The Office of Children’s Mental Health (OCMH) supports Wisconsin’s children in achieving their optimal social and emotional well-being. Our charge is to study, recommend strategies, and coordinate initiatives to improve integration of children’s mental health services across state agencies.
Additionally, we convene stakeholders around improving the social connectedness of youth. Our goal is straightforward: if youth have vibrant, positive connections with family, peers, and supportive adults, their foundation will be strong, and they will be better prepared to build relationships as they move through life.
We report directly to the Governor, but receive administrative support from Department of Health Services.
Read more about the Office of Children's Mental Health on our informational flyer.
Our Values: Collaborative across systems · Data driven · Family and youth guided · Promote inclusivity and equity among all stakeholders
Our Vision: Wisconsin’s children are safe, nurtured and supported to achieve their optimal mental health and well-being. Systems are family-friendly, easy to navigate, equitable, and inclusive of all people.
Foundational to our Work
There are three foundational pillars our office is built on:
Systems Change
Lived Experience
Research and Data
Systems Change
Collective Impact process is how the OCMH brings stakeholders together to focus on improving the integration of children’s mental health services in Wisconsin. Collective Impact is a structured approach that brings people together to achieve social change. It brings together people from different sectors to focus on a common agenda and goals for solving a specific social problem instead of organizations working alone, in isolation. OCMH uses a collective impact approach towards systems change.
OCMH's Collective Impact structure features action teams focused on specific areas related to children's mental health. Over 195 individuals representing government, non-profit, health care, lived experience, and other children's mental health organizations participate on five Collective Impact Teams:
Lived Experience
We firmly believe that in order to transform systems we must partner with people who have lived experience – parents, caregivers, and young people who are personally connected to children’s mental health challenges and services. The Office of Children’s Mental Health leverages the perspective of parents and young people through OCMH Lived Experience Partners.
These leaders from across Wisconsin share their authentic, invaluable perspective on how to improve the well-being of children and families. We’ve seen huge benefits as our collective impact teams follow the wisdom of lived experience leaders.
By including the lived experience voice in system change efforts we can help tear down barriers to create a more equitable and inclusive landscape for children’s mental health in Wisconsin.
Research and Data
Part of our charge is to review outcomes data on children who receive mental health services provided by state agencies and to reflect on how the state’s delivery of mental health services for children can improve. In meeting that charge, we:
- Established and track Child Well-Being Indicators – Categorized by the Social Determinants of Health, these data points provide a rich understanding of the effect social and economic policies may have on achieving healthy outcomes.
- Publish Fact Sheets – These two-page informational sheets take a deep dive into a topic relevant to children’s mental health and offer actionable recommendations.
- Issue an Annual Report each year.
OCMH strives to use data that focuses on those who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty, systematic injustice, and structural inequities.
If you have difficulty accessing our materials, or using our website, please let us know by emailing OCMH@wi.gov. We take digital accessibility seriously and welcome the opportunity to remove any barriers in accessing content.