The New Jersey Pediatric Psychiatry Collaborative (NJPPC)
Transforming New Jersey’s access to children’s mental health care by empowering pediatric care providers since 2015
Since 2015, the NJPPC has provided free consultative support to pediatric primary care providers for addressing children with mental health and substance abuse issues statewide. The NJPPC’s Regional Hubs provide timely access to psychiatric consultation. The NJPPC also facilitates referrals for patients to access ongoing mental health care in the community.
The mission of the NJPPC is to transform access to mental health care by empowering pediatric care providers. We achieve this mission through collaboration with pediatric care providers to support the early identification of mental health issues and by providing access to Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists (CAPs), mental health resources, and care coordination. The program, active since 2015, comprises over 900 pediatric clinicians. These participating pediatric primary care clinicians have screened over 220,000 patients for mental health issues, and 20,000 patients have received mental health consultation services via the NJPPC Regional Hubs.
The program is available for children and adolescents up to age 21, participating primary care providers (PCP) agree to provide universal screening using standardized mental health and substance use screenings at each well visit. Participating pediatric care providers can consult with the NJPPC Hub mental health professionals, including Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists (CAPs). They can also refer patients with identified concerns to Hub staff for intake and referral to services in their community.