The Mayor's Youth Mental Health Commission

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The Orange County Youth Mental Health Commission (YMH) was established by Mayor Teresa Jacobs in 2013 and tasked with developing a long-term plan to transform the children’s mental health service system in Orange County, Florida. The 20-member group comprised of community leaders of child-serving systems formalized a long-term plan. The final report states “The committee recommends a long-term commitment to ensuring youth mental health shifts from a fragmented funding and service delivery structure to one that leverages funding, shares resources, aligns initiatives under one umbrella and works toward using blended and braided funding mechanisms as much as possible.” The Commission recommended forming an implementation group comprised of community leaders and committed citizens to oversee changes to the children’s system. As a foundation for system change the implementation team continues to pursue: 1. Establishing strategies for blending and braiding funding across children’s systems to support behavioral health and 2. Beginning a Management Network to establish a provider’s services network built on evidence based and emerging practices in children’s behavior health. The foundation of a new approach is based on agreed upon principals which are the cornerstone of strategic planning and implementation. Numerous strategies of the long-term plan have been successfully implemented.