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This Web site is a component of the SAMHSA Health Information Network.

Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health

(American Institutes for Research/Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health)

Background

The Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health (TA Partnership) operates under a contract with the Federal Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) to provide community-driven technical assistance to system of care communities funded by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their Families.  The goal of the Technical Assistance Partnership is to support states and local communities in their efforts to successfully develop and implement systems of care.

The TA Partnership is a collaboration between two mission-driven organizations: 

• The American Institutes for Research – committed to improvement in the lives of families and communities through the translation of research into best practice and policy, and
  

• The Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health – dedicated to effective family leadership and advocacy to improve the quality of life of children with mental health needs and their families.

This partnership models the family-professional relationship that is an essential value in this work. Families must share a leadership role in planning, implementing, and evaluating systems of care in their communities. The TA Partnership provides a staff of family members in key roles and professionals with extensive practice experience, grounded in an organization with vast research experience.

The TA Partnership works in collaboration with CMHS Program Partners, such as the National Indian Child Welfare Association, Vanguard Communications, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, ORC Macro, and the Georgetown National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health, among others.

Areas of Activity

Five Regional Technical Assistance Coordinators (RTACs)

RTACs are family members and/or professionals who will help to broker and facilitate customer-focused technical assistance (TA) to system of care communities funded by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program.  The goal for these individuals is to assist communities to design, develop, and implement effective systems of care to improve mental health services and outcomes for children and adolescents with emotional disturbances and their families.  The RTACs will serve as the primary link between funded communities, the TA Partnership staff, CMHS, consultants, and the Federal TA Partners, to promote a shared sense of vision and purpose across communities and an integrated, coordinated program of technical assistance. 

Resource Specialists

The Technical Assistance Partnership has nine resource specialists who are experts in the areas of family, youth, mental health, juvenile justice, education, child welfare, substance abuse, cultural competence, and primary health care.  These advisors work together as a team to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and provide technical assistance in their areas of expertise. 

Consultant Pool

The consultant pool provides system of care communities with useful and easily accessible information on consultants with various areas of expertise that may be valuable resources to them in developing systems of care.  The list of consultants is available on the TA Partnership Web site at http://www.tapartnership.org.  System of care communities can search for a consultant by name and by area of expertise.

Learning Opportunities

Learning opportunities promote peer-to-peer exchange and knowledge sharing among system of care communities to address common challenges in systems of care.  System of care communities are given a forum to discuss strategies for overcoming barriers to systems of care development.  The TA Partnership provides a master calendar with a logical and cumulative sequence of Webinars on topical areas of concern across system of care communities.  Resource specialists or other experts in systems of care development facilitate each discussion.

Web Site

The TA Partnership’s Web site (www. tapartnership.org) contains our newsletter (described below), a calendar of events, topical discussion boards, and electronic registration pages for our learning opportunities and the annual System of Care Community meeting.  Additional information includes contact information for all the regional technical assistance coordinators, resource specialists, consultants, learning opportunities, and system of care communities, plus links to many useful resources.  In addition, the Web site contains mini-Web pages for each of our resource specialists (family, youth, juvenile justice, education, mental health, child welfare, substance abuse, and primary health care).

Newsletter

We publish an electronic newsletter monthly on the TA Partnership’s Web page.  It contains items carefully selected from almost 30 independent sources as well as original columns: Highlights from the Field, which describes excellent system of care practices and Families Matter!, which presents a family voice on system of care issues. The newsletter is designed to be relevant to administrators, providers across multiple child-serving fields, family members, and other stakeholders in systems of care.  The newsletter also includes information about upcoming events, new research findings, and funding opportunities.

Conferences and Workshops

The TA Partnership plans and coordinates one national and multiple regionally-based system of care community meetings each year.  In addition, the TA Partnership organizes and conducts special topic meetings.

Team Learning Centers

Team Learning Centers are graduated, mature, or other communities that have successfully established and sustained a system of care. The Learning Centers will be matched with young communities to provide peer-to-peer technical assistance.