November 24, 2025 • 14 mins
While healthcare is top of mind for so many, we speak with a New York State organization focused on children’s health. Kayleigh Zaloga is the president and CEO of the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health, a statewide association of children's service providers. CCBH represents 50 provider agencies with 21,000 employees who serve nearly 200,000 children and families. We discuss the fight for access to behavioral health services, and the reality of mental health services for children in New York State.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thank you for listening to Get Connected. While
healthcare is top of mind for so many people, we
will look for the next few minutes at a New
York state organization focused on children's health, leading the fight
for access to behavioral health services and talk about the
reality of mental health services for children. Kaylee's Aloga is
the President and CEO of the New York State Coalition
(00:33):
for Children's Behavioral Health, a state wired organization of children's
service providers. CCBH represents fifty provider agencies with twenty one
thousand employees who serve nearly two hundred thousand children and
families in New York State. Kaylee's Aloga, thank you for
being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You can find out more about the organization at ccbhny
dot org. So, Kaylee, I think we'll just start with
a little bit of definitions here. Can you exp playing
what the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health is,
what you do and to be clear, what is behavioral health?
What does that encompass sure?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Sure, let's start with behavioral health encompasses mental health and
substance use. And we're talking about children, you know, a
whole range of issues and conditions that might fall just
outside of a mental health diagnosis, but are still affecting
a child's quality of life and are related to their
their functioning and their families and their communities and their schools.
And the coalition represents, as you said, about fifty provider
(01:31):
agencies across the state. So we're working directly with service
providers and with families to advocate to the state for
what children and families need, to try and translate what's
coming from the state to those service providers and families,
and to improve This is the system for everyone involved.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And can you talk a little bit about the scope
of agencies you represent.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Sure, So a lot of our agencies are working in
multiple realms. We have many non they're all nonprofit agencies
who are providing mental health services. Many of them are
also in the child welfare system, providing foster care services,
prevention services, residential mental health and foster care and pretty
much the full gamut of services that kids and families
(02:12):
might need.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So how is New York State doing when you talk
about providing support and access to clients of these agencies.
When it comes to access to behavioral health services for children, well,
the system.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Has been under invested in for decades and anarchy even
for centuries. If we're looking back at the treatment of
mental health compared to medical and surgical health, you know
we've been We've come a really long way in fighting
the stigma, I think in the recent decades, with more
and more people being willing to talk about mental health
to be a willing to prioritize it in terms of
(02:46):
where our state's putting its funding and where other resources
are going. But it's still you know, providers in our
system have been facing reimbursement rates that don't cover their
costs for a really long time. So most of our
nonprofit agencies also have you know, fundraising arms, and a
lot of what they're doing is subsidized by philanthropy and
not just paid for by the state. But it's become
(03:09):
increasingly untenable for a lot of our providers to continue
doing some of the services that are most meaningful and
impactful for kids and families, especially those that are.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
In homes and in communities.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Not just in a clinic setting, which really make a
difference for those families who are struggling the most, you know,
and can't necessarily get to a clinic for everything that
they need. But on the provider side, it's been a
really difficult battle to remain in the service provision field
when rates aren't covering costs or barely. You know, we
have inflation every year that all of us know on
(03:40):
the individual level, when we're seeing our grocery prices going
up and our heating prices and everything going up.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Service providers are facing the same.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Thing and in trying to you know, raise their staff
salaries to meet inflation. There's just there isn't enough money
in the system from the state, from the federal government,
and from insurance companies to really adequately pay people for
what they're worth and what they're doing for kids and
families and keep them in the jobs and continue, you know,
making services accessible.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And when you talk about these children being underserved, are
you talking about children as a whole or Medicaid covered children.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
That's a good question.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
I mean, I think children as a whole are kind
of an underserved population. They're they're often less prioritized when
we're looking at big picture health issues. Children are a
less expensive population, you know, treating their issues early on,
even though if it costs more than not treating them
this year, you know, it's a lot less expensive than
when you're dealing with adults who have had untreated medical
(04:37):
and mental health issues for a very long time. So
when it comes to like where we will get the
most bang for our buck, people are usually looking at
how can we reduce the costs of these very expensive populations,
not necessarily, how can we better support kids to become
less expensive populations down the road.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And I don't know if you can speak to this, Kayley,
but if New York State is only serving around I
think that the numbers twenty five percent of the children
during mating behavioral health services under Medicaid. And this is
a relatively progressive state, although it's not had a balanced
budget in decades. What do you know about comparative services
in other states?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
That's a good question.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I think every state has its own issues in serving youth.
