What is a System of Care?

Values & Principles

The Center's theory suggests that a statement of values and principles is a foundation piece for effective systems of care. [see details]

Legislative Support and Policy

Use of the SOC approach is recommended in significant federal policy papers on children's mental health. [see details]

The Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their Families Program

The largest federal program to date targeting children’s mental health services. [see details]

Measures of SOC – Systems of Care Practice Review

The Center has developed strategies for evaluating systems of care, including the System of Care Practice Review (revised: SOCPR-R) [see details]

More Publications

Final Report: Evaluation of Specialized Treatment Programs for Dually Served Youth

In February 2018, DCF contracted with the University of South Florida to conduct an independent evaluation of specialized treatment programs.

Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention Program Evaluation

This report presents results of an evaluation of Family Support Services (FSS) provided by six Community-Based Care (CBC) lead agencies in Florida.

Access, Integration and Quality of Care for Individuals with Serious Mental Health Challenges Enrolled in Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance Program

This study evaluates access to health care, the coordination of physical and behavioral health services, and quality of care for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) who are enrolled in Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) program. A primary objective was to compare operations and impacts of the SMI Specialty plan operated by Magellan Complete Care with Standard MMA plans that serve enrollees with SMI.

Practice Brief 1: Opportunities and challenges in healthcare integration

This practice brief is the first of a series aimed at documenting the advancement of Michigan communities toward the promise of integration.

Telecounseling for the Linguistically Isolated: A Pilot Study With Older Korean Immigrants

This pilot study tested the use of telehealth technology in providing access to culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services.

“If We’re Going to Change Things, It Has to Be Systemic:” Systems Change in Children's Mental Health

This paper explores the concept of "systemic" in the context of systems of care. Systems theory is used to understand strategies of purposeful systems change undertaken by stakeholders in established system of care communities. The paper presents a conceptual model of systems change for systems of care that is grounded in data from a national study of system of care implementation (Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health, 2004).

Arizona’s Children’s System of Care Practice Review: Fiscal Year 2010 Statewide Report

The System of Care Practice Review (SOCPR) was implemented in FY2010 as the Arizona Department of Health Services/Division of Behavioral Health Services’ practice review method of choice in Arizona.

Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Reports

During the last decade, the Medicaid program has become an increasingly important element of the mental health treatment system in Florida.

Using Practice-Based Evidence to Complement Evidence-Based Practice in Children's Behavioral Health

This issue brief prepared for the Outcomes Roundtable for Children and Families addresses important issues associated with the emergence of practice-based evidence.

Supporting Parents Who Have Youth with Emotional Disturbances Through a Parent-to-Parent Support Program

Published in the Journal: Administration & Policy in Mental Health & Mental Health Services Research (Online First)

ConnectFamilias Partnership Evaluation Reports 2009 & 2010

These reports reveal how Connect Familias uses a wraparound model to improve the well being of children and families by reducing violence and delivering non-duplicative, culturally appropriate and seamless wraparound services.

Phase I - III Reports: Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in Support of Quality Field-Based Practice

These documents report on Phases I, II and III of SIP and report how the Children's Board of Hillsborough County can maximize investment in locally developed programsm and promote, implement, and sustain best practice for positive child and family outcomes.

FASST Implementation Toolkit: Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in Support of Quality Field-Based Practice

This toolkit was produced as part of Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in Support of Quality Field-Based Practice (SIP) project, a collaborative effort of The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County Children’s Future Hillsborough, Family and School Support Teams (FASST), and the USF Department of Child and Family Studies. The toolkit has been designed to support implementation of the FASST
program as intended based on the current program theory.

System Implementation Site-Based Reports

This series of reports, based on findings from Case Studies of System Implementation, will provide readers with a summary of lessons learned from established system of care communities.

Asset-Based Approaches for LGBTQI2-S Youth and Families in Systems of Care

Families with a parent, child, or youth who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, two-spirit (LGBTQI2-S) or transitioning navigate varying levels of acceptance and support when accessing and utilizing needed services within the mental health system. A new monograph offers a public health approach for communities to meet the needs of these families.

System of Care Practice Review: Review Team Member Training Manual

This training manual is designed for use by individuals preparing to serve as reviewers in conducting a System of Care Practice Review (SOCPR). It serves as an introduction to the SOCPR by providing a general, conceptual, and philosophical understanding of the origin and purpose of the review. This manual also identifies and describes the various activities involved in implementing the SOCPR and guides reviewers through each step of the process toward a successful review.

