Partnership and Roadmap to Revolutionize Maryland’s Public Behavioral Health System for Children and Youth

The Maryland Department of Health has partnered with the Maryland Coalition of Families and Manatt Health to develop recommendations and a roadmap to improve the state’s public behavioral health system. This collaboration aims to identify steps to enhance behavioral health services for children, youth, and families in Maryland.

According to Dr. Laura Herrera Scott, the Maryland Health Secretary, investments have been made in crisis services for youth and new school-based initiatives, but there are still significant gaps in the system. The partners will be conducting a current state assessment, generating an internal report with initial recommendations, and preparing a detailed roadmap with proposed policy changes to enhance behavioral health care for children and youth by December 2024.

Alyssa Lord, Deputy Secretary for Behavioral Health emphasized that the roadmap will cover all aspects of care, from prevention to high-intensity services, and will provide implementation steps to translate policy recommendations into action. The Maryland Coalition of Families is experienced in helping families navigate the behavioral health system while Manatt Health is a renowned national policy and strategy firm that recently completed a national roadmap for addressing the behavioral health crisis among children and youth with complex conditions.

For more information on the Department’s behavioral health resources and services for children, individuals can visit www.health.maryland.gov/youthbehavioralhealth