Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Behavioral Health Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DCF commissioner outlines $300 million in behavioral‑health supports and workforce challenges
Summary
Commissioner Jody Hill Lilly told an OEC webinar that DCF oversees extensive behavioral‑health services for children, has reorganized to better integrate physical and behavioral health, is standing up child urgent‑crisis centers, and warned of workforce shortages despite significant program funding.
In closing remarks at the Office of Early Childhood webinar, Commissioner Jody Hill Lilly of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families summarized statewide behavioral‑health efforts for children and families and highlighted workforce and access challenges.
Hill Lilly said DCF is statutorily responsible for children’s behavioral health and described over $300,000,000 in supports administered by the agency. She said DCF has added capacity and reorganized staff — for example, placing a resident pediatrician over behavioral‑health initiatives — to improve integration between physical and behavioral health.
Commissioner Hill Lilly described newly established urgent crisis centers for children designed to provide a family‑like alternative to emergency‑room care. She also described cross‑sector planning efforts, including the Behavioral Health Plan Implementation Advisory Board and a legislative Transforming Children’s Behavioral Health policy and planning committee, as mechanisms to coordinate school‑based services and broader system change.
Hill Lilly underscored data points she cited from public health speakers and experts: a rise in the share of youth reporting they feel sad or helpless (she cited an increase from 25 percent to 36 percent between 2005 and 2023) and continuing gaps in service access. She warned of workforce strain in home‑based and clinical services and asked attendees to consider new approaches to recruitment, retention and workplace supports. “We have ourselves a crisis,” Hill Lilly said, adding that workforce supports and earlier intervention are priorities for the agency.
Hill Lilly closed by urging normalizing conversations about mental health, promoting ‘rest as resistance,’ and encouraging attendees to use available resources and partnerships to support children and families across Connecticut.