22nd Annual Research Conference Proceedings

Features presentation summaries from symposia, paper presentations and poster presentations, organized around the central themes of the annual research conference.

Examining the Relationship between Family-Run Organizations and Non-Family Organization Partners in Systems of Care

This study investigates how family voice, as represented through family-run organizations, contributes to the context of the overall mental health system, and the implementation of an effective system of care.

Parent to Parent: A Synthesis of the Emerging Literature

This literature review attempts to provide a synthesis of the emerging literature pertaining to parent-to-parent support. The purpose of this review is twofold: (1) to uncover any evidence of the effectiveness of parent-to-parent support; and (2) to examine the concepts, constructs, and key elements of parent-to-parent that should be considered when designing a program (i.e., case management, training, and contact methods).

Creating a Front Porch: Strategies for Improving Access to Mental Health Services

This monograph shares results of interviews conducted with personnel from selected organizations and focuses on key practices that were reported to increase accessibility of mental health services for underserved populations.

Mental Health Service Patterns among Medicaid-Eligible Children: Disparities and Differences in Beliefs and Service Access

This report shares findings about mental health issues and service effectiveness as expressed by parents of Medicaid-eligible children from white, Hispanic, and African American families.

21st Annual Research Conference Proceedings

Features presentation summaries from symposia, paper presentations and poster presentations, organized around the central themes and full agenda of the annual research conference.

Report to the Legislature: Evaluation of the Department of Children and Families Community-Based Care Initiative Fiscal Year 2006-2007

This evaluation examines the status of Community-Based Care (CBC) in Florida, with a special focus on child and family outcomes, quality, and cost.

Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research

The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research (JBHS&R) is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that publishes articles on the organization, financing, delivery, and outcomes of behavioral health services, including mental health, alcohol, and substance abuse.

RTC Study 3 Financing Structures and Strategies to Support Effective Systems of Care: Issue Brief 1: Effective Strategies to Finance a Broad Array of Services and Supports

Effective Financing Strategies for Systems of Care is a Research and Training Center study that is examining financing strategies used by states, communities, and tribes to support the infrastructure, services, and support s that comprise systems of care. This issue brief presents the results of the first wave of study site visits regarding financing strategies to support a broad range of services and supports.

Response to Intervention and Positive Behavior Support: Brothers from Different Mothers or Sisters with Different Misters?

This article offers an overview of how a Response to Intervention approach to education is consistent with Positive Behavior Support principles and practices.

Family Driven Care: Are We There Yet?

This report acquaints readers with the concept of family-driven care for children who have emotional and behavioral disturbances. From this context, the authors provide information about evidence-based practices that are effective interventions to help the children and their families. This information will help families, educators, and mental health service providers plan effective interventions for the children in their care.

Florida IV-E Waiver Demonstration Evaluation Progress Reports and Issue Briefs

The Florida Department of Children and Families contracted with CFS to evaluate the state's IV-E Waiver Demonstration program which allows Florida's 20 Community-Based Care lead agencies to spend federal dollars previously earmarked for out-of-home care on an array of prevention and diversion services.

Quick Guide for Self-Assessment of Family-Run Organizations in Systems of Care

The Quick Guide is for use by family-run organizations.

Organizational Cultural Competence: A Review of Assessment Protocols

This monograph provides a new understanding of field-based, systemic and measurable organizational factors that lead to cultural competence in organizations and systems.

Examining the Research Base Supporting Cultural Competence in Children’s Mental Health Services

This review identifies and describes organizational factors associated with increased access for ethnically/racial diverse children and their families to quality mental health services and supports.

Linking Community Helpers and Services with Schools Serving Latino Families: An Orientation to the RAICES/Promotoras Model Training Curriculum

This guide introduces and describes a model and associated training curriculum designed to support communities in their efforts to strengthen partnerships that better link Latino children and families with school personnel and service providers.

Applying a Theory of Change Approach to Interagency Planning in Child Mental Health

This paper describes the use of a theory of change approach to community-based cross-agency service planning in Contra Costa County, California for a population of youth who had been arrested and involved with juvenile probation.

