Dear CALACAP Members,
It is a new dawn…a time to build on what we have already accomplished, forge new alliances and sustain a workforce that can address the youth mental health crisis and steer youth mental health in a positive direction.
I feel honored to serve as your President for the two-year term beginning January 1, 2025. For this term, our distinguished officers are Dr. Rishi Parikh (President-Elect), Dr. Dawn Sung (Secretary/Treasurer), and Dr. Teresa Frausto (Immediate Past President). I am honored to continue to collaborate with my wonderful colleagues who make up our Executive Council. I am excited to work with our membership throughout the state and extend my warmest welcome to everyone as a valued member of the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. As child psychiatrists navigating today’s unique mental healthcare challenges, our most urgent and pressing need is the promotion of adequate mental health and prevention of mental illness in our youth as well as the preservation of our profession through equitable policies.
Just over three years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and Children’s Hospital Association declared a national emergency in children’s mental health, citing the serious toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of existing challenges. In California, psychiatric reasons have remained the number one cause of hospital admissions among youth for the last few years. Addressing the crisis requires collaborative leadership that fosters alignment among stakeholders, legislators, patients, families, and communities to advocate for the mental health and well-being of every youth in the state.
For over 40 years, CALACAP has collaborated with our partners to advocate for the over 9 million youth in the state of California. From issues related to suicide prevention, identity related challenges, substance use, homelessness, access to appropriate/adequate are and many other issues, we have worked alongside other experts and advocates to form coalitions to help address issues afflicting our youth. We have helped to sponsor, support and draft bills that affect the lives of California youth we serve. Just this past year, we were proud co-sponsors of AB 2711, which has started the arduous process of creating a culture in schools that would ultimately lead to embracing substance use as a disorder and not a moral ineptitude. We are constantly working on issues that can improve the workforce of child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAP) given that there continues to be a shortage of practicing CAP as most of us are aging out. In this vein, we are constantly sponsoring our members in training and early career psychiatrists to advocacy events throughout the year as well as fostering their mentorship by more seasoned members. We are particularly empowered to engage in policies that are anti-racist and equitable. Our Committee for Anti-Racism and Equity (CARE), established in 2020, has helped CALACAP utilize equity lenses even as our Government Affairs and Advocacy Committee (GAA) continues to ensure that we review and weigh in on every single bill that could potentially affect youth in California.
For this term, the officers and I are determined to build on the foundation already established which includes collaborating with CALACAP allies in both public and private sectors, mentoring and support for members in training and early career psychiatrists, as well as improving outreach to our membership, community and beyond through our social media . Beyond this, our team intends to share content from all regions and our legislative advocates on a quarterly basis to our membership to ensure a timely and adequate bidirectional flow of communication. We hope to foster stronger bonds with other relevant organizations involved in children’s mental health including our parent organization AACAP. We encourage and embrace contribution and feedback from colleagues across the state and encourage engagement with patients and families even as CALACAP continues its leadership role to advocate for the mental health of all California youth as well as fostering a workforce that can handle the unique challenges of the current climate.
It is my hope that we can all work together because we need every member’s contribution (ideas/resources), cooperation and collaboration to move the needle in the right direction. There is a youth mental health crisis, and it needs all of us working together to resolve it and keep our young mentally healthy in California.
Ijeoma Ijeaku, MD MPH DFAPA
President, CALACAP