and technical assistance!
You can do this by arriving in Nashville in time to attend one of the special forums to be held on Wednesday, July 16 from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM. The forums are designed as interactive discussions on topics that require specialized planning or approaches within systems of care.
The forums will be tape recorded and transcribed in order to develop policy papers outlining recommendations to guide future activities at federal, state, and local levels.

The Training Institutes will conclude with a selection of Targeted Institutes on Sunday, July 20 from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Each Targeted Institute will provide an intensive training opportunity for a particular "affinity" group of individuals involved in systems of care (such as evaluators and researchers, youth coordinators, family leaders, or system of care leaders) or training focusing on a particular area of emphasis within systems of care (such as the early childhood or juvenile justice population or strategies for workforce development or financing). Attendance at a Targeted Institute is included in the Training Institutes registration fee. Preregistration for a Targeted Institute will be required.

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