Assumptions, Indicators and Descriptors for the Family Voice Study: Assessing the Role of Family Organizations in Developing Family Voice in Systems of Care

Research suggests that systems of care with strong family voice have certain characteristics. The Family Voice Assumptions, Indicators and Descriptions (FV-AID) Chart identifies these characteristics which are listed in the first column as Assumptions.

Strategies for System of Care Development: Making Change in Complex Systems

This article describes adaptation of the framework from Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System Framework to systems of care.

Independent Assessment of the New Jersey’s Children’s Behavioral Health Care System

In 2006 the State of New Jersey contracted with the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida for an independent assessment of its evolving children’s behavioral health system. This report contains the findings and recommendations of the assessment.

Organizational Structures and Processes within an Evidence-based Practice: Cross-site Findings from a Study of Teaching Family Organizations

Describes phase II findings of the Community-based Theories of Change Study.

Findings: Examining the Impact of Policy on Collaboration in Systems of Care

This article discusses how policy implementation affects collaboration at the state and community levels. Collaboration, in turn, contributes to effective systems of care.

Building the Workforce Plan for Children's Mental Health

Discussion centers around the formation of the National Strategic Plan on Workforce Development in Behavioral Health. Includes a discussion of the Annapolis Coalition and its efforts related to workforce recruitment and retention. Ten strategic workforce goals are presented.

Structures and Processes Supporting the Mission and Goals of a Family-run Organization: King County Blended Funding Project

Using the King County Blended Funding Project as an example of a family-driven system that establishes collaborative partnerships with professionals and parents. The county was found to have a widely held theory of change, concept mapping was used to arrive at this finding.

Community-based Theories of Change: Overview of Findings

Discusses results to date of the Community-based Theories of Change study. Four characteristics from this cross-site cross-phase study are also discussed: identity, integration, initiative, and innovation. The study examines organizational structures and processes that human service organizations believe allow them to carry out their mission and goals and to sustain this effort over time.

School-Based Mental Health: An Empirical Guide for Decision-Makers

The "Yellow Book" provides a discussion of barriers to school-based services with the intention of improving service effectiveness and capacity.

Examining the Impact of Policy on Collaboration in Systems of Care.

This paper reports on the methods and outcomes of a two-phase study designed to determine the relationship between the mechanisms that have been used to establish systems of care and their resulting levels of collaboration.

Financing Structures and Strategies to Support Effective Systems of Care: RTC Study 3 Products

This study was the first to thoroughly investigate cross-agency financing structures and strategies, and provides important information about finance policies that can assist communities across the country.

Community-based Theories of Change: Study Background and Design

This article discusses the background and design of the Community-based Theories of Change Study.

The System of Care Twenty Years Later

In this chapter the authors discuss the current impact and relevancy of the system of care model for the children’s mental health services system.

Enhancing the Influence of Psychologists on Public Policy: Will More of the Same Do It?

In this article, Robert Friedman draws on over 25 years experience to address how, as a field, psychology can more effectively prepare graduate students and conduct its own research to strengthen the contribution to policy.

Transformation Work Group Report

This report describes the compatibility of the SOC vision, values and principles, and general practices with those expressed by the President’s New Freedom Commission. 

The Children and Youth We Serve: A National Picture of the Characteristics of Students with Emotional Disturbances Receiving Special Education

This article provides a national perspective of children and youth with emotional disturbances (ED) served in special education using data from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) and the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2).

Effective Systems of Care: A Summary of Implementation Factors

To guide its research, and to assist states and communities, the Center has developed a model of factors that it believes contribute to implementation of effective systems of care. This handout identifies and summarizes these factors.

Measuring the Fidelity of Service Planning and Delivery to System of Care Principles (2005)

This monograph describes the System of Care Practice Review (SOCPR), a procedure that explores direct service fidelity to system of care values.

Evidence-Based Practices, Systems of Care, & Individualized Care

This paper describes an exploratory study on the relationship between systems of care with an individualized care component, which brings family, youth (where appropriate), members of the natural support system, and members of the formal service system together to develop plans that reflect a comprehensive focus on strengths and needs of families in multiple life domains.

Transforming Mental Health Care for Children and Their Families

Discusses recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Addresses critical infrastructure, practice, and research. Focuses on the work of the commission's Subcommittee on Children and describes a vision for mental health service delivery for children with emotional and behavioral disorders and their families.

The Mental Health Needs of Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities Placed in Special Education Programs In Urban Schools

This paper describes the psychosocial characteristics of youth served in special education due to emotional disturbances in urban communities (N = 158).

