As previously noted, partnerships can expand the resources, knowledge, expertise, and support available to assess and monitor CAMH. Therefore, it is important to develop and use strategies designed to identify and engage partners. The following tips are provided to assist health departments in identifying and engaging partners to assess and improve CAMH.

1. Consider which partners could play a key role in:

   • Increasing credibility and trust among current and potential partners (e.g., physicians’ associations, community organizations)
   • Implementing the data sharing or other interventions that are central to the effort (e.g., state or local behavioral health agencies, schools and school districts, education agencies)
   • Advocating for changes to institutionalize the data sharing or other interventions (e.g., advocacy groups for mental health, child welfare, physicians’ associations)
   • Funding or authorizing continuation or expansion of data sharing or other interventions (e.g., legislators, policy-makers, federal government)
     
     

2. Consider which partners have relevant data.

   • The CAMH indicators proposed in this playbook are based on data that are mostly found in schools and education agencies. Other indicators not referenced in this playbook are found in other settings. Partnerships between public health and schools that were created during the COVID-19 pandemic might be leveraged for purposes of data sharing related to the indicators outlined in this playbook.
   • Professional associations related to child and adolescent health, such as the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), can be valuable partners. As such, health departments could benefit from efforts to learn what they are doing in the mental health and prevention realms and explore their willingness to share or exchange data.
   • Data that comes from multiple settings or is of different types that is put together helps public health create the broader picture of CAMH.
     
     

3. Recognize that some partners might be especially well-suited to reach the target population.

   • Seek partners who have already won the public’s trust and respect. 
   • It takes time to develop trust and respect. By identifying partners who are already trusted by the target population or within the community, they can reach out to their trusted advisors and invite them into the current child and adolescent mental health conversations without the need for your agency to develop the trust and respect on its own for these conversations to occur.