Jeff Vanderploeg interviewed for CT Insider piece on funding needs of Connecticut's youth mental health crisis system

Connecticut has one of the best youth crisis systems in the country. In recent years, mobile crisis expansion, new urgent crisis centers, and investment in quality improvement has made our youth crisis system a model for other states.

But as a June 16th CT Insider article explained, Connecticut is now at risk of going backwards due to a lack of long-term, sustainable funding. Federal pandemic-era ARPA funds will expire soon, and so far the state budget does not appear to have enough funding to replace them.

CHDI President and CEO Jeff Vanderploeg, PhD, was quoted in the piece on the potential impact on the state's youth Mobile Crisis Intervention Service, which was expanded in 2023 from sixteen hours a day to 24/7/365 coverage with ARPA funding.

If the final state budget does not include enough funding to maintain the expanded hours, Jeff explained, "the mobile crisis system might be looking at reverting back to pre-ARPA grant funding levels, which will be enough to operate the core of the system, but not enough to maintain recent expansions of 24/7 access." 

State legislators must find ways to sustain these critical services - including investing in the workforce needed to fully staff them. We hope to see legislators address funding needs in a special session later this year.

Read CT Insider Article

Learn More

Jeff and fellow leaders from Wellmore Behavioral Health, The Village for Families & Children, and the United Way of Connecticut recently co-authored a Policy Brief to help Connecticut legislators better understand the state's youth crisis management system and identify sustainable funding solutions. Read their recommendations here:

Read Policy Brief

See additional coverage of Connecticut's funding challenges for youth behavioral health services in the Hartford Courant.

Read a December 2024 CT Insider article, also quoting Jeff and several CHDI partners, on funding for the state's youth crisis system.