December 6, 2001
Public health project to evaluate Northwest child mental health
The UW’s Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Program, based in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, has received a grant from the Paul G. Allen Foundation to apply public health approaches to preventing mental health problems in children and youth.
The effort will focus on the Northwest, with the expectation of developing a model system that could be used in other areas.
Dr. Fred Connell, MCH director and associate dean of public health, will direct the project. He has also addressed mental health problems in this year’s annual State of Washington’s Children report. Faculty and graduate students in the MCH program will be working on the project, including some students directed by Dr. Michelle Bell in the joint social work/public health degree program.
Called the “Northwest Initiative to Advance the Surgeon General’s National Action Agenda for Children’s Mental Health,” the project will develop partnerships throughout the Northwest with public health agencies, non-profit health organizations and advocacy groups, among other stakeholders. Broadly diverse ethnic and socio-economic groups will be represented.
The initial focus of the partnership-building efforts will be a conference in spring 2002 to bring these organizations and interested people together to develop a plan for improving prevention and care of mental health problems in Northwest children and youth.
For more information on the project, contact Jane Reese in the MCH program office at 616-9309 or jrees@u.washington.edu.