Mental Health Services: A Public Health Perspective

This chapter reviews the child mental health policy of the United States and identifies key policy issues at a time when greater attention is being paid to the area of children's mental health.

System of Care Checklists from the Family Experience of the Mental Health System (FEMHS) Study

The Family Experience of the Mental Health System was designed to meet a need for information from family perspectives about service access and delivery, as well as about specific aspects of services that are most and least helpful. Based on the experiences of the families in the study, as well as evidence-based and promising practices, these checklists can help guide the development of systems of care as they address child and family issues of: medication; decisions and responsibilities of care; pathways and access to care; and, helpfulness of formal organizations and informal supports.

A Study of Service Innovations that Enhance Systems of Care: Expanding the Array of Services using Networks of Providers in Community Based Integrated Systems of Care

This paper describes results and implications from a study designed to explore innovative service system practices in nine sites.

Family Experience of The Mental Health System (FEMHS) — Findings Compendium

The Findings Compendium provides a brief summary of the Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health Study of the Family Experience of the Mental Health System (FEMHS).

A Historical Perspective on National Child Mental Health Policy

This article presents a historical perspective on the formalized child mental health policy in the United States.

Special Series: Children’s Mental Health Policy [Special issue]

In this special issue, the editor briefly reviews the history and evolution of the System of Care framework. A discussion of how policy makers, human service agencies and families have struggled to incorporate the values and principles of systems of care into daily operations and guiding policies follows.

Developmental Framework for Collaboration in Child-serving Agencies

This article presents a developmental framework for collaboration in child-serving agencies that is based on the experience of families, service providers, administrators, and community members who have been involved in local collaborative processes in their own communities. The results of this project indicate that while well-developed collaboration is a necessary component of collaboration, it is not sufficient in and of itself.

Building upon Theory of Change for Systems of Care

This article describes the concept of systems of care for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families.

Improving Outcomes for Students Through the Application of a Public Health Model to School Psychology: A Commentary

This overview contains a summary of the application of public health principles and concepts, which have the potential to improve outcomes for children served in our schools.

Crafting Logic Models for Systems of Care: Ideas Into Action

This monograph is designed to provide a guide for communities engaged in developing systems of care. It provides a straightforward method that system stakeholders can use to turn their ideas into tangible action-oriented strategies for achieving their goals for system development.

Community-based Interventions in a System of Care and Outcome Framework.

This chapter summarizes the various initiatives and research findings that are driving the shift in the children’s mental health services system from the almost exclusive reliance on office-based or residential treatment to a community-based continuum of service options.

The National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and their Families Program. A Commentary.

This commentary appeared in a special issue describing the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program.

The Impact of Managed Care on Systems of Care that Serve Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances and their Families

This article describes findings from a qualitative study evaluating the impact of managed care reforms on a select sample of systems of care funded by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program. This study’s analyses reveal conditions and factors necessary to maintain a system-of-care-philosophy and approach in a managed care environment.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Recommendations for Improvement by State Mental Health Commissions

Between 1997 and 2001, 13 states had commissions that reviewed their state mental health system. This manuscript reviews the findings and recommendations from the reports of these commissions with regard to child and adolescent mental health.

A School, Family, and Community Collaborative Program for Children who have Emotional Disturbances

This article provides the rationale, development, implementation and evaluation of a school-based program for students with emotional disturbances and who are served in a special education setting.

What is Case Management?

Although case management has become a common intervention for children served through multiple systems, it can be quite variable in implementation. This chapter addresses the necessity to define case management in terms of common components and diverse models prior to exploring the evidence base for practice. This chapter also examines significant studies to date regarding the effectiveness of case management approaches.

A Conceptual Framework for Developing and Implementing Effective Policy in Children’s Mental Health (2002)

This article presents a framework to be used in studying public policy development and implementation in children’s mental health.

Creating Change and Keeping it Real: How Excellent Child-serving Organizations Carry out their Goals: Cross-Site Findings for Phase I of Community Based Theories of Change

Community-Based Theories of Change is a national study funded by the federal Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS-SAMHSA) and National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research that is designed to address how human service organizations carry out their mission and goals, how they transfer their policy agendas across stakeholders, and how they sustain their service strategies over time. This report summarizes the cross-site findings of Community-Based Theories of Change and presents lessons learned across the three participating sites in 2002.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Recommendations for Improvement by State Mental Health Commissions

This report identifies and summarizes state views regarding efforts to address the mental health needs of children and adolescents, and their families.

