PRESENTATION
Addressing the Children's Mental Health Crisis: The Role of Urgent Crisis Centers Across the State of Connecticut
Thursday, December 5 | 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
In 2022, the State of Connecticut issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to establish four Urgent Crisis Centers (UCCs) in response to the growing mental health crisis affecting children and adolescents. Child and Family Agency of Southeastern CT was one of the three community-based, non-profit behavioral health providers selected along with Yale New Haven Hospital. Through a coordinated statewide effort with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the community providers, a new approach to supporting children and families in crisis emerged. Since the first center opened in June 2023, approximately 94% of the over 1,200 children and youth served have been diverted from emergency rooms. They are stabilized with a safety plan and receive a warm hand-off to the appropriate level of care. The early success of this program is largely attributed to the commitment of statewide partners collaborating and supporting one another to achieve success in this vital initiative. Participants in this program will learn about the innovative methods used in approaching children and families in crisis through the UCCs. This includes the process of developing each UCC to be responsive to its region while maintaining uniformity, marketing strategies to establish strategic alliances and engage stakeholders, and next steps in its evolution to transform children's mental health.
About the Presenters
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Erin Saylor, LCSW
Erin Saylor received her MSW from the University of Connecticut (2005) and Bachelors of Science in Human Services with a minor in Psychology from Old Dominion University (2001). Saylor has worked as a Mental Health Therapist for over 20 years and obtained her LCSW in 2007. She has worked in leadership roles at CFA for more than 18 years including progressive advancement from supervisor of the Evidence-Based Practice, Functional Family Therapy program to coordinating multiple programs to her current role as Chief Operating Officer. Ms. Saylor is passionate about improving the lives of others through innovative and collaborative practices in the community at large. In addition, Ms. Saylor loves being a mom to her daughter, son, 4 dachshunds, and 2 cats. In her free time, she coaches her kids’ town soccer teams, hikes, and enjoys anything that’s outside with her family that includes lots of laughter.
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Amy Samela, LPC
Amy Samela earned her undergraduate degree from Providence College and then went on to graduate from New York University in 2001 with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Counseling. Amy began her clinical career as a clinician working with the most vulnerable children in California and then never stopped.
Amy’s career continued working with children and families, both as a clinician and as an administrator, in various settings that include residential, therapeutic foster care, psychiatric residential treatment, and out-patient. Additionally, prior to joining The Village, Amy was the Director of Operations at the Albert J. Solnit psychiatric hospital for adolescents in Ct, where she oversaw the clinical and program operations of the 54 bed inpatient hospital.
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Kristin Pracitto, LCSW
Kristin Pracitto, LCSW is Vice President for Child Services at Wellmore, Inc, a community-based, life span agency that supports children’s mental health and adult recovery work in Waterbury CT and the surrounding towns in Western CT. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Dickinson College and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Most of her clinical and administrative work has been within Connecticut, focusing on communities around New Haven and Waterbury.
Since coming to Wellmore in 2016, Kristin had been director for community support programs for four years before transitioning into the Vice President role over all child programming at Wellmore as the Covid pandemic hit. She has great pride in the work of her programs as they returned to creative, face to face clinical care to families by early summer of 2020, recognizing how impacted families were. Kristin has been lead for the implementation team for the Urgent Crisis Center at Wellmore, which now functions 24/7/365 to support youth in crisis in Western CT.
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