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National Evaluation of the Children’s Mental Health Initiative (CMHI)

The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the federal agency within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), US Department of Health and Human Services, provides grants for the improvement and expansion of systems of care to meet the needs of the estimated 4.5-6.3 million children nationwide with serious emotional disturbances and their families. States, communities, Territories, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations are eligible for the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program, which was first authorized in 1993.

Soon after SOC communities receive CMHI funding, they are asked to map out their desired system change, plan how to accomplish that change, and generate shared responsibility for the results. The USF Logic Model Team provides assistance to community teams as they accomplish these tasks. The USF Logic Model Team has provided the following resources for theory of change and logic model development and use: 

Goals:

Generate new knowledge on the impact of theory-driven evaluation on development and sustainability of effective systems of care. Help initiatives, communities, and states articulate active ingredients of their policies and service intentions.

Long-term Impact:

Policies and service intentions for child mental health service delivery will be implemented and sustained with fidelity to their original intentions.

Recent Accomplishments:

• Published interactive online newsletter focused on strategies for theory-driven evaluation.
• Conducted national trainings on theory-driven evaluation to improve community use data.
• Facilitated successful communities in peer-to-peer support – specifically systems that use a Theory of Change approach to drive system change.
• Maintained an active Logic Model Website, which includes interactive theory of change logic model training and narration. http://logicmodel.fmhi.usf.edu/
• Collaborated on integrating Theories of Change and Continuous Quality Improvement.