IECA Shares Stage with Leaders of 9 National Organizations

January 25, 2011 | no comments

by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

from the NATSAP Conference in Tucson, Arizona

The final morning of the NATSAP conference featured a panel of leaders from a number of national organizations working in the area of adolescent behavioral health. While I would have preferred a format that permitted more time for discussion and questions (more than two hours of the session was taken up by a series of introductory remarks, leaving about 10 minutes for interaction), it marked a good opportunity for the associations to share their concern for children and explore common ground.

The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems represents major players in mental health care—both for children and adults. Their CEO reminded attendees that mental health parity was passed in 2008 with regulations now written; the law went into effect on January 1. This will require equal treatment of mental illness by insurers, indicating they may become a more significant player in the care of adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems. He urged greater outreach to the mega-players: pharmaceutical, health systems, hospitals, and insurance companies.

The American Association of Children’s Residential Centers serves as the voice of residential treatment centers with several of their leaders speaking about a transformation ahead for such programs as they seek to balance new research, care, rights of patients, and more. Likewise, the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camping described their role in that segment of the field with an emphasis on their counselor certification program.

Certification and state licensure were often discussed, and a leader of the National Association of Regulatory Administration spoke of their role and noted the widely varying processes in each state.

The Child Welfare League of America talked about their diverse membership and commitment to adolescent care, while the NATSAP representative shared their commitment to evidence-based practices and ongoing research.

CAFETY, the Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth, had three attendees, including the current Board president who spoke at IECA’s Charlotte Conference in 2009. CAFETY, whose members describe themselves as program “survivors,” stress humane practices that do not harm those in programs and urged other associations to enforce their ethics codes by purging from their membership rolls those who do not adhere to published standards.

IECA was represented by Rosemary Tippett, IECA’S outreach coordinator, and myself. We spoke about IECA members‘ role in ensuring the right student enrolls in the right program with the right staff. We spoke of our commitment to education and training, both through conferences and regional events as well as through Web-based learning. We endorsed the current efforts to conduct independent research and reiterated our commitment to ethical practices.

Many hope this was a first step…that we will find ways to join together and look for common ground and best practices, especially as it appears unlikely that Congress will move forward on federal legislation in the new term.