Project Description:
Project BLOOM (Building Leveraged, Ongoing, Opportunities and Mechanisms) For Children’s Mental Health will primarily target young children (ages 0-5) with Severe Emotional Disturbances (SED) in Arapahoe, El Paso and Fremont counties, providing resources that will lead to improved behavioral health and increased school readiness. In turn, Project BLOOM will increase system-wide capacity of services and improving quality and availability of mental health services throughout these communities.
Project BLOOM will provide enhanced training, integrated delivery of supports, and statewide work groups focusing on system improvements. Trainings will be provided to staff from child care and preschool programs, pediatricians, mental health centers and foster care programs – increasing community capacity to identify young children with SED at an earlier age and provide mental health services.
Project BLOOM will build on the seeds for improving mental health in the communities. Each county has a Consolidated Child Care Pilot program that focuses on system wide improvements for quality of early childhood care and education (ECE), incorporating mental health as a focus. These Pilots involve diverse partners, ranging from ECE and mental health centers, local educators, departments of human services, employment programs, substance abuse treatment, and programs serving children with disabilities.
Each community also has behavioral health consultants that provide consultation and intervention, and training to ECE staff. Project Bloom will broaden the reach of the consolidated childcare pilots to address young children with SED in multiple systems such as child welfare. Project BLOOM will also link into statewide efforts to improve children’s mental health services, including the Policy Academy, Harambe at ECS Cares, Mental Health Partnership and Colorado Association for Infant Mental Health.
Over the six-year grant period, Project BLOOM will respond to the following needs and priorities:
Focus Area 1: Reduce Expulsions from ECE Programs: Priority: Improve the mental health and school readiness of young children by providing prompt, accessible and quality treatment services.
Focus Need Area 2: Limited Behavioral/Mental Health Training and Capacity for ECE Providers : Priority: Build provider capacity to address mental/behavioral health through cross-trainings .
Focus Need Area 3: Limited Resources for Behavioral Care of Young Children: Priority: Maximize funds and payer options; expand the pool of service providers; implement a case management system that provides decision-making authority to fund services; build community support of mental health services.
Focus Need Area 4: Current Systems are Fragmented: Priority: Utilize Pilot’s Waivers to overcome barriers; build provider capacity; incorporate Part C (IDEA) mandates into system of care
Focus Need Area 5: Limited Knowledge on Behavioral Care of Young Children: Priority: Implement an evaluation process to establish better understandings of MH services for youth children.
Focus Need Area 6: Young Children Not Identified with SED: Priority: Establish EPSDT screening procedures that help providers identify young children with SED.
Focus Need Area 7: Culturally Competent and Family-Focused Services. Priority: Increase family access to resources; develop model family involvement practices; provide culturally competent services.
Keyword(s):
children's mental health; behavioral health; severe emotional disturbances
Core Function(s):
Training Trainees, Performing Technical Assistance and/or Training, Performing Research or Evaluation, Developing & Disseminating Information
Area of Emphasis
Quality Assurance, Education & Early Intervention, Child Care-Related Activities, Health-Related Activities, Quality of Life
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County, Mulit-County, State, Regional, National
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
