The Child and Youth Psychiatric Consult Project of Iowa (CYC-I)Child Health Specialty Clinics, University of Iowa

Debra Waldron, MD, MPH, FAAP; Director and Chief Medical OfficerVickie Miene, MA, LMHC; Director of Operations

When planning for the dissemination of Iowa’s System of Care, two main challenges were identified.

A lack of both general and child psychiatrists in Iowa meant that primary care providers were often left to treat children with emotional or behavioral problems. Many of these children were then referred to distant or out-of-state facilities.

It was often difficult for the child to return to his or her medical home after receiving more intense treatment outside of the family’s home community.

The Child and Youth Psychiatric Consult Project of Iowa (CYC-I) was developed to address these challenges and support Primary Care Providers in their treatment of children and youth with mental and behavioral health needs.

The vision of the CYC-I project is to assure that children and youth with mental health needs receive timely, quality care within their medical home.

The mission of this program is to enhance the existing System of Care in Iowa for children by increasing the capacity among Primary Care Providers (PCPs) to treat children and youth with mild to moderate emotional and/or behavioral challenges within their medical home, providing continuity and local access to specialty care.

The CYC-I program offers four services to PCPs that target children and youth, 0-21 years old, with mild to moderate mental and behavioral health needs.

Services include:

Psychiatric Consult with a University of Iowa Child Psychiatrist

Mental and Behavioral Health Focused Training

Internet-Based Resources

Care Coordination

INTRODUCTION COMPONENTS OF CYC-I

CYC-I is a collaboration among Child Health Specialty Clinics, University of Iowa Child Psychiatry, and Community Circle of Care. For more information visit http://www.cyc-i.org.

Psychiatric Consult

Focused Training

Internet Resources

Care Coordination

CYC-I offers training opportunities for participating PCPs developed to meet specific needs and presented by the University of Iowa Child Psychiatrist. Educational presentations are

held monthly via web-conferencing.

All sessions are recorded and archived on the CYC-I website allowing physicians access at any time.

Topics of recent presentations have included assessing suicide risk, diagnosing ODD, and treating developmental disabilities.

PCPs can request care coordination services for families of children with mental and behavioral health needs.

These services may include information about appropriate resources, counseling, peer support, and educational materials.

Nurses, social workers, and family navigators are available to help families meet a variety of needs including parenting skills, managing stress, and offering peer support.

PCPs can speak directly to a University of Iowa Child Psychiatrist to consult about a plan of care for a child or youth with mental or behavioral health needs.

Consultations allow PCPs to continue to treat children and youth with emotional or behavioral problems, keeping them in their medical home and avoiding out-of-home placements.

These collaborations also help PCPs build their mental health capacities on a case by case basis.

PCPs have full access to resources on the CYC-I website including research articles, practice parameters, and screening tools for early identification.

The CYC-I website includes archived presentations and webinars, interactive diagnostic modules, and a database of clinical references and publications.

Also available are links to handouts for PCPs to share with families from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the National Institute of Mental Health.