You know, we see other states who are doing better
in certain areas.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I don't think we can say.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
That there's one other state that's really serving everyone, or
that you know, we should look to. But you know,
we can look at states like California who have done
some really innovative programming and funding to try and help
especially those kids who are hardest to serve because their
needs really span many different areas, and that's where kids
are getting stuck here. We've I'm sure heard stories about
(05:42):
kids who have been stuck in hospitals, not because they
need a hospital level of care anymore, but because there's
nowhere appropriate for them to go after that hospital stay.
And I think every state is struggling with this and
trying to find different ways to handle it. Then of
course we're looking at a federal situation where we're going
to have billions of dollars less coming into our state,
and everyone's you know, every state's looking at that, which
(06:03):
is it's not a really helpful environment when we're talking
about a system that needs a lot more investment in
it even before those those cuts were.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Part of the picture.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And we're talking about New York state numbers. The lack
of access is even worse in New York City.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Correct, Yes, it is a little bit higher.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
And we're talking about a subset of outpatient children's behavioral
health services.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I think it's about.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Statewide, seventy two percent of kids who are Medicaid eligible
and eligible for these services are not receiving them.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
In New York City, I think it's closer to seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Our guest is Kaylee 'z Aloga. She's president and CEO
of the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health.
You can find out more at ccbhny dot org. You're
listening to get connected on one I six point seven
light FM Imina del Riel. So in twenty twenty two,
a class action lawsuit was filed in federal court against
the state Department of Health and Office of Mental Health,
(06:56):
seeking to force policy change. As you said earlier, this
is an issue that's been going on for decades, probably longer.
Explain what this lawsuit or why the lawsuit was brought
and what it intended to achieve.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And so it was originally four families who brought the lawsuit,
along with some nonprofit legal services firms and advocacy organizations
that supported them. And they were families of children who
had been unable to access the behavioral health services they
needed and their child either needed to go into a
hospital or institutional setting or was at risk of going
(07:28):
into a setting like this. So one of the families
I know, they ended up in the emergency room several times,
one crisis after another, and eventually law enforcement had to
be involved in bringing the child to a hospital setting.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And it's a.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Much more traumatic experience than it needs to be when
people are actually getting what they need when they need it.
So the coalition did after the four families started the
legal proceedings, the coalition supported making it a class action
lawsuit on behal of not just those four children and
their families, but all Medicaid eligible children who would be
(08:04):
eligible for the subset of services, and that was successful.
So the settlement that was just reached in August and
is in the process of becoming fully finalized and implemented,
will mean that there needs to be a real redesign
of home and community based behavioral health services for kids,
for all Medicaid eligible kids in New York, not just
(08:25):
those few families.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Going back to the original group in that lawsuit, so
they would have gone, they would have exhausted every option
trying to get services for their children, and they just
end up in emergency rooms and at a dead end.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So again, what is the outcome going forward for these families.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
So for these specific families, I mean, honestly, given the
implementation timeline of a real system redesign and everything that's
going to happen, their children might age out. That might
probably be over twenty one before we really see the
system change that they helped bring about. I think some
of them might still be enough to benefit from the
(09:02):
full rollout, but we hope to see and hope to
work with the Department of Health and the Office of
Mental Health on is really accurately evaluating what needs the
kids in this subgroup have, those those in the class
you know, who have eligible behavior health conditions and are
Medicaid eligible, and the designing a system of services that
(09:23):
aims to meet their needs, that aims to support the
providers who will be providing those services in maintaining service.
