Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health

IECMH Statewide Tour report

In the summer and fall of 2023, HCA’s IECMH team conducted 10 listening sessions with 96 behavioral health providers across the state, in order to better understand barriers and potential solutions to improving access to quality IECMH services. Through the listening sessions, providers elevated seven core themes:

• IECMH workforce development
• Mental health assessment for young children
• Mental health treatment for young children
• Services in home and community settings
• Caregiver engagement
• Allied professional collaboration
• IECMH financing

Within these core themes, providers shared both best practices and challenges, many of which are supported by the broader literature and evidence base. These were used to inform the development of HCA’s IECMH priorities and next steps HCA is committed to taking.

• Read the executive summary.
• Read the full report.
• Watch a video presentation about the report.
• Review a PowerPoint presentation about the report. 

HCA IECMH reports

HCA is committed to gathering, examining, and sharing information about our IECMH work in partnership with communities, providers, and families. The stories told in these reports from HCA help us move towards our vision of building a strong IECMH network in Washington state.

• Mental Health Assessment for Young Children Implementation Report (April 2023)
• Behavioral Health Agencies Serving Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers in Washington State (February 2023)

IECMH Workforce Collaborative reports

HCA contracts with the Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Workforce Collaborative (IECMH-WC) to coordinate DC:0-5™ training and other professional development supports for mental health assessment for young children. The IECMH-WC publishes reports about their work on a regular basis, including the number of trainings offered, the demographics of training participants, and the impact of trainings on knowledge and skills. These reports are available on the IECMH-WC Reports webpage.

Other HCA data about IECMH

Other programs at HCA produce data and reports about mental health services, and sometimes this data is broken down by age. Data and reports like this can be used to understand IECMH strengths and needs across the system.

WISe CANS data

Wraparound with Intensive Services, or WISe, is an approach to helping children, youth, and their families with intensive mental health care. The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool is a way to organize and capture needs and strengths of the child and family. In WISe, the CANS is used for both care planning and outcome measurement.

Key findings: In 2023, the average number of actionable needs for young children (ages 0-5) decreased after 3 months of WISe services, from 12 to 9 needs. After 3 months of WISe services, the percentage of young children with actionable needs decreased for many different items, including tantruming, aggressive behaviors, regulation skills, attention/impulse control, preschool functioning, family functioning, and social functioning.

See CANS data for children birth – age five

Additional data and reports about the WISe program are available on the WISe Reports webpage.

Children's Behavioral Health Access Report

HCA publishes an annual report about access to behavioral health services for children, youth, and young adults enrolled in Apple Health, with data broken down by age.

Key findings: The most recent report found that in 2022, only 60% of young children (ages 0-5) with an identified mental health need received any mental health services.

Read the full report.

Children's Behavioral Health Dashboard Report

In November 2023, RDA published the most recent Children’s Behavioral Health Dashboard, which includes detailed data on behavioral health treatment needs and outcomes among Apple Health enrolled children in Washington state.

Key findings: In 2021, 5% of young children (ages 0-4) were identified as having a mental health need. This number increased to 20% for young children in foster care. These rates have remained about the same from 2014-2021.

In 2021, the percentage of young children with an identified mental health need ranged from 4% (in King County and Thurston-Mason regions) to 7% (in Great Rivers region).

 

The dashboard also includes further details about behavioral health treatment needs and outcomes for young children, including types of mental health and developmental conditions, involvement with other services and systems (DDA, TANF, etc.), and differences across regions.

Review the dashboard report.

Publications featuring HCA’s IECMH work

HCA’s innovative work on infant-early childhood mental health has been featured in several national publications. These reports demonstrate how Washington state is leading the way when it comes to whole-person, high-quality, and community-centered care in the earliest years of life.

• Medicaid Support for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Lessons from Five States (Johnson & Burak, 2023)
• Medicaid Policies to Help Young Children Access Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Services: Results from a 50-State Survey (Smith et al., 2023)
• Medicaid Partnerships in Washington State Contributing to a Continuum of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Supports and Services (Trivedi & Horen, 2022)
• Embedding DC:0–5 Into State Policy and Systems (Cohen & Andujar, 2022)

IECMH data from our partners

Sister state agencies, county governments, community organizations, other states, researchers, and national groups produce data and reports that can help inform IECMH efforts. Please note that the list below is not comprehensive, and it does not represent the views or opinions of HCA.

• A meta-analysis of the international prevalence and comorbidity of mental disorders in children between 1 and 7 years (Vasileva et al., 2021)
• Cost-effectiveness of infant and early childhood mental health treatment (Oppenheim & Bartlett, 2022)
• Results of a Washington State Provider Survey of Dyadic Services and Billing (Oxford & Lecheile, 2022)
• Accelerating Progress for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health in Washington: A Series of Issue Briefs (Perigee Fund, 2021)
• Transforming infant and early childhood mental health: A landscape analysis and strategic plan for King County (King County Best Starts for Kids, 2021)