Overview
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an unprecedented nationwide surge in demand for behavioral health services, with increasing rates of mental health and substance use disorders among adult and pediatric populations in New Jersey and nationwide.
Through grant support from the NJ Department of Human Services, Atlantic Health System (AHS) - Overlook Medical Center has expanded Pediatric Behavioral Health Services and will be offering ongoing learning opportunities to pediatric providers to enhance knowledge and comfort in diagnosing, treating, and referring children and adolescents with anxiety, depression, and ADHD. This will be achieved through targeted education, sharing of structured screening tools, and by streamlining referral pathways from primary care to behavioral health providers.
By increasing training and strengthening outreach networks, these initiatives will enable you to:
• Improve access to care by identifying patients in need and referring them to the right site of care
• Eliminate the need for time consuming searches for referral resources by primary care providers and parents; and, Be aware of behavioral health referral pathways to reduce your time consuming searches
• Significantly reduce the number of children and adolescents with behavioral health needs being seen in emergency departments or urgent care facilities.
Providers do not need to be part of AHS 's existing provider networks in order to participate in professional development training.
Continuing Medical Education (CME) will be offered.