We see you know, you mentioned that the access is
even a little bit lower in New York City than statewide,
and we see that in pockets. It's not necessarily just
about New York City versus the rest of state. It's
also about rural versus urban access to services.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
There are some.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Rural areas where they're actually higher access to outpatient behavior
health services, and we see lower emergency department use among
the population of kids we're talking about, So I mean,
we know that access to outpatient services is really important
for kids and families for our system not funneling people
into an inappropriate service type when what they need is
(10:07):
someone coming to their home and helping them address mental
health crises in the home and address coping mechanisms and
strengthening families' ability to respond when difficult things come up.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
This settlement is an obligation for the state who holds
them to account in a case like.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
This for the time being, a court will hold them
to account. So part of the implementation plan, there's a
time period of developing a plan implementing it. There's a
whole quality improvement protocol that needs to be put in
place with certain metrics that will have to be checked,
and the court will be responsible for holding the state
accountable to that until its deems that the state is
(10:44):
meeting all of its obligations and can be released from
the court order to just continue doing the work.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But it will also be.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
On people like us, the Coalition on Service providers and
families to be reporting on what's working and what isn't
and to be a part of shaping an implementation plan
that will work.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So what policy changes are you seeking this upcoming session.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
The biggest we're seeking is investment. It's investment in the
rates for behavioral health services. We know that the settlement
will eventually result in rates for services that are higher
than they are now. It's pretty blatant in settlement agreement.
But in the meantime, we have providers who are pulling
back from offering these services because they simply.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Can't afford to do it.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
We had a provider who had to stop offering these
services because they had over million dollar losses. And you know,
they're committed to serving their communities, but they also need
to maintain their financial sustainability to be able to continue
serving in other areas. So investing in children's behavioral health
services is our biggest priority. We're also seeking to increase
(11:45):
commercial insurance coverage of a wider range of children's behavioral
health services. You know, as much trouble as folks who
are on Medicaid have accessing these services, those on commercial
insurance have no chance of accessing them at all for
the most part, and that's really not right with all
kids who have behavioral health needs should be able to
get their needs for services met.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
So those are our two big priorities.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Just as a bit of a sidebar, you developed your
policy expertise in the New York State legislature. You served
as a legislative analyst for a former state assembly member.
As you work in this area, what did you discover
about children's health care policy and legislation that made you
want to make it your focus.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
I mean, the simple answer is it's really important and
really impactful. You know, when we can help children when
they're young, we can help them become thriving adults and
not have the same magnitude of mental health and substance
use and other issues later into adulthood that really derail
people's lives. When we can help a child thrive now,
(12:46):
we're avoiding a lot of difficulties and expenses in the
education system and the criminal justice system. You know, we're
setting people up to really become the best versions of themselves.
I think there's just so much opportunity to do that
when we're working with children, and you know, they're a
population that, like I said earlier, just kind of doesn't
often get.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Prioritized because they're a.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Quieter population than those who are causing more visible problems.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
You know, what would you like parents to take away
from this conversation and how can they get involved to
support children's behavioral health care providers.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I want all parents to know that there is support
out there. There are a lot of resources that we
want to make sure folks are aware of, and of
course ninety eighty eight is one of them.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
There are mobile crisis teams.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Most counties have them, and we want to continue to
see that grow. The settlement would be a part of that,
But I just want to make sure that parents know
they're not alone. And raising children is hard no matter
what conditions your child does or doesn't have. But it's
important that our elected officials know that people are watching
and that we care, that we need to see investment
in children's behavioral health services, and that we are going
(13:55):
to work together between families, providers, advocates like myself.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And hopefully more and more of our government.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Elected officials to prioritize keeping our kids healthy and helping
them thrive.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Kaylee Zeloga is the president of the New York State
Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health. You can find out more
at ccbhny dot org. Kaylie, thank you for joining me
on get Connected.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
This has been get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thank you for listening to Get Connected. While
healthcare is top of mind for so many people, we
will look for the next few minutes at a New
York state organization focused on children's health, leading the fight
for access to behavioral health services and talk about the
reality of mental health services for children. Kaylee's Aloga is
the President and CEO of the New York State Coalition
(00:33):
for Children's Behavioral Health, a state wired organization of children's
service providers. CCBH represents fifty provider agencies with twenty one
thousand employees who serve nearly two hundred thousand children and
families in New York State. Kaylee's Aloga, thank you for
being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You can find out more about the organization at ccbhny
dot org. So, Kaylee, I think we'll just start with
a little bit of definitions here. Can you exp playing
what the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health is,
what you do and to be clear, what is behavioral health?
