February 2009
This month's updates come from:
- Colorado LINKS for Mental Health
- Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council
- Colorado Division of Behavioral Health and JFK Partners
- Colorado System of Care Collaborative
- Mental Health Child and Adolescent Conference
- National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health Policy Academy
- The Children's Hospital Annual Ethics Conference
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Colorado LINKS for Mental Health
- The theme the April 17th LINKS Big Meeting IV: Sustaining Integration, will be addressed through a series of sessions covering fiscal and other strategies for systems integration that have been undertaken in other states and here in Colorado. We are very excited to announce our speakers for the meeting, including:
- Dr. Janice Cooper, the Director of Child and Mental Health at Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty. Dr. Cooper is a researcher in children's mental health who has focused on mental health financing. She leads the work of Unclaimed Children Revisited, a series of policy and impact analyses of mental health services and supports for children, youth, and their families;
- Representative Jerry Frangas, Colorado State Legislature District Four;
- Janet Wood, Director of the Colorado Division of Behavioral Health; and
- Judge KJ Moore, 1st Judicial District.
- Colorado LINKS for Mental Health has new MOA partners! The Initiative is working with over 30 different interagency planning groups. For a guidebook to the planning groups, please visit: http://www.csi-policy.org/links/documents/LINKSGuidebookApril08Version_000.pdf to secure shared commitments to common values and priorities. The new partners are: the Advisory Committee on Homeless Youth and the Mentally Ill in the Justice System Task Force!
For more information, please contact Jewlya Lynn at Jewlya@csi-policy.org .
To RSVP for the LINKS Big Meeting IV, please email Rebecca Kahn at Rebecca@csi-policy.org
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Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council
- On Saturday, April 18th, there will be a free meeting on cultural competency hosted by the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council. One goal of the meeting is to develop coaching tools cultural competency assessments.
For more information please contact Penny Gonnella at penny.gonnella@state.co.us
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Colorado Division of Behavioral Health and JFK Partners
- The Division of Behavioral Health and JFK Partners have completed a strategic plan for Colorado to addressing the social and emotional needs of young children. This plan was developed by the Blue Ribbon Policy Council and represents the viewpoints of hundreds of stakeholders. It can be accessed at http://earlychildhoodcolorado.org/systems_building/ by clicking on Early Childhood Mental Health Strategic Plan.
For more information, please contact Claudia Zundel at claudia.zundel@state.co.us
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Colorado System of Care Collaborative
- The next meeting of the Colorado System of Care Collaborative will have Susan Colling from the State Judicial Department presenting and answering questions about new initiatives; and Margie Grimsley and Tom Dillingham from the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health will discuss the recent Family Policy Academy Training. The meeting is on Friday, March 6th from 9:30 – 11:30 am at The Tennyson Center (2950 Tennyson Street, Denver 80212). There is new member orientation from 9 – 9:30am .
For more information,
please contact Margie Grimsley at m_grimsley@msn.com
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Mental Health Child and Adolescent Conference
- The theme of the 21st Annual Colorado Child & Adolescent Mental Health Coalition Conference is Building a “Green” System of Care: Changing the Environment of Mental Health Services. The conference will be held Sunday, April 5th through Tuesday, April 7th, in Fort Collins. The keynote speaker will be Barbara Huff, former director of the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health and appointed member of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Advisory Council. This year the conference features several workshops on resources and advocacy for children and adolescents (Birth to 21) with developmental disabilities. The registration form is available at http://www.ccamhc.org/form_08_registration.pdf , and more information about the conference is available at http://www.ccamhc.org/
For more information, please email cgtjoe@qwest.net or call 303.761.0807.
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National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health Policy Academy
- Colorado is one of six states selected to participate in the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health Policy Academy: “Transforming Children’s Mental Health through Family-Driven Strategies”, occurring this week in San Diego, CA. The State’s application was submitted by the Division of Behavioral Health, in partnership with the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health-Colorado Chapter. The Colorado team attending the event includes family members, state agency representatives, providers, and staff from the Governor’s Office. The Policy Academy will assist state delegations to develop a policy initiative that will strengthen family-driven services. Colorado’s initiative will focus on family advocacy and family leadership, and build on existing efforts in the state. There will be a related meeting on April 3rd, so please stay tuned!
For more information, please contact Claudia Zundel at claudia.zundel@state.co.us
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The Children's Hospital Annual Ethics Conference
- The theme of this year’s Children’s Hospital Annual Ethics Conference is Ethical Issues in Pediatric Behavioral Healthcare. The conference is about exploring the inter-relatedness of physical and behavioral health of children, and is most relevant to clinical providers. The date of the conference is Friday, March 20, 2009 at The Children’s Hospital in Aurora. Registration and other information is available at http://www.thechildrenshospital.org/news/events/calendardetail.aspx?setID=290
For more information, please call conference coordinator Jeannie Dixon at 720-777-6123.
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To be included in next month's LINKING YOU, please send us your planning or organization group's name, contact info, up to three bullets of one sentence each, and where possible, a link to more information.
Brought to you by the Colorado LINKS for Mental Health Initiative. For more information about the Initiative, please contact Jewlya Lynn at Jewlya@CSI-Policy.org
