Since 2006, we have advanced the call for meaningful, compassionate, and effective behavioral health care for kids.
The Children’s Mental Health Campaign (CMHC) grew out of an initial collaboration between Boston Children’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). Scroll to see a highlight of our 15 years of work.
CMHC’s 2nd Edition Pediatric Behavioral Health Urgent Care Report examines the behavioral health needs of children, adolescents, and their families. It specifically explores and describes the care elements necessary for responding to the urgent behavioral health needs of children and adolescents, including those with co-occurring autism spectrum disorders and intellectual/developmental…Read More
The Campaign’s legislation on increasing consumer transparency about insurance provider networks passed as part of Chapter 124 of the Acts of 2019: An Act Relative to Children’s Health and Wellness.
Pediatric Psychiatric Boarding: Using Data to Develop Policy Solutions is published in July and uncovers some of the the nuances of psychiatric boarding among children and adolescents. This more comprehensive understanding will allow policymakers to implement data-driven solutions to ED boarding that must prioritize the development of payment structures and…Read More
The Campaign becomes a funded partner for the Boston Children’s Collaboration for Community Health to engage in targeted efforts to operationalize behavioral health equity. With support from Massachusetts Public Health Association, CMHC will develop goals, strategies, processes and tools for ensuring that policy priorities, external communications and organizational culture facilitate…Read More
The Massachusetts Association for Mental Health (MAMH) joins the Campaign and becomes the sixth partner organization.
The Campaign hosts its Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Summit in June, 2017, to convene a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss inequities in infant & early childhood mental health care (IECMH). The recommendations and action steps captured at this convening continues to inform CMHC’s work to address equity,…Read More
The Campaign’s advocacy for supporting adolescent substance use prevention takes a leap forward with the enactment of an Act relative to substance use, treatment, education and prevention (STEP Act), which outlines how public schools in the Commonwealth should engage in substance use screening and education. The Campaign continues to work…Read More
Campaign advocates for the inclusion of the Safe and Supportive Schools framework in Chapter 284 of the Acts of 2014, which focused on gun control. The provision requires schools to develop an action plan for creating safe and supportive environments and establishes a commission to assist schools through recommendations, grant…Read More
Following efforts by the Campaign, the Massachusetts Legislature passed Chapter 224, a massive payment reform law to control health care cost growth through increased price transparency, adoption of alternative payment methods, investments in wellness and prevention, and an expanded primary care workforce. This law created the Behavioral Health Integration Task…Read More
The Campaign helps to lead the drive to replace the state’s CHINS (Child in Need of Services) system for coping with children with serious disciplinary services (many of whom have behavioral health conditions) with the new FACES (Families and Children Engaged in Services) system. FACES offers families access to community-based…Read More
The passage of Chapter 256 expands mental health parity. The Campaign advocates for this law, which strengthens the state’s mental health parity law by expanding the categories of disorders for which health insurance plans must provide mental health benefits.
Approved on August 20, 2008, the Act creates a structure for enhancing early identification, treating children in the most appropriate setting, enhancing coordination among state health care agencies, and establishing mechanisms for oversight of and input into the state’s children’s mental health system.
MSPCC and Boston Children’s Hospital join together with the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, Health Law Advocates, and Health Care For All to form the Children’s Mental Health Campaign (CMHC).
Children’s Mental Health in the Commonwealth: The Time is NOW white paper, published by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) and Boston Children’s Hospital, examined the system of care for children with mental health needs in Massachusetts.