National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health

The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health is an American family-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization linking more than 120 chapters and state organizations focused on the issues of children and youth with emotional, behavioral, and/or mental health needs and their families. It was conceived in Arlington, Virginia in February, 1989 by a group of 18 people determined to make a difference in the way the mental health care system works. The organization works to develop and implement policies, legislation, funding mechanisms, and service systems that utilize the strengths of families. Its emphasis on advocacy offers families a voice in the formation of national policy, services and supports for children with mental health needs and their families.^[1]

The National Federation's headquarter is currently located in Rockville, Maryland. It employs about 10 full and part-time staff, providing managerial and administrative support to its membership base, as well as technical assistance to federally funded "system of care" communities, as a part of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families (CMHI) initiative, managed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Formation

The National Federation of Families started in 1989 when 18 individuals, consisting primarily of parents and family members, convened in Arlington, Virginia to start a family-run organization, dedicated to making sure family voice was heard throughout all the systems geared toward children. They decided to call themselves the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health to emphasize the strong presence of families banding together to support each other and provide advocacy for their children.

Prior to this formation, what would become to be known as family-driven care was little to non-existent in the world of mental health and the explicit needs of children with emotional, behavioral and/or mental health challenges and their families were not being adequately met. There was a stigma that bad parenting led to a child's mental health challenges and this often made the parents of children feel ashamed and embarrassed, despite having done nothing wrong.

Seeing a need for change, the newly formed Federation of Families set out to improve the systems that supported their children. A mission and vision was set which has guided the National Federation for over twenty years and still guides the day-to-day work of the organization.

Mission Statement

The National Federation, a national family-run organization serves to:

• Provide advocacy at the national level for the rights of children and youth with emotional, behavioral and/or mental health challenges and their families
• Provide leadership and technical assistance to a nationwide network of family run organizations.
• Collaborate with family run and other child serving organizations to transform mental health care in America.

Vision Statement

Through a family and youth-driven approach, children and youth emotional, behavioral, and/or mental health challenges and their families obtain needed supports and services so that children grow up healthy and able to maximize their potential.

Membership

The National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health provides support and guidance to more than 120 chapters and state organizations, covering every state and territory except for Delaware (which does not have an active organization). This membership base provides the ground work at the local level, often advocating on behalf of children, youth and families in local towns and counties, bringing larger issues that they cannot tackle themselves to the National Federation which then advocates for on their behalf.

State Organizations

The National Federation currently has at least one state organization in about 40 states. In contrast to local chapters, state organizations often are the foremost family-run organization, providing support to the local chapters through individualized TA, training, and support that the National Federation would otherwise not be able to provide due to regional differences. Many state organizations, such as Georgia, have upward to dozens of individual local chapters that report directly back to the state organization. In addition, numerous youth-led organizations that do similar work are often housed under the state organization.

Local Chapters

Local chapters provide direct line services to an individual town, county, tribe, or designated area. In contrast to the state organization, these local chapters often have a specific demographic they are reaching out to. They still provide, on occasion, individuated TA, training, and support in absence of a state organization.

Partner Organizations

Partner organizations are organizations who believe in the mission of the National Federation but may not have an organization that provides either TA, training, or direct line services. Instead, they are allowed to sign up to become a partner organization and receive many of the same benefits that local chapters and state organizations have.

Individual Membership

The National Federation currently has over 2500 individual members signed up to promote and further the mission of the National Federation. Individuals who may not be associated with a local chapter and/or a state or partner organization may sign up for individual membership which provides them with a different set of benefits.

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week

The official logo for the 2013 National Children's Mental Health Campaign.

For more details about National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, see National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week

Green Ribbon Campaign

Each year, beginning in January and running into the first full week of May (National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week), the National Federation runs their Green Ribbon Campaign. Started in mid-2005, this fundraising initiative aims to raise awareness of children's mental health issues and educate the general public on the needs of children with emotional, behavioral, or mental health needs and their families. Green ribbons, symbolizing the cause, as well as green lapel pins are sold and distributed to its membership base with the message for these individuals to wear them during National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week to help spread the cause wide and far. The Green Ribbon Campaign has proven to be very successful with 75,000 ribbons being distributed in 2012. For 2013, green ribbons and lapels pins are being sold and distributed through their National Children's Mental Health Awareness Portal.

Legislative Briefing

For the past few years, the National Federation of Families has held a legislative briefing, done in partnership with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health America. These briefings, usually held on National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day (a separate day, held by SAMHSA that falls during National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week), aim to educate and make aware to legislators the issues facing children with emotional, behavioral, or mental health needs and their families so that change can be made at the national level to help support these individuals. The legislative briefing is held in downtown Washington D.C., usually in the United States House of Representatives or United States Senate buildings.

Annual Conference

Wes Moore, keynote speaker at the 21st Annual National Federation Conference.

The National Federation holds an annual conference each year. These conferences, usually held over a three-day period (and more recently, four or five) occur each fall (usually November). They serve as a meeting point for families, providers, youth, and the general public to attend different workshops geared toward educating individuals about family driven care, youth guided care and various other topics of interest. They are often anchored with a relevant keynote speaker that officially opens up the main conference events. Past speakers have included Holly Robinson, Wes Moore, Jimmy Wayne, and Elizabeth Smart.

The main conference is usually accompanied by two other days that make up the whole conference agenda. This includes one day dedicated to policy, collectively known as Policy Day and, in the last couple of years, Parent Support Provider Day, a day dedicated to parent and peer support (see Certified Parent Support Providers below).

National Federation conferences are known to be less technical and formal than other conferences, focusing in on celebrating children, youth, and their families' strengths. Luncheons are often accompanied by local talent to help bring a positive spirit and message to the overall conference event and get people actively engaged for the duration of it.

Certification Commission for Family Support

The Certification Commission for Family Support is the independent national certifying body of the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health. It was conceived and developed from a workgroup started in the late 2000s. It has since grown to become a major factor in getting peer specialists in each state certified as Parent Support Providers, a designation that allows individuals to practice providing support and services for children, youth, and families. The Certification Commission aims to certify this growing profession so that individuals practicing this career can gain equal, fair, and reputable status.

Certified Parent Support Providers

Certified Parent Support Provider is the official name for the certified individuals who practice peer support for families, youth, and children in the various states. This is a professional certification developed by the Certification Commission for Family Support under the direction of Frances Purdy in accordance with ISO17024 guidelines. The core competencies were completed in December 2010, job task analysis in June 2011, and first national exam in April 2012. More information can be found on the Certification Commission website about CPSPs.

Technical Assistance

The National Federation, in conjunction with other organizations, currently take part in providing technical assistance to various funded system of care communities through topics such as sustainbility planning, family-driven care, cultural and linguistic competency and social marketing..

Technical Assistance Partnership

The Technical Assistance Partnership is a collaboration between the National Federation of Families and the American Institutes for Research. It aims to provide technical assistance to federally funded system of care communities. Technical Assistance Coordinators, as they are called, provide these communities with information on sustaining their system of care through things such as sustainability planning, partnership building, etc. About half of the Technical Assistance Coordinators come from the National Federation, providing oversight on general technical assistance needs, as well as more fine tuned topics such as family-driven care (i.e. involving families in the planning of the system of care).^[2]

Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Campaign

In addition to the Technical Assistance Partnership, the National Federation also has a collaboration between Vanguard Communications, the National Association of State and Mental Health Project Directors, providing social marketing technical assistance to the aforementioned federally funded system of care communities. National Federation individuals on this team provide oversight on general social marketing needs, while also providing more fine tuned topics such as family-driven and youth-guided care.

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