Overview of the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program.

This lead article to the special issue of the Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders provides an overview of the methodology and status of the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program, conducted by ORC Macro, Inc., in collaboration with the University of South Florida and other partners.

The Practice of Psychology with Children, Adolescents, and Their Families: A Look to the Future

This chapter reviews the changes that have been made in the children’s mental health field in the last two decades, and examines some of the challenges that the field now faces. It discusses such issues as systems of care, individualized care, financing of services, accountability, and evidence-based practice.

Improving the Quality of Community-Based Services for Children

This chapter considers the problem of assessing and improving the quality of intensive case management services for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance. It identifies the systemic factors contributing to quality services, details the intervention, and describes three methods that the effectiveness of the intervention were assessed.

Use of the System of Care Practice Review in the National Evaluation

This article describes the empirical support of the System of Care Practice Review (SOCPR), a methodology developed to measure the alignment between the principles of a system of care and mental health practices in a community setting. To test this approach, two communities with well-developed systems of care were compared on the SOCPR with two communities with less developed systems of care. Results indicate that the SOCPR was successful in differentiating between those communities that were able to implement systems of care principles into mental health practices from those who did not.

The Ecology of Outcomes: System Accountability in Children’s Mental Health

This article presents the Ecology of Outcomes framework, which provides a foundation for the utilization of information so that outcome information can provide opportunities for learning and self-correction.

State Health Care Reforms: How They Affect Children and Adolescents with Emotional Disorders and Their Families

This article presents baseline results of the Health Care Reform Tracking Project, a national study designed to describe and analyze state health care reforms and their impact on children and adolescents with emotional disorders and their families.

National Adolescent and Child Treatment Study (NACTS): Outcomes for Children with Serious Emotional and Behavioral Disturbance

This article describes the results of a seven-year longitudinal study designed to gather information on the demographics and family characteristics, level of psychological and adaptive functioning, services received, and outcomes of children with serious emotional disturbances.

Prevalence of Serious Emotional Disturbance in Children and Adolescents

This chapter presents the findings of a group of technical experts who met to consider estimation methodologies for establishing prevalence of children with serious emotional disturbance.

A System of Care for Children and Youth with Severe Emotional Disturbances

This monograph explores the development of comprehensive systems of care for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

More Presentations

The System of Care Practice Review Revised (SOCPR-R): Measuring Fidelity of Service to Systems of Care Values and Principles

This presentation establishes the value of assessing service fidelity to SOC values and reviews use of the SOCPR-R method & instrument to evaluate local systems of care. The SOCPR-R method clusters SOC principles into primary domains of child-centered, family focused; community-based; culturally competent; and impact--these domains and their subdomains are examined within a system through a multiple case study method including document reviews and key informant interviews. With family case as the unit of analysis, information is synthesized to identify patterns and trends within the SOC and generate recommendations.
View Handouts [3.6mb pdf]

Child & Adolescent Mental Disorders:
Best Practices for System Improvement

This presentation handout summarizes key issues for systems improvement in Florida. Topics addressed include determining seriousness of a problem, the relationship between mental health disorders and substance abuse; comparison of current and needed actions in the system, and general and specific recommendations for actions.
View Handouts [300kb pdf]

Implementing Effective Data-based and Value-based Systems of Car efor Children with Serious Mental Health Challenges and their Families

This presentation by Robert Friedman overviews key factors in implementing effective service systems that provide access to high-quality, value-based care. Use of data-driven decision making strategies for performance measurement and quality assurance are addressed within the context of the Research and Training Center's model of factors that are associated with effective system of care implementation.
View Handouts [12.1mb pdf]

Transformation: Personal, Professional,
and about Systemic

Robert Friedman addresses the APA Annual Convention about the activities of the Department of Child & Family Studies and their relationship to the national call for transformation of mental health services systems. Includes program profiles.
View Handouts [496kb pdf]

Developing Data- and Value-Based Systems of Care that Incorporate Effective Practice: Expanding the Framework

This presentation at the 2004 Training Institutes in San Francisco, Robert Friedman addresses the role of theories of change and performance measurement in systems of care.
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View Handouts [347kb pdf]

Effectively Serving Children with Special Needs and their Families: What Does it Take?

