Patient Navigators for Children's Community Mental Health Services in High Poverty Urban Communities

The purpose is to study a model of mental health navigation for African American and Latinx children (0-14 years) in high poverty urban communities focused on reducing key parental attitudinal barriers to care. Reducing persistent racial and ethnic disparities in children's mental health is a national priority and patient navigation is a highly promising approach that is rarely used in children's mental health services. The study will examine the effectiveness of paraprofessional (PP) navigators who have strong community knowledge and waitlist as usual condition (active wailt list \[AWL\]. The study will examine specific mechanisms of navigator effectiveness in children's mental health and compare an AWL to provide a rigorous test of the proposed mechanisms. The knowledge gained from this application may be important to reducing disparities and employing the workforce best suited to navigation in the community mental health system. Two community boards, one focused on identifying factors important to supporting navigators at the agencies (Implementation and Sustainability Community Board) will meet quarterly, and the other focused on implications for state and federal policy (Public Policy Board), will meet annually.

Inclusion Criteria: * African American and Latinx Children between 0 and 14 years of age and their caregiver * New referrals on the waitlist for outpatient mental health services; families interested and engaged in social services from two state supported projects. * Have been screened and deemed appropriate for services at one of two social service participating community mental health agencies; or engaged in services via navigation projects Exclusion Criteria: * N/A