There is an urgent and widening global need for accessible child and adolescent mental health care, with the greatest gaps often occurring in regions with the fewest specialist resources. 

These inequities cannot be addressed by any one discipline, institution, or country working in isolation. Sustained international partnerships are needed to connect child and adolescent psychiatrists, pediatric clinicians, allied mental health professionals, educators, and health systems across diverse settings. 

Stigma, limited specialty access, workforce shortages, chronic physical illness, communicable disease threats, and the mental health consequences of climate change all reinforce the need for whole-person care delivered where children and families already receive support - in pediatric primary care, hospitals, and community-based health settings. 

Consultation-liaison, collaborative care, and integrated care models offer practical, scalable pathways for expanding capacity, sharing expertise, and improving outcomes across countries and resource contexts. 

Building mental health capacity in pediatric settings requires three complementary approaches: 

• Extend the knowledge and capabilities of primary care and hospital-based pediatric providers to identify and address common mental health conditions and substance use.
• Embed mental health expertise within pediatric settings through outpatient integrated and collaborative care and inpatient consultation-liaison services.
• Develop a workforce with expertise in managing co-occurring physical and mental health conditions.

As the global home for child and adolescent mental health collaboration, IACAPAP is uniquely positioned to advance this agenda. The IP-CLICC SIG will create an inclusive, action-oriented international network through which countries and regions can exchange knowledge, adapt models to local realities, develop shared resources, and pursue collaborative projects that strengthen pediatric mental health care worldwide. 

To build an enduring international partnership network that advances equitable access to child and adolescent mental health care by strengthening consultation-liaison, collaborative, and integrated care models in pediatric health settings worldwide. 

The SIG will promote bidirectional learning, cross-regional mentorship, shared resource development, and collaborative scholarship among child and adolescent psychiatrists and allied mental health professionals committed to improving whole-person care for children and families. 

• Develop the International Pediatric Consultation-Liaison, Integrated and Collaborative Care Special Interest Group (IP-CLICC SIG) as a global partnership hub for IACAPAP members interested in advancing pediatric mental health integration across diverse health systems.
• Establish an inclusive international forum for bidirectional exchange of evidence-based practices, practice-based evidence, implementation lessons, peer consultation, and locally adaptable resources.
• Promote cross-country academic partnerships, publications, training initiatives, curriculum development, leadership opportunities, and collaborative evaluation of program outcomes in consultation-liaison, collaborative, and integrated care.

Khyati Brahmbhatt, MD, DFAACAP, will serve as the IP-CLICC SIG Coordinator.

About the IP-CLICC SIG Coordinator

• Khyati Brahmbhatt(She/Her), MD, DFAACAP 
  Professor of Clinical Psychiatry 
  Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania 
  Division Chief, Clinical Affairs, Integrated Psychiatry, Psychology and Behavioral Services (Hospital Based/Acute Services) 
  Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 
  Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 
  Coordinator, IACAPAP Special Interest Group on International Pediatric Consultation-Liaison, Integrated and Collaborative Care 
  Co-Chair, Physically Ill Child Committee, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 
   
• Coordinator's profile

This initiative aims to build an inclusive, collaborative network that supports whole-person pediatric mental health care and strengthens consultation-liaison, integrated, and collaborative care worldwide, particularly in settings with limited specialist resources.

Membership will be open to IACAPAP members and partners who share the SIG’s mission and wish to contribute to an international community of practice.

To become a member of the IP-CLICC SIG, please complete the membership application form via this link and send us a copy of your CV to info@iacapap.org. 

Should you have other questions, please contact us at info@iacapap.org.