Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital
Project Summary
Our youth are experiencing a uniquely challenging behavioral health crisis, and it's compounded by a workforce crisis and recovery from a global pandemic, compelling us to be fiercely creative and pragmatic with the resources we can bring to bear. Using an innovative school- and primary care-based model we will rally and prepare the broader education and healthcare workforces to better support the front lines of behavioral healthcare. Leaders from the Departments of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Population Health at Dartmouth Health (DH) in rural western NH have assembled a Consortium of organizations with a shared mission to reduce the behavioral health challenges facing the youth in our area. The consortium includes school districts, pediatric primary care practices, NAMI-NH and several community organizations, as well as advisory positions for state government agencies that support children's healthcare, welfare, and education. Together we will launch prevention, treatment and recovery programs specific to the school and primary care settings in each community, wrapping in other resources to build a safety net for our youth. Highlights include: * Broad screening for BH and social determinants of health concerns accompanied by brief intervention, referral to treatment, and care navigation support * Increased clinician capacity to support schools and integrated into pediatric primary care * New school-based programs including: a social-emotional skills curriculum (e.g., 'Miss Kendra') in elementary schools; group and individual behavioral health interventions in middle and high schools for at-risk students; and peer mentoring in high schools * Piloting of digital applications to help support students working with peer mentors * Professional staff training, consultation and mentorship to support all programs * Monthly interdisciplinary case-based clinical meeting to support high quality clinical care, debrief safety concerns, and discuss high risk clinical cases