Electronic Fall 2023 | Issue 56

IPS and ICCAP Host Collaborative Symposium

By: Theodote Pontikes and Thomas L. DiMatteo

On May 12, 2023, family medicine physicians and pediatricians joined members of the Illinois Psychiatric Society (IPS) and the Illinois Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ICCAP) for a virtual workshop symposium and discussion forum titled “Addressing the Pediatric Mental Health Emergency in Clinical Settings: Illinois Physicians Collaborative in Support of Children’s Mental Health.” This half-day CME activity was sponsored by an Advocacy and Collaboration Grant awarded to ICCAP by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). It was well-attended and incorporated problem-based learning highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between primary care physicians and pediatric psychiatrists with respect to diagnostic accuracy, safety risk assessments and management of youth with acute psychiatric illness in an outpatient primary care setting, particularly in rural and otherwise underserved areas.

The moderators of this event, Dr. Tom DiMatteo, current President of ICCAP and immediate past liaison to the IPS Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Committee, and Dr. Theodote Pontikes, current Vice President/President-Elect of ICCAP and immediate past chair of the IPS CAP Committee, hope that this will be the first of many symposia to discuss issues relevant to the comprehensive provision of pediatric mental health care in Illinois. They were joined by an expert panel of pediatric and adult psychiatrists, as well as by two child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, family medicine physicians and pediatricians who presented case vignettes in interdisciplinary teams. Salient topics were discussed based on cases of youth presentation in an outpatient primary care setting during the COVID-19 pandemic, including regulation disorders, developmental disorders and trauma in the context of the pandemic. Presenters and panelists included Drs. Adrienne Adams; Rachel Ballard; Gabrielle Barber; Arden Barnett; Ian Best; James Chambliss; Wanda Cruz-Knight; James MacKenzie; Mojgan Makki; Karen Pierce; Sundeep Randhawa; Jasleen Singh; and Jennifer Thomas.

There seemed to be a palpable energy throughout the symposium where many questions were raised, reflecting the participants’ commitment to continue interdisciplinary dialogue, collaboration and advocacy in support of improved outcomes for the mental health of children and adolescents in Illinois. Look for further developments from the symposium including a toolbox to summarize and make available take-aways from this important activity.