In November 2010, the Endowment for Health and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation joined forces to launch the Children's Behavioral Health Collaborative. The group examined both the strengths and the challenges of addressing behavioral health needs for New Hampshire's children and youth. Its work drew on assessments of state needs and services, insights from national experts, and lessons from other states. Over many months, the Collaborative shaped the Children’s Behavioral Health Plan with input from hundreds of stakeholders. It pursued—and won—substantial investments to support sustainable best practices, workforce development, service delivery, advocacy, and policy.
The Children’s Behavioral Health Collaborative expanded to hundreds of members. It brought together more than fifty organizational members along with many individual members, including youth, family members, and providers. Every member shares a commitment to improving care for New Hampshire children with behavioral health needs. Many members played a key role in implementing the Children’s Behavioral Health Plan, which the Collaborative launched in March 2013.
The Collaborative adopted a national framework that serves as a model for tackling complex social problems spanning sectors, professional groups, and funding silos. Known as Collective Impact, this model calls for a coalition with a shared vision, ongoing communication, joint activities, and a host organization to act as the glue. In 2013, the Collaborative selected New Futures, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health and wellness of all Granite Staters, as its host.
The member organizations of our original Steering Committee were:
Endowment for Health
Children’s Alliance of New Hampshire
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
New Hampshire Department of Education
The National Alliance on Mental Illness New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
Granite State Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
These organizations continue to lead the transformation of the system of care. In recent years, the Collaborative has grown and evolved in its membership while successfully advancing comprehensive state-level policy change. Given these system-wide improvements, the CBHC Steering Committee members redesigned the Collaborative's operating structure to be more effective and aligned with System of Care values. The System of Care Advisory Council has replaced the CBHC Steering Committee to provide leadership and coordination across the System of Care.