Welcome to the TA Network

 

The Technical Assistance Network for Children's Behavioral Health (TA Network) provides technical assistance and support on a national level to state and local agencies, including youth and family organizations, who work with children and youth with complex behavioral health needs and are funded by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program (Children's Mental Health Initiative or CMHI, also referred to as system of care grantees).

The TA Network's mission is to develop effective service systems and establish a skilled and well-prepared workforce that can expand and sustain community-based systems of care across the United States to benefit all children and youth with behavioral health needs and their families.

The Institute for Innovation and Implementation at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work, leads a team of core partners as the coordinating entity and centralized contact for the TA Network. These core partners include (in alphabetical order):

• Accountability Solutions, LLC , led by Kelly Hyde;
• The Center for Community Learning, Inc. (CCL), led by Catalina Booth, Myriam Serna, and colleagues;
• The Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc. (CHCS), including Kamala Allen, Dayana Simons, and colleagues;
• The Family-Run Executive Director Leadership Association (FREDLA), led by Jane Walker;
• Human Service Collaborative (HSC), including Sheila Pires, Ira Lourie, and Cliff Davis;
• The National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FFCMH), led by Sandra Spencer;
• Portland State University (PSU), including Janet Walker, Nancy Koroloff, and Susan Richardson (PSU hosts the National Wraparound Initiative (NWI), Pathways to Positive Futures, and Reclaiming Futures programs);
• The University of South Florida (USF), College of Community and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Child and Family Studies, led by Mario Hernandez and colleagues Mary Armstrong, Kathy Lazear, and others;
• The University of Washington (UW), including Eric Bruns and the Wraparound Evaluation and Research Team (UW co-hosts the National Wraparound Initiative; and
• Youth M.O.V.E. (Motivating Others through Voices of Experience) National (YMN), led by Lacy Kendrick Burk.

Along with the core partners, the TA Network includes a diverse team of advisors, consultants and organizations, all of whom provide expertise on a wide range of subject matter. The TA Network provides various levels of assistance to state and community organizations, CMHI grantees, and family and youth organizations through links to one-on-one consultation, on-site visits, online training, and access to a vast database of regularly updated online resources and information.

In addition, The TA Network serves as a centralized hub for the most current data and information on best practices and approaches for developing, implementing, and sustaining systems of care for children and youth with behavioral health needs and their families, encouraging the sharing of emerging lessons and best practices as well as peer-to-peer learning.

The TA Network strives to build state- and local-level capacity for peer-to-peer exchange; expand the use of technology for up-to-date and timely information-sharing to create a true convergence of system of care grantee communities, states, and partners across the nation and, most importantly, leave grantees with the capacity to continue to propel their own reform efforts forward after CMHI funding ends. The TA Network is committed to delivering field-driven, data-informed, and culturally responsive technical assistance to individuals, organizations, localities, and states.

The TA Network is supported through a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association (SAMHSA) http://www.samhsa.gov/, Center for Mental Health Services, Child, Adolescent and Families Branch (Contract# HHSS280201300002C).