Human Services

Child Mental Health Grants

Statewide Outcome(s):

Child Mental Health Grants supports the following statewide outcome(s).

Minnesotans are healthy.

Strong and stable families and communities.

Context:

Emotional or mental illness strikes all ages, all economic levels, and all races. Many children have mental health issues that can seriously affect aspects of their lives and the stability of their family.

·         Studies estimate that mental health problems affect one in five young people at any given time.

·         Many children and adolescents experience emotional disorders, such as depression, anxiety and attention-deficit, conduct and eating disorders.

·         An estimated 91,000 children in Minnesota need treatment for emotional disturbances.

·         In Minnesota, nine percent of school-age children and five percent of preschool children have a serious emotional disturbance, which is a mental health problem that has become longer lasting and interferes significantly with the child’s functioning at home and in school.

·         Children and youth with a serious emotional disturbance experience risks related to reduced graduation rates, increased involvement with juvenile corrections and more substance abuse problems.

Children's Mental Health Grants fund children's mental health services provided by non-profit agencies, schools, Medicaid-enrolled mental health clinics, tribes, counties, and culturally specific agencies. While the public mental health system is responsible for the full continuum of children's mental health treatment interventions and ancillary services, grants cover treatment services for children who are uninsured or whose family insurance does not cover necessary mental health services. In addition, grants fund coordination of physical healthcare and developmental disabilities services and build community alternatives to inpatient hospitalization and residential treatment.

The evidence base behind mental health prevention, treatment, and recovery/resiliency services continues to grow and promises better outcomes for people with, and at risk for, mental disorders. We can now say with certainty that:

·         Mental health is essential to overall health;

·         Prevention works;

·         Treatment is effective; and

·         Children can increase their resilience to mental illness.

Strategies:

Children's Mental Health Grants support children with mental illness by:

·         Integrating mental health into the overall health care delivery system;

·         Filling gaps in a full array of services/supports;

·         Expanding the capacity of mental health care delivery;

·         Reducing disparities among communities;

·         Measuring effectiveness of services; and

·         Providing for the efficient use of limited resources.

To help children and youth become healthy Minnesotans, the Children's Mental Health Grants train providers on evidence-based practices; build statewide provider capacity; cover treatment and supports for under/uninsured children; and provide for easy access to the earliest possible, effective interventions when a mental health problem emerges. When a child suffers trauma or other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the children's mental health system-as a core component of Minnesota's child and family-serving systems-has the responsibility to remediate life-long detrimental effects on physical and mental health.

Partners are essential for a dynamic and learning mental health service delivery system. For children, coordination of care encompasses many other child-serving sectors of the public and private health and human service systems of Minnesota - including primary care, day care, substance abuse treatment, schools, public health, child welfare, juvenile justice, adult transition services, and services to parents designed to prevent traumatic events in a child's life and to build or repair the crucial parent-child attachment bond.

Results:

Strategies of the Children's Mental Health Grants are measured at both the system performance level and the individual client outcomes level.

·         Individual treatment effectiveness is measured through the Children's Mental Health Outcome Reporting System, using standardized measurement instruments, the results of which are submitted by treating mental health professionals to DHS through a Web-based reporting system.

·         Grantee and system performance is evaluated in the annual Children's Mental Health Grants Outcomes and Division Progress Report. The report separately evaluates each children's mental health grant funded by state appropriation or the federal Mental Health Block Grant. It reports service utilization; age, gender, and cultural/ethnic demographics; location of services; insurance status; improved access; provider trainings; and client outcomes summaries.

Performance Measures Notes:

1.     Service Utilization Rate: An indicator of service access, this indicator counts the number of children (under age 18) receiving any mental health service from the publicly financed healthcare system per 10,000 children in the general child population. Compares Calendar Year (CY) 2008 (Previous) and CY 2010 (Current). Note: Utilization rate is not an indicator of need for services as the incidence of emotional disturbance is far higher than the rate at which the children access treatment.

2.     With parental consent, counties conduct mental health screenings for children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems who have not had a recent assessment. The previous measure is CY 2009; the current measure is CY 2010.