TEAM4Access

About the Project

The Talking Early About Mental Health for Access (TEAM4Access) project would like to develop and test a virtual mentoring program that gives clinicians more training on talking with parents about toddler mental health risk screening in primary care. To create this program, we are partnering with ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes)-Chicago, which already hosts a variety of successful online trainings for primary care clinicians.

echo logo We will collaborate with 15 pediatric clinicians and 10 English speaking caregivers of 1- to 5-year-old children, and 5 Spanish speaking caregivers of 1- to 5-year-old children to help us develop the TEAM4Access ECHO series. We will then make changes to the TEAM4Access program as needed and test out the series via the ECHO-Chicago platform. clinician training

We hope to improve clinician’s competence and confidence for talking about toddler mental health risk with parents, deciding on next steps, and discussing recommendations, thereby improving families’ trust and engagement with preventive mental health interventions. Lastly, we want to know that the program is practical, and that clinicians want to be part of this virtual program.

Team4Access Team

Andrea Spencer(she/her/hers)

Project Co-Lead

Andrea Spencer, MD, is the Vice Chair for Research in the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is a child psychiatrist, expert in pediatric integrated behavioral health care and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and child mental health disparities researcher. Dr. Spencer is the Project Lead of TEAM4Access, which is developing an ECHO tele-mentoring program to improve family-centered communication about early mental health risk in pediatric primary care, as well as co-lead of the Career Development and Training Workgroup in the MHE Center's Engage-Admin Core.

Iheoma U. Iruka (pronounced EE-OMAH EE-ROO-KAH)(she/her/hers)

Project Co-Lead

Iheoma U. Iruka, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an applied developmental psychologist, she is dedicated to promoting the well-being of children from the prenatal stage through early childhood. Dr. Iruka’s work bridges research, program development, and policy, with a central focus on ensuring that all children and their families have access to programs and systems that support their flourishing. Dr. Iruka is the Project Co-Lead on TEAM4Access, bringing her developmental and sociocultural expertise in strengthening children’s early mental health.

Kryztal Pena(she/her/hers)

Research Coordinator

Kryztal Pena, BA, is a Behavioral Research Coordinator III at Lurie Children’s Hospital. She received her a BA in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has interests in addressing mental health disparities among minorities and underserved populations. Kryztal is part of the TEAM4Access project where she led the Spanish qualitative interviews for caregivers, facilitated the Spanish Caregiver Collaborative (one of the MHE Center's Community Advisory Boards), and assisted with the creation of a pediatric mental health training program for clinicians. Kryztal is excited to get this study running and get families more access to resources for their toddlers.

Thilini Fernando, MPH(she/her/hers)

Research Coordinator

Thilini Fernando, MPH, is a Clinical Research Coordinator I at Lurie Children’s Hospital in the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. She received her BS in Public Health from Loyola University of Chicago and MPH with a concentration in Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences from Emory University. Thilini is the Research Coordinator for the TEAM4Access project where she manages study operations, data collection, and assists with material development for the pediatrician mental health training. Thilini is excited to contribute to meaningful research and strengthen clinical workflows to support child and adolescent mental health.