What does that encompass sure?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Sure, let's start with behavioral health encompasses mental health and
substance use. And we're talking about children, you know, a
whole range of issues and conditions that might fall just
outside of a mental health diagnosis, but are still affecting
a child's quality of life and are related to their
their functioning and their families and their communities and their schools.
And the coalition represents, as you said, about fifty provider
(01:31):
agencies across the state. So we're working directly with service
providers and with families to advocate to the state for
what children and families need, to try and translate what's
coming from the state to those service providers and families,
and to improve This is the system for everyone involved.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And can you talk a little bit about the scope
of agencies you represent.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Sure, So a lot of our agencies are working in
multiple realms. We have many non they're all nonprofit agencies
who are providing mental health services. Many of them are
also in the child welfare system, providing foster care services,
prevention services, residential mental health and foster care and pretty
much the full gamut of services that kids and families
(02:12):
might need.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So how is New York State doing when you talk
about providing support and access to clients of these agencies.
When it comes to access to behavioral health services for children, well,
the system.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Has been under invested in for decades and anarchy even
for centuries. If we're looking back at the treatment of
mental health compared to medical and surgical health, you know
we've been We've come a really long way in fighting
the stigma, I think in the recent decades, with more
and more people being willing to talk about mental health
to be a willing to prioritize it in terms of
(02:46):
where our state's putting its funding and where other resources
are going. But it's still you know, providers in our
system have been facing reimbursement rates that don't cover their
costs for a really long time. So most of our
nonprofit agencies also have you know, fundraising arms, and a
lot of what they're doing is subsidized by philanthropy and
not just paid for by the state. But it's become
(03:09):
increasingly untenable for a lot of our providers to continue
doing some of the services that are most meaningful and
impactful for kids and families, especially those that are.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
In homes and in communities.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Not just in a clinic setting, which really make a
difference for those families who are struggling the most, you know,
and can't necessarily get to a clinic for everything that
they need. But on the provider side, it's been a
really difficult battle to remain in the service provision field
when rates aren't covering costs or barely. You know, we
have inflation every year that all of us know on
(03:40):
the individual level, when we're seeing our grocery prices going
up and our heating prices and everything going up.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Service providers are facing the same.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Thing and in trying to you know, raise their staff
salaries to meet inflation. There's just there isn't enough money
in the system from the state, from the federal government,
and from insurance companies to really adequately pay people for
what they're worth and what they're doing for kids and
families and keep them in the jobs and continue, you know,
making services accessible.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And when you talk about these children being underserved, are
you talking about children as a whole or Medicaid covered children.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
That's a good question.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
I mean, I think children as a whole are kind
of an underserved population. They're they're often less prioritized when
we're looking at big picture health issues. Children are a
less expensive population, you know, treating their issues early on,
even though if it costs more than not treating them
this year, you know, it's a lot less expensive than
when you're dealing with adults who have had untreated medical
(04:37):
and mental health issues for a very long time. So
when it comes to like where we will get the
most bang for our buck, people are usually looking at
how can we reduce the costs of these very expensive populations,
not necessarily, how can we better support kids to become
less expensive populations down the road.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And I don't know if you can speak to this, Kayley,
but if New York State is only serving around I
think that the numbers twenty five percent of the children
during mating behavioral health services under Medicaid. And this is
a relatively progressive state, although it's not had a balanced
budget in decades. What do you know about comparative services
in other states?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
That's a good question.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I think every state has its own issues in serving youth.
