Department of Pediatrics

Greta Spottswood, M.D.'11, M.P.H., at Community Health Centers in Burlington, where she is medical program director of the Vermont Child Psychiatry Access Program

(FEBRUARY 19, 2023) Alexandra Bannach, M.D., clinical assistant professor of pediatrics; child psychiatrist Haley McGowan, D.O., assistant professor of psychiatry and medical director of the Child, Adolescent, and Family Unit at the state Department of Mental Health; and child psychiatrist Greta Spottswood, M.D.’11, M.P.H., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Vermont Child Psychiatry Access Program (VTCPAP), spoke to VTDigger about VTCPAP, a grant-funded program conceived of by Spottswood that offers a free telephone hotline for primary care providers (PCPs) who see children and youth with mild to moderate mental health challenges.

Given the shortage of board-certified child psychiatrists in Vermont, the long wait times for an appointment, and an alarming increase in the number of children and adolescents who meet criteria for a mental health disorder, McGowan says “limited access to mental health resources here in Vermont means that primary care providers — pediatricians, family medicine doctors — end up providing that care often in ways that feel far out of the range of their expertise and training.” Spottswood’s new program, McGowan adds, “really does help to save a lot of that child psychiatry workforce for those more acute cases.”

“I don’t know if I can communicate … how much having the program has helped us in feeling comfortable and more confident that the care we provide is actually appropriate,” Bannach said. “It’s really been an absolute game-changer.”

Read more about Spottswood and VTCPAP:
Medical Alum Helps Establish Much-Needed VT Child Psychiatry Access Program