The Summit is a culmination of Texas A&M Health’s two-year state-sponsored study to assess the need for and use of inpatient child and adolescent mental health care guided by Drs Israel Liberzon and Marcia Ory. This summit will provide an opportunity to reflect on major takeaways regarding successes and challenges in delivering accessible and quality inpatient psychiatric care to meet the needs of children/adolescents and their families in Texas. The Summit will be sponsored by Texas A&M Health in collaboration with the Statewide Behavioral Health Coordinating Council, which facilitated the 2024 Children’s Behavioral Health Strategic Plan, and the Children’s Hospital Association of Texas, which advocates for children’s access to high quality comprehensive care. A major goal is to review what is currently known and still needs to be known in ensuring children and youth with higher acuity mental health conditions have access to needed care and pathways moving forward.

There will be an evening networking event on June 5th, and a full day on June 6th, including opening remarks from key leaders in the field, reviews of the current situation and gaps in delivering optimum care, deep dive sessions on policy issues, data needs, and current care challenges and successes, roundtable discussions at lunch, and action planning toward next steps. Discussions will be enriched by a diverse audience representing academic, clinical, governmental, policy and nonprofit sectors.