You know, we see other states who are doing better
in certain areas.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I don't think we can say.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
That there's one other state that's really serving everyone, or
that you know, we should look to. But you know,
we can look at states like California who have done
some really innovative programming and funding to try and help
especially those kids who are hardest to serve because their
needs really span many different areas, and that's where kids
are getting stuck here. We've I'm sure heard stories about
(05:42):
kids who have been stuck in hospitals, not because they
need a hospital level of care anymore, but because there's
nowhere appropriate for them to go after that hospital stay.
And I think every state is struggling with this and
trying to find different ways to handle it. Then of
course we're looking at a federal situation where we're going
to have billions of dollars less coming into our state,
and everyone's you know, every state's looking at that, which
(06:03):
is it's not a really helpful environment when we're talking
about a system that needs a lot more investment in
it even before those those cuts were.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Part of the picture.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And we're talking about New York state numbers. The lack
of access is even worse in New York City.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Correct, Yes, it is a little bit higher.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
And we're talking about a subset of outpatient children's behavioral
health services.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I think it's about.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Statewide, seventy two percent of kids who are Medicaid eligible
and eligible for these services are not receiving them.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
In New York City, I think it's closer to seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Our guest is Kaylee 'z Aloga. She's president and CEO
of the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health.
You can find out more at ccbhny dot org. You're
listening to get connected on one I six point seven
light FM Imina del Riel. So in twenty twenty two,
a class action lawsuit was filed in federal court against
the state Department of Health and Office of Mental Health,
(06:56):
seeking to force policy change. As you said earlier, this
is an issue that's been going on for decades, probably longer.
Explain what this lawsuit or why the lawsuit was brought
and what it intended to achieve.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And so it was originally four families who brought the lawsuit,
along with some nonprofit legal services firms and advocacy organizations
that supported them. And they were families of children who
had been unable to access the behavioral health services they
needed and their child either needed to go into a
hospital or institutional setting or was at risk of going
(07:28):
into a setting like this. So one of the families
I know, they ended up in the emergency room several times,
one crisis after another, and eventually law enforcement had to
be involved in bringing the child to a hospital setting.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And it's a.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Much more traumatic experience than it needs to be when
people are actually getting what they need when they need it.
So the coalition did after the four families started the
legal proceedings, the coalition supported making it a class action
lawsuit on behal of not just those four children and
their families, but all Medicaid eligible children who would be
(08:04):
eligible for the subset of services, and that was successful.
So the settlement that was just reached in August and
is in the process of becoming fully finalized and implemented,
will mean that there needs to be a real redesign
of home and community based behavioral health services for kids,
for all Medicaid eligible kids in New York, not just
(08:25):
those few families.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Going back to the original group in that lawsuit, so
they would have gone, they would have exhausted every option
trying to get services for their children, and they just
end up in emergency rooms and at a dead end.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So again, what is the outcome going forward for these families.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
So for these specific families, I mean, honestly, given the
implementation timeline of a real system redesign and everything that's
going to happen, their children might age out. That might
probably be over twenty one before we really see the
system change that they helped bring about. I think some
of them might still be enough to benefit from the
(09:02):
full rollout, but we hope to see and hope to
work with the Department of Health and the Office of
Mental Health on is really accurately evaluating what needs the
kids in this subgroup have, those those in the class
you know, who have eligible behavior health conditions and are
Medicaid eligible, and the designing a system of services that
(09:23):
aims to meet their needs, that aims to support the
providers who will be providing those services in maintaining service.
