Boosting mental health care for teens in CT

By Katy Golvala The Connecticut Mirror

A $1.2 million federal grant will improve access to behavioral health services for teens in the northwest corner of Connecticut, addressing one of the area’s most critical health care needs.

Funds will primarily go towards creating a network of care that will increase capacity of existing providers, as well as bring in new providers to help support excess demand.

“We’re at full capacity in terms of serving the adolescents that we already are,” said Leonardo Ghio, project director at the Northwest Hills Council of Governments, or NHCOG, the regional planning body that coordinates services across 21 towns in the northwest corner. The organization is spearheading the four-year initiative through the establishment of the Northwest Hills Community Health Network of Connecticut.

Ghio said he hopes more providers means that teens will be able to access care proactively, instead of only in response to a crisis.

NHCOG won the grant through the Rural Health Network Development grant program administered by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. They will collaborate with local providers, including the McCall Behavioral Health Network, Community Health and Wellness Center of Greater Torrington and Greenwoods Counseling &

Referrals. The latter two provide school-based mental health services. The federal government administered only 44 grants through the program. “It was very competitive,” said Ghio. “The federal government’s really putting a big spotlight on mental health and adolescent behavioral health, so I think it was helpful that we aligned with their strategic plans.”