History of the Training Institutes

The Training Institutes were born out of a growing national conversation among those working to advance children’s mental health and systems of care for children, youth, and young adults. The concept of a system of care was developed and first published in 1984; to then disseminate the concept, to familiarize the field with it, and to provide in-depth training on it, the Training Institutes was born. First established in 1986 by the SAMHSA-funded National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health at Georgetown University, the Training Institutes were hosted biennially through 2014. The conference, by then well-established as the nation’s leading conference on children’s systems, was transitioned to Innovations Institute (formerly at the University of Maryland) and held in 2018. The 2020 Training Institutes, due to COVID, were held online with free access for all attendees to workshops and their recordings. The Training Institutes have a history of very strong participation, with attendance averaging about 2,000 over the last five conferences. Participants have been highly diverse from federal agencies, national associations, and nearly all states and territories, representing youth-serving systems and including policy makers, service providers, family and youth leaders, and others concerned with improving services.

While other conferences address mental health and equitable public systems for the whole population, the Training Institutes remains the nation’s only conference focused on the needs of children, youth, young adults, and their families.