We see you know, you mentioned that the access is
even a little bit lower in New York City than statewide,
and we see that in pockets. It's not necessarily just
about New York City versus the rest of state. It's
also about rural versus urban access to services.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
There are some.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Rural areas where they're actually higher access to outpatient behavior
health services, and we see lower emergency department use among
the population of kids we're talking about, So I mean,
we know that access to outpatient services is really important
for kids and families for our system not funneling people
into an inappropriate service type when what they need is
(10:07):
someone coming to their home and helping them address mental
health crises in the home and address coping mechanisms and
strengthening families' ability to respond when difficult things come up.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
This settlement is an obligation for the state who holds
them to account in a case like.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
This for the time being, a court will hold them
to account. So part of the implementation plan, there's a
time period of developing a plan implementing it. There's a
whole quality improvement protocol that needs to be put in
place with certain metrics that will have to be checked,
and the court will be responsible for holding the state
accountable to that until its deems that the state is
(10:44):
meeting all of its obligations and can be released from
the court order to just continue doing the work.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But it will also be.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
On people like us, the Coalition on Service providers and
families to be reporting on what's working and what isn't
and to be a part of shaping an implementation plan
that will work.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So what policy changes are you seeking this upcoming session.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
The biggest we're seeking is investment. It's investment in the
rates for behavioral health services. We know that the settlement
will eventually result in rates for services that are higher
than they are now. It's pretty blatant in settlement agreement.
But in the meantime, we have providers who are pulling
back from offering these services because they simply.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Can't afford to do it.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
We had a provider who had to stop offering these
services because they had over million dollar losses. And you know,
they're committed to serving their communities, but they also need
to maintain their financial sustainability to be able to continue
serving in other areas. So investing in children's behavioral health
services is our biggest priority. We're also seeking to increase
(11:45):
commercial insurance coverage of a wider range of children's behavioral
health services. You know, as much trouble as folks who
are on Medicaid have accessing these services, those on commercial
insurance have no chance of accessing them at all for
the most part, and that's really not right with all
kids who have behavioral health needs should be able to
get their needs for services met.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
So those are our two big priorities.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Just as a bit of a sidebar, you developed your
policy expertise in the New York State legislature. You served
as a legislative analyst for a former state assembly member.
As you work in this area, what did you discover
about children's health care policy and legislation that made you
want to make it your focus.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
I mean, the simple answer is it's really important and
really impactful. You know, when we can help children when
they're young, we can help them become thriving adults and
not have the same magnitude of mental health and substance
use and other issues later into adulthood that really derail
people's lives. When we can help a child thrive now,
(12:46):
we're avoiding a lot of difficulties and expenses in the
education system and the criminal justice system. You know, we're
setting people up to really become the best versions of themselves.
I think there's just so much opportunity to do that
when we're working with children, and you know, they're a
population that, like I said earlier, just kind of doesn't
often get.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Prioritized because they're a.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Quieter population than those who are causing more visible problems.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
You know, what would you like parents to take away
from this conversation and how can they get involved to
support children's behavioral health care providers.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I want all parents to know that there is support
out there. There are a lot of resources that we
want to make sure folks are aware of, and of
course ninety eighty eight is one of them.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
There are mobile crisis teams.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Most counties have them, and we want to continue to
see that grow. The settlement would be a part of that,
But I just want to make sure that parents know
they're not alone. And raising children is hard no matter
what conditions your child does or doesn't have. But it's
important that our elected officials know that people are watching
and that we care, that we need to see investment
in children's behavioral health services, and that we are going
(13:55):
to work together between families, providers, advocates like myself.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And hopefully more and more of our government.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Elected officials to prioritize keeping our kids healthy and helping
them thrive.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Kaylee Zeloga is the president of the New York State
Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health. You can find out more
at ccbhny dot org. Kaylie, thank you for joining me
on get Connected.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
This has been get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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