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Dr. Jane Meschan Foy has spent more than 35 years in pediatric primary care, public health, administration, and medical teaching. Her special interests include mental health services in pediatric primary care and school settings; access to health care for under-served populations; primary care of children with special health care needs; and residency training in mental health, community pediatrics, and advocacy.

Dr. Foy’s publications on mental health include 2 AAP textbooks (2018)—Mental Health Care of Children and Adolescents: A Guide for Primary Care Clinicians and Promoting Mental Health in Children and Adolescents: Primary Care Practice and Advocacy; the AAP Policy Statement “Mental Health Competencies for Pediatric Practice” and Technical Report, “Achieving the Mental Health Competencies” (both Pediatrics, 2019).  

She recently edited a new publication to support clinicians at the front lines, Managing Mental Health Concerns in Pediatrics: A Clinical Support Chart. She currently serves as an associate editor of the AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care and as Associate Editor, Mental Health for Pediatric Care Online (PCO).     

[00:01] Opening Segment

• I introduce Dr. Jane Foy
• Her journey from pediatrics to mental health

[05:34] Multidiscipinary Model in Pediatric Mental Health

• An alarming observation from Jane about her patients’ childhood experiences
• Jane talks about the importance of tapping other disciplines in helping patients
• The reasons for building linkages with schools and communities
• Protocols in dealing with difficult behaviors among kids in school

[15:46] Mental Health Competencies

• Why it’s important to lay out mental health competencies
• The cultural change that is happening in the mental health space
• Jane shares the story about their advocacy on their Medicaid system
• The barriers they’ve broken with this advocacy
• Their mechanisms to ensure funds for mental health are being used appropriately

[30:27] Mental Health Monitoring Among Patients

• Psychopharmacology education among healthcare providers’
• Building trust between the therapist and the family
• The “cheer up” model
• A critical piece of anxiety treatment according to Jane
• How to set up office systems that to monitor patients

[45:53] Resolving Health Problems as a Community

• Jane’s advice for her resident self that you should also hear
• The power of resolving obstacles with a community, and not alone
• The truth about suicide prevention

 [47:39] Closing Segment  

• Final takeaways
• Jane’s vision on integrated behavioral health and collaborative mental health care
• Creating team models as key to our work
• Children who are not getting mental health care
• Cultural change in mental health work among pediatricians
• Our “pediatric advantage”
• Barriers to providing mental health care
• Systemic change is now ready to happen
• Approaching mental health issues as emergencies
• Brief interventions that pediatricians can offer
• How to use the “cheer up” model
• What you need to know about psychopharmacology
• Look for champions in your social circles right now
• You are not along. You’ve got this

Key Quotes:

“Listen to your instincts and also listen to your patients and follow them.” - Dr. Jane Foy

“When you do encounter obstacles in getting accomplished what you want to accomplish, look to others. Just don't suffer alone.” - Dr. Jane Foy

Resources mentioned:

• Mental Health Competencies for Pediatric Practice
• Achieving the Pediatric Mental Health Competencies
• A process for developing community consensus regarding the diagnosis and management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• Working to improve mental health services: the North Carolina advocacy effort
• Managing Mental Health Concerns in Pediatrics: A Clinical Support Chart
• Promoting Mental Health in Children and Adolescents: Primary Care Practice and Advocacy
• Mental Health Care of Children and Adolescents: A Guide for Primary Care Clinicians
• Addressing Mental Health Concerns in Pediatrics: A Practical Resource Toolkit for Clinicians, 2nd edition
• Pediatric Meltdown Episode 29: Goldilocks, Tigger and Eeyore: Regulation and Childhood Behaviors
• Pediatric Meltdown Episode 32: Disruptive Behaviors: Insights and Strategies from a Child Psychiatrist
• Pediatric Meltdown Episode 44: Anxiety Disorders in Children: Treatment Pearls
• Pediatric Meltdown Episode 45: Pharmacogenomics: How Genetic Testing Can Help Us

Email [email protected] to connect with Jane or check out https://publications.aap.org/pediatriccare to know more about her work. 

If you’d like to connect with me, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or email me at [email protected] or [email protected]. To learn more about me visit https://www.medicalbhs.com/

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