Bi Ped Project

Providing Support to Pediatric Practitioners

INTRODUCTION
BRIEF INTERVENTIONS IN CHILD MENTAL HEALTH
FOR THE PEDIATRIC PRACTITIONER
(BI-PED) PROJECT
Emotional Health Committee Maryland Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics
Ken Tellerman M.D. Chairman

 Pediatric practitioners are seeing large numbers of children and adolescents with mental health problems. There are some estimates that 36% of patients seen weekly in a pediatric practice may have impairment of functioning related to a mental health concern.

In many regions throughout the United States, there is a significant shortage of mental health consultants.  Insurance coverage can be sparse for mental health services making such services financially non- viable for many families. These two factors often lead to low accessibility to mental health services.  Families may also feel more comfortable approaching their pediatric primary care provider with mental health concerns.

It is for these reasons that the Maryland Chapter AAP Emotional Health Committee has developed the Brief Interventions for Pediatric practitioners (BI-PED) Project in order to provide “support” to pediatric providers and to offer a panoply of primary care based mental health interventions for children and adolescents.

These materials posted on the Maryland Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics website will hopefully provide pediatric clinicians with sound interventions for addressing mental health needs in clinical practice.

It is our sincere hope that the information put together by our experienced panel of child and adolescent mental health professionals will be a spring board for improving the delivery of mental health services to children and teenagers. We invite your comments and feedback.

Ken Tellerman M.D.  (ktpedmd@aol.com)

Committee Members

Steve Band Ph.D.
Director, Division of Pediatric Psychology and Neuropsychology
Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital

David Bromberg M.D.
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Linda Grossman M.D.
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Bureau Chief, Clinical Services, Baltimore County Department of Health.

Alice Heisler M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Barbara Howard M.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Staff, Franklin Square Hospital Center

Sharon Richter D.O.
Director, Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics
The Walter & Herman Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai

Ken Tellerman M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Chairman, Emotional Health Committee Maryland Chapter AAP

Trevor Valentine M.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics
University of Maryland School of Medicine

The BI-PED project is dedicated to the memory of Alice Heisler, M.D. who was a long term member of the Maryland Chapter AAP Committee on Emotional Health. Dr. Heisler was a beloved teacher, a staunch advocate for children and a kind and compassionate human being. She will be missed.