Maine Pediatric & Behavioral Health Partnership is a partnership between The Department of Health and Human Services, Northern Light Acadia Hospital and MaineHealth, where our teams work together to support pediatric care providers in enhancing children’s behavioral health throughout Maine, especially in rural and medically underserved areas.
The Mission of the Maine Pediatric & Behavioral Health Partnership is to educate, support and empower pediatric care providers through training and ongoing web-based and telephonic patient care consultations with behavioral health providers.
Program goals
- Increase timely detection, assessment, treatment, and referral of children and adolescents with behavioral health disorders in pediatric care settings
- Improve access for providers to behavioral health expertise for children and adolescents, especially in rural and underserved areas
- Increase knowledge of pediatric behavioral health through continuing education/ training and resources for healthcare providers
- Increase access to resources for patients, families and communities
- Sustain strategies and interventions that are effective in improving practice
Each network includes a multidisciplinary team that will offer support to pediatric care providers through consultation and education. Maine Pediatric & Behavioral Health Partnership improves the pediatric team’s competencies and comfort with:
- screening, identification, and assessment
- treating mild to moderate cases of behavioral health disorders according to current evidence-based practices; and
- making effective referrals and coordinating care for patients who need community-based specialty behavioral health services.
Maine Pediatric & Behavioral Health Partnership is not meant to replace necessary emergency services and if a patient is in crisis, they should be advised to call the Crisis Hotline 1-888-568-1112 (Voice) or 711 (Maine Relay) or go to the nearest emergency department.