What is the Technical Assistance Partnership?

The Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health (TA Partnership) operates under contract with the federal Center for Mental Health Services to provide technical assistance to system of care communities funded by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program. The TA Partnership is a collaboration between two mission-driven organizations:

• The American Institutes for Research - committed to improvement in the lives of families and communities through the translation of research into best practice and policy, and
• The Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health – dedicated to effective family leadership and advocacy to improve the quality of life of children with mental health needs and their families.

Through this partnership, we model the family-professional relationship that is an essential value in our work. Families must share a leadership role in planning, implementing, and evaluating systems of care in their community. We provide a staff of family members and professionals with extensive practice experience, grounded in an organization with vast research experience.

Download the Technical Assistance Partnership's Brochure (PDF)

Background

Since its authorization in 1993, the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program has provided funding to over 67 systems of care (SOC) communities around the country. These grantees, varying from single neighborhoods to entire states, are each charged with developing a broad array of community-based, culturally competent, family-driven, and strength based services to improve outcomes for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families. They do this by working toward the integration of child- and family-serving public and private agencies into a local comprehensive system of care. The development of these systems of care was authorized by Congress in Title V, Part E section 565 (b) (2) of the Public Health Services Act.

Mission

The mission of the TA Partnership is to support communities in their efforts to successfully develop and implement local systems of care. We assist with developing a broad array of community-based, strength-based services to improve outcomes for children with serious emotional disturbance. We do this through our Resource Specialists, Regional Technical Assistance Coordinators, Consultant Pool, Team Learning Centers, Meetings, Webinars, and Web site. TA is provided mainly through contact at meetings, telephone calls, and e-mail.

Technical Assistance Approach

The Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health helps communities transform the way services are delivered to children and families. It supports the core values and guiding principles of the system of care philosophy. These values and principles emphasize family- and youth-driven services, cultural competence, effective and evidence-based interventions, and sustainability within a coordinated community-based service system.

The Technical Assistance Partnership:

• Provides technical assistance that incorporates system of care principles and values
• Implements technical assistance strategies that promote family-professional partnerships
• Promotes the identification and use of effective evidence-based clinical interventions
• Facilitates collaboration within and among system of care communities, federal agencies, and federal technical assistance partners
• Collaborates with other technical assistance centers and professional organizations
• Is committed to continuous quality improvement in the provision of all aspects of technical assistance

Activities to Support the Grant Community

Resource Specialists

Our Resource Specialists have extensive system of care and practice experience. They are national experts in mental health, juvenile justice, education, family, child welfare, substance abuse/mental disorders, primary health care, youth development and cultural competence. They work together as a team to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and provide technical assistance in their areas of expertise. This team is enriched by the extensive experience and expertise of the TA Partnership's Director, Deputy Director, and Principal Investigators.

Regional Technical Assistance Coordinators

The five Regional Technical Assistance Coordinators (RTACs) are family members and professionals charged with assisting communities to design, develop, and implement effective systems of care. The RTACs serve as the primary link between funded communities and the TA Partnership staff, the Center for Mental Health Services, consultants, and the national program partners, to promote a shared sense of vision and purpose across communities and a coordinated program of technical assistance.

Consultant Pool

The Consultant Pool enables communities to select experts whose knowledge and skill areas will best serve their needs from a searchable database on our Web site.

Team Learning Centers

Team Learning Centers are graduated, mature, or other communities that have successfully established and sustained a system of care. The Learning Centers will be matched with young communities to provide peer-to-peer technical assistance.

Meetings

The TA Partnership coordinates one national system of care community meeting each year, as well as a series of regional meetings to focus on specific community needs. In addition, the TA Partnership organizes and conducts special topic meetings.

Webinars

Webinars are live Web-based learning opportunities that incorporate the use of the telephone (for the audio portion) and the Internet (for viewing the PowerPoint presentation on-line). Webinars promote peer-to-peer exchange and knowledge sharing among system of care communities. Community members are given a forum to discuss strategies for overcoming common barriers to system of care development. The TA Partnership provides a master calendar of Web-enabled conference calls on topics of interest. Any system of care community member can choose to participate in any learning opportunity. Information about these is available on the TA Partnership Web site.

Web site

The TA Partnership's Web site www.tapartnership.org is a dynamic resource hosting Web pages for Resource Specialists, a searchable Consultant Pool, a monthly newsletter with up-to-date information relevant to developing systems of care, a calendar of events, electronic registration pages for our learning opportunities and the biannual system of care community meetings, and links to many other resources and tools. It also provides contact information for all staff members, consultants, and other system of care communities.