The COVID-19 viral pandemic is a ferocious force savaging millions of lives in its wake. Many experts predict a major mental health aftershock due to the myriad disruptions of daily life. Mental health providers and systems will need to reengineer treatment paradigms and delivery models. This article advocates for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based modular, transdiagnostic, principle-guided, and single-session treatment approaches to be used in integrated pediatric primary care clinics as ways to meet the swelling behavioral health needs of youth and families. The value of integrated pediatric behavioral health and stepped care paradigms is championed. Furthermore, multiple recommendations for practice, training, service delivery, workforce development, public behavioral health literacy, and advocacy in the next normal are described.
Clinical Impact StatementCOVID-19 represents an unprecedented public health crisis and is expected to result in large increases in referrals for pediatric behavioral health concerns. Existing mental health practices, procedures, and systems were caught unprepared by the viral outbreak. Accordingly, a new direction for service delivery which relies on modular brief treatments, integrated care, greater workforce development, and advocacy is needed.