Strategic Planning and Policy Development

2005 Policy Academy - Click here for brief description, dates, and application process.  For general information read text below.

Policy Academies for States

The Policy Academies on Developing Systems of Care: Transforming Mental Health Care For Children and Families Through Planning, Policy and Practice are a major national initiative to assist states, federally recognized tribes, and jurisdictions with the planning and implementation of public policies that ensure that children and families with complex needs access the services and supports necessary to be successful in their homes, their schools, and in their communities. Delegations from selected states, federally recognized tribes, and jurisdictions receive support with conceptualizing, planning, and implementing their public policy initiatives that impact practices and outcomes for children and their families.

Each Policy Academy is more than just a three-day meeting. It is a three-pronged approach to creating public policy that will be implemented, in order to impact practice at the community level.  Selected delegations receive support prior to the actual academy meeting, follow-up after the academy meeting to help implement the developed Action Plan, and linkage to other resources throughout the next year. During the Policy Academy meeting, delegations take part in:

• Interactive plenary panels and seminars provided by resource experts and peers;
• Facilitated individual delegation meetings that assist in designing a policy initiative, problem-solving design and implementation issues, and developing an Action Plans for follow-up; and
• Discussions in delegation meetings with resource experts to answer specific questions and issues.

Letters of invitation are sent to governors or the highest officials in the states. Applications for the Policy Academy must be submitted under the leadership of the governor?s office or its public mental health authority. From responses to questions through a Letter of Application, five states or jurisdictions are selected through a review process to send a seven (7) member delegations of key policy makers and key partners to the upcoming Policy Academy. Delegations are comprised of individuals who are leaders within that state and are essential to successfully implementing the proposed policy initiative.  Brief Description, dates, and application process for upcoming 2005 Policy Academy is posted on this website.

As of 2004, the National Technical Assistance Center has hosted four previous Policy Academies with a total of 17 states and the District of Columbia and Guam. Examples of policy initiatives in past academies have included legislation to create new structures or councils to plan for comprehensive children's services, interagency agreements and memorandum of agreements to form new partnerships among mental health, schools, families, and other entities such as early childhood care, child welfare, developmental disabilities and substance abuse, and pooled funding strategies through a governor's office to develop comprehensive services throughout the state. In addition, an Early Childhood Academy was conducted last year for communities and states that were making progress in systems work in early childhood to move closer to an integrated early childhood system of care.