|
Massachusetts
DMH Commissioner Childs to
leave post
(July
2007 Issue)
By Phyllis Hanlon
In a statement to New England Psychologist, Elizabeth Childs,
M.D., Department of Mental Health (DMH) commissioner, reports that
on June 4, she gave her resignation to Secretary of Health and Human
Service Judy Ann Bigby.
On April 18, 2003, then-Gov. Mitt Romney appointed Childs to the
Commissioner post. Previously, she served as director and chief
of psychiatry at Caritas Carney Hospital. The first psychiatrist
to hold the commissioner position since the early 1980s, Childs
assumed the role at a fiscally unstable time in the department's
history. In spite of significant challenges, she created several
initiatives and expanded programs and services during her four-year
tenure.
As co-chair of the Facility Feasibility Commission, Childs helped
craft the Inpatient Study Report for the General Court of March
2004, resulting in a bond bill for a new state psychiatric hospital.
Her concern for the younger generation in the Commonwealth led
to positive change. "During my tenure, the department expanded Transitional
Age Youth services, which has brought a renewed and stronger voice
to the DMH child and adolescent service system," says Childs.
Under her direction, the DMH shifted its culture of care with the
Restraint/Seclusion Reduction Initiative and the Recovery Learning
Communities program. The DMH also expanded Projects for Assistance
in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) grants from the Center for
Mental Health Services. The department's approach to ending homelessness
has been singled out "as an exemplary and promising practice" by
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Childs's other accomplishments include a Quality Improvement Initiative
that involves the Community Health Center/Community Mental Health
Center quality pilot project, a groundbreaking model of coordination
among mental health, public health and primary care services. She
also successfully implemented the Massachusetts Child Psychiatric
Access Program, the Readmission Learning Collaborative and smoking
cessation and wellness programs.
Focused on utilization management, the DMH decreased inpatient
census and secured funding for capital upgrades across all DMH facilities.
"I engaged the department and its stakeholders in a broad-based
strategic planning process to create an integrated mental health
system that aligns services with MassHealth Behavioral Health programs
that increases access, decreases fragmentation, improves quality
and creates a model of care that is evidence-based, consumer and
family driven and recovery-oriented," says Childs.
Andrea Watson, executive director of Parents for Residential Reform
at the Federation for Children with Special Needs (FCSN), worked
on the Suicide Task Force with Childs. She applauds Childs's dedication
to the department and to the public she served. "Her commitment
and work behind the scenes at the Department of Social Services
and the Department of Youth Services is amazing. She was not afraid
to share resources and participate with other departments."
Childs was recently named to the National Advisory Mental Health
Council of the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH). She
will serve in that capacity until September 2010.
Juan Martinez, communications director for the Executive Office
of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) says, "Childs stepped down
to pursue additional graduate studies at Harvard's John F. Kennedy
School of Government and to expand her private practice," he says.
"No replacement has been named yet. She will remain in her role
until July 31."
|
