Facing the Growing Crisis in Children’s Mental Health

In October 2018, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital with the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Pierce County Police Chiefs Association, Tacoma School District and HopeSparks convened a Children’s Mental Health Summit. 70-plus leaders and front-line staff – spanning emergency services, law enforcement, mental health, juvenile justice, crisis services, emergency medicine, primary care, education, and social services – came together to define the barriers and begin to identify a common agenda to improve child and adolescent mental health services.

Key summit themes:

• Agencies across the board have the will to improve. There is tremendous energy to build a collaborative solution and engage in collective action.
• A formal collaborative effort is needed to bring partners together around a common vision and agenda.
• Partners share a keen focus on equity as a value and common goal.