| The pandemic has revealed some truths: A lack of mental health providers to sufficiently meet the needs of those in crisis (including providers of color); and the stress that COVID-19 has introduced is being felt by all ages, with mental health coping strategies being constructed to help. Another truth: Young people with disabilities report poorer mental health compared with peers without disabilities. According to University of Illinois at Chicago researchers, teens with disabilities are up to five times more likely to suffer from mental, emotional and behavioral health disorders than adolescents without disabilities. Kristin Berg, UIC associate professor of disability and human development at the college of applied health sciences, is tackling the latter issue as co-principal investigator of the Behavioral Health Stratified Treatment (BEST project) — a new $7 million, five-year study (funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) that will assess the integration of mental health services as part of state care coordination services instead of relying on referrals to mental health services. |
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