About Us
Joining Forces for Children and Adolescents is a concerted effort of several agencies, organizations, and individuals to generate interest and intervention in mental health issues among young people, their parents, teachers, and schools. This is accomplished through 5 work groups, each with a specific focus area.
They are:
Streamline System of Care/One-Stop Center
Ensure collaborative service array that meets consumer needs, and is accessible
through a central referral point.
School
Support System/Educational Needs
Make information available to families and providers, and enhance school-based
services.
Psychiatric Service Gaps
Make psychotropic medication management more accessible for children with mental
illness.
Early
Identification
Enhance early identification of mental illness, so that prevention and early
intervention methods can be implemented.
Suicide
Prevention
Raise community awareness to help prevent youth suicide.
How We Started
The impetus for Joining Forces came from a group of social service providers working to identify services to meet the needs of children and adolescents in the Peoria community. They soon recognized that the scope of mental health issues affecting children and adolescents was much bigger than their small group could effectively address. The group developed and implemented a three-phase plan to engage community stakeholders in the process of improving the child and adolescent mental health system serving Peoria County.
The plan included community focus groups, a child and adolescent mental health summit attended by 200 diverse members of the Peoria community, and finally the development of Joining Forces, a set of work groups made up of community members and service providers whose task is to develop and implement a strategic plan to improve the child and adolescent mental health system in Peoria County.
What We Are Doing
Through our work groups, Joining Forces will
accomplish short and long term goals including:
Published a resource directory to increase awareness and access to books dealing
with mental illness and complete annual training for educators on managing
mental illness in the classroom.
Present annual training for educators and mental health providers regarding the
management of mental illness in the classroom setting.
Present annual training for primary care physicians and mental health providers
regarding the treatment of mood and behavior disorders in children through
medication and collaboration with other social service providers.
Developed a standardized consent for release of information form approved by
area hospitals to increase effective communication among providers.
Present Red Flags, a depression awareness program for teachers, students, and
parents, through the Peoria and surrounding public school systems and Catholic
schools in the Peoria area.
Developed a user friendly web portal for information and resource referral to
help consumers navigate the mental health provider network.
Hold a child and adolescent mental health summit every other year to inform the
community about significant issues related to child adolescent mental illness
and gather input regarding areas for improvement within the child and adolescent
mental health system.
Launched a strategic plan involving a diverse group of community members to
raise awareness about youth suicide and implement prevention strategies within
schools.
Unifying The Talents and Resources of Our Community
To Improve the Mental Health and Well-being of
Our Children and Adolescents