Networking at Regional Children's Service Meetings

Dianna, Crystal and Cindy from the System of Care (SOC) implementation team attended the three regional Children's Service System meetings hosted by Community Care Behavioral Health (CCBH). They are held quarterly and are open to all system partners from that region who serve youth and families.

Great opportunities to hear what is really going on at the ground level, to connect up with other systems and to get the word out further on SOC. I would bet other Behavioral Health Managed Care Organizations have similar sessions. And Behavioral Health Alliance of Rural PA (BHARP)  has a similar meeting held quarterly and they have been kind enough to let System of Care be a regular part of the agenda for updates (and recruitment).

Some of the things we learned:
• There is something significant going on in almost all systems in terms of focus/requirements/issues that present a strong opportunity for increased collaboration and coordination.
            EX:
            Education and the requirements for Suicide prevention Training in all school buildings
            Office of Children Youth & Families and the big legislative push in the area of Child Abuse,
            mandated reporting, definitions
            Juvenile Justice and the focus on family involvement. The training requirements are          
            significant and this seems like a great time to better coordinate and NOT have so much
            duplication.

• The message of SOC  and its opportunities have definitely not made it down to the worker bee level. Top management may hear it but SOC message hasn't generally filtered down. And if it has, that is not the level who can make the decision and commitment to jump in. These kinds of broad-based meetings  are essential for us to participate in and are a good investment of time, staff and resources.

Cindy Zembryki

SOC Regional Facilitator