Access to Mental Health Statewide Initiative

MACA’s commitment to expanding access to mental health services for child victims of abuse continued to grow in 2025, marked by a landmark five years of the Problematic Sexual Behavior (PSB) initiative in Massachusetts, a record breaking PSB Learning Collaborative cohort, a strengthened Service Navigator role, and the formation of a bold new advisory board that will shape the statewide response to youth with PSB for years to come.

Five Years of PSB in Massachusetts: A Milestone Worth Celebrating

This year marked five years of MACA’s PSB initiative in Massachusetts, and the progress made during that time reflects the power of sustained investment, strong partnerships, and shared commitment.

What began as a recommendation from the Massachusetts Legislative Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Task Force (CSAP) and foundational funding from Children’s Trust of Massachusetts has grown into a nationally recognized model for statewide PSB response. With the partnership and training expertise of the University of Oklahoma (OU) and the National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth (NCSBY), MACA has trained over 100 participants across the state in PSB Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PSB-CBT). Just as importantly, we have built a clear and sustainable plan that will allow Massachusetts to assume full ownership of this training within the next one to two years.

We have now trained five state trainers in both the clinical and senior leader models of PSB-CBT, and we are actively working to bring the preschool and adolescent models to Massachusetts. Our training and sustainability plan continues to mature, and we are proud to be investing in clinicians and senior leaders who want to pursue advanced training and leadership in serving children and youth with PSB.

MACA has emerged as a core resource for other states seeking to build similar initiatives. For example, MACA has presented to the New York Complex Care Committee and consulted with states including Utah, New Jersey, Illinois, and Nebraska on developing statewide PSB approaches. See below where PSB services are available in Massachusetts.

PSB Learning Collaborative Cohort 5: A Record Year

Cohort 5 of the PSB Learning Collaborative set a new precedent for the initiative. With a record number of applicants, the cohort welcomed 23 clinicians and 8 senior leaders for a total of 31 participants across 8 community-based mental health agencies and 4 Children’s Advocacy Centers. The first two learning collaboratives took place in Fall 2025, with learning collaboratives three and four scheduled for 2026.

To support long-term sustainability, two clinicians completed Within Agency Trainer (WATer) training, which allows