Blue Ribbon Policy Council for Early
Childhood Mental Health

Healthy Minds, Strong Futures Policy Toolkit

Toolkit Sections:

BRPC Toolkit Home

Colorado Opportunities

• House Bill 1451
• Mental Health Special Tax Districts
  

Key Messages

• Invest in young children's social and
  environmental development
• Mental health is fundamental to the overal
  l health and well-being of young children

Resources

• Data and Information
  • Quick facts
    • National data
    • Colorado data
  • Links to other websites
  • References
• Strategies
  • Educate and inform policy makers
    • Meeting with your public officials
    • Testimony
    • Legislative briefing
    • Effective strategies for
      legislative advocacy
  • Getting the word out through the media
    • Public service announcements
    • Letters to the editor
    • OpEd
    • Drop-in article
    • Media alerts and news releases
    • Press conferences
    • T.V. and radio interviews
  • Community awareness: activities and materials
    • Billboards
    • Shopping Carts
    • Community Events and Activities
      

Other Tips

• In the community
• In the classroom
• At colleges and universities
• In faith communities
• Creating and presenting organized and
  compelling speeches
• Creating powerful data presentations
• Overcoming stage fright

About the Blue Ribbon Policy Council

• Members

References

• 2005 Colorado Child Health Survey, Health Statistics Section, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
• Aos, S., Phipps, P., Barnoski, R., and Lieb, R. (2001). The Comparitive costs and benefits of programs to reduce crime. Seattle: Washington State Institute for Public Policy.
• Blackorby, J., Cohorst, M., Garza, N. & Guzman, A. (2003). The academic performance of secondary school students with disabilities. In The Achievements of Youth with Disabilities During Secondary School. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
• Burns, B., Phillips, S., Wagner, H., Barth, R., Kolko, D., Campbell, Y. & Yandsverk, J. (2004). Mental health need and access to mental health services by youths involved with child welfare: A national survey. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(8), pp. 960-970.
• Colorado's School Readiness Indicators. (2004). Denver: Colorado Deaprtment of Public Health and Environment.
• Gilliam, W.S. (2005). Prekindergartens left behind: Expulsion rates in state prekindergarten programs (FCD Policy Brief Series 3). New York, NY: Foundation for Child Development.
• Gould, M. (2000). Mental health early intervention program for young children: Cost of failure study. Denver: Center for Human Investment Policy, Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado at Denver.
• Gould, M. (2002).
• Hoover, S. (2006). Children with Challenging Behavior: A Survey of Licensed Early Care and Education Settings in Colorado: Report to the Colorado Division of Child Care
• Hurlburt, M.S., Leslie, L.K., Landsverk, J., Barth, R., Burns, B., Gibbons, R.D., Slymen, D.J., & Zhang, J. (2004). Contextual predictors of mental health service use among children open to child welfare. Archives of General Psychiatry, 61(12), pp. 1217-1224.
• Johnson, K. and Knitzer, J. (2005). Spending Smarter: A funding guide for policymakers and advocates to promote social and emotional health and school readiness. New York: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health.
• Kataoka, S., Zhang, L. & Wells, K. (2002). Unmet need for mental health care among U.S. children: Variation by ethnicity and insurance status. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(9), pp. 1548-1555.
• Kessler, R.C., Beglund, Pl, Demler, O., Jin, R. & Walters, E.E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and the age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), pp. 593-602.
• Legislative Advocacy Workbook. (2003). Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Partnership for Children.
• New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. (2003). Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America. Final report (DHHS Pub. No. SMA-03-3832). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
• Pecora, P.J., Williams, J., Kessler, R., Downs, C., O'Brien, K., Hiripi, E. & Morello, S. (2003). Assessing the effects of foster care: Early results from the Casey National Alumni Study. Seattle, WA: Casey Family Programs.
• Reid, M.J., Webster-Stratton, C, & Baydar, N. (2004). Halting the development of consuct problems in Head Start children: The effects of parenting training. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33(2), 279-291.
• Ringel, J.S., & Sturm, R. (2001). National estimates of mental health utilization for children in 1998. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 28(3), pp. 319-333.
• Rosman, E., Perry, D., and Hepburn, K. (2005). The best beginning: Partnerships between primary health care and mental health and substance abuse services for young children and their families. Washington DC: Georgetown University, National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health.
• Shonkoff, J.P., and Phillips, D.A. (Ed.). (2000). From Neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
• Smithgall, C., Gladden, R.M., Yang, D.H. & George, R. (2005). Behavioral problems and educational disruptions among children in out-of-home care in Chicago (Chapin Hall Working Paper). Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.
• U.S. Surgeon's General Report on Mental Health (get full cite).
• U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform, Minority Staff Special Investigations Division (2004). Incarceration of youth who are waiting for community mental health services in the United States (Report prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman and Sen. Susan Collins). Washington, DC: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform; Pottick, K. Warner, L.A. & Yoder, K.A. (2005). Youths living away from families in the US mental health system: Opportunities for targeted intervention. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 32(2), pp. 264-281; and Almgren, G. & Marcenko, M.O. (2001). Emergency room use among foster care sample: The influence of placement history, chronic illness, psychiatric diagnosis, and care factors. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 1(1), pp. 55-64.
• Wagner, M. (2005). Youth with disabilities leaving secondary school. In Changes Over Time in the Early Post School Outcomes of Youth with Disabilities: A Report of Findings from the national Longitudinal Transition Study (NTLS) and the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NTLS2) (pp. 2.1-2.6). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.