At the Winter 2005 Systems of Care Communities Meeting in Dallas, February, 2005, Robert Friedman described a model of fourteen key factors that contribute to implementation of effectives systems of care.
View Web Version
View Handouts [358kb pdf]

The Status of Children's Mental Health: 
A Need for Urgent Care

This presentation by Robert Friedman to the National Conference of State Legislatures in Salt Lake City, July, 2004, addressed current and future policy approaches for improving services for children with serious emotional/behavioral disorders.
View Web Version
View Handouts [3.14mb pdf]

Positive Systems of Care: Effective Community Responses for Children & Families

In his October 2004 address in Waterloo, Ontario, Dr. Friedman describes the key characteristics and current status of systems of care implementation.
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View Handouts [3.25mb pdf]

Promises and Challenges of Evidence-Based Practices for Latino Youth and Families

Mario Hernandez addresses the under-representation of the Latino population in research on evidence-based practices, and identifies steps that should be taken to ensure that promising programs can be successfully adapted to systems of care with a culturally diverse population. Presented for Improving Systems of Care for Latino Youth and Families: Effective and Evidence-Based Strategies for Engagement and Treatment, July 21-23, 2004, Miami, Florida.
View Web Version
View Handouts [406kb pdf]

President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health: A Status Report and Call to Action

In July 2002, Robert Friedman was invited to address the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health regarding the status children’s mental health in the US. This presentation outlines the scope and seriousness of emotional and social problems in the nation’s children, as well as recent examples of federal recognition of the need for policy change to address children's mantal health issues. Dr. Friedman also explored the current status of the child-serving system; recommending future directions for its improvement.
View Web Version
View Handouts [166kb pdf]

What Works Well and Why: Translating Research into Practice in Community Mental Health Services

CFS Chair Robert Friedman provided a keynote address March 14th, 2003 at the 6th Annual All-Ohio Institute on Community Psychiatry conference. The focus of this year's Institute was the implementation of evidence-based practices in community mental health services. Friedman's presentation focused on the improvement of access to care for children in need, quality and effectiveness of care, and the mental health status and well-being of all children.
View Web Version
View Handouts [8.7mb pdf]

Children’s Mental Health Policy: Is it working?

This invited presentation by Dr. Robert Friedman elaborates on the current realities of the children’s mental health service system and its relationship to policy formation and implementation. This presentation specifically discusses the scope of the problem, and explores resolutions that are currently at the forefront of the field, including systems of care, evidence-based practice, and new research and evaluation paradigms.
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Child & Adolescent Mental Health: Recommendations for Improvement by State Mental Health Commissions

This presentation summarizes common themes and issues in state-level child mental health service system policy as identified by an analysis of Mental Health Commission reports for several states.
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View Handouts [130kb pdf]

Expanding Frame Work for Developing Operating and Sustaining Local Systems of Care

At the 2002 Training Institutes sponsored by the National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health, Georgetown University, Dr. Friedman and colleagues Don Dixon, Steve Gilbertson, Margaret Jefferson, Bruce Kamradt, Mary Jo Meyers defined and examined the key principals and values of systems of care as they relate to real-life implementation in several sites across the nation.
View Handouts [1.3mb pdf]

Evidence Based Practice and Systems of Care: Building on the Strengths of Each

This presentation explores two central themes: the definition and evolution of systems of care; and criteria and methods useful to support the notion of evidence based practice. Dr. Friedman also discusses the challenges of incorporating evidence-based practice within community-based system of care and effectively evaluating outcomes for the system and for children and their families.
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View Handouts [131kb pdf]

Systems of Care: What Makes Them Work?

In this presentation, Dr. Robert Friedman provides an in-depth look at the evolution of the system of care concept and its implementation. This presentation focuses on conditions that led to the creation and development of systems of care, and reviews key principles and values in the context of what makes a system of care successful.
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View Handouts [42kb pdf]

Surgeon Generals Conference on Mental
Health 1999

At the request of the Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher over 300 mental health professionals, researchers, advocates, parents and youth gathered in Washington, D.C in September of 1999. The purpose of this gathering was to develop an action plan to improve the mental health of children in the United States. Robert Friedman, Ph.D. presented on the evolution of child mental health policy and system of care implementation in the US, its relationship to policy at all levels, and how the move toward adopting evidence based practice will interact with system efforts.
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View Handouts [108kb pdf]