Council on Children's Mental Health

Legislation passed in 2008 established the Council on Children’s Mental Health to design a plan for a statewide system of mental health care for children. The Council is a community of statewide stakeholders in children's mental health care that includes children, youth and families.  The Council was created to develop a plan for a statewide system of care where children’s mental health services are child-centered, family-driven, culturally and linguistically competent, and provides a coordinated system of care for children’s mental health needs in the state. Other Council duties include stimulating more effective use of resources, assisting in developing interagency agreements, determining whether programs are evidence-based, research-based and theory-based and submitting those findings.

The Council is co-chaired by the commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the executive director of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.

The statewide plan for a system of care created by the Council on Children’s Mental Health (CCMH) must:

• Provide a service delivery system that focuses on the principles of care for a system of care and enumerates those principles;
• Include a core set of services and supports that appropriately and effectively address the mental health needs of children and families;
• Develop a financial resource map and cost analysis of all federal and state funded programs for children’s mental health to guide and support the plan.

CCMH has produced reports about the state of children’s mental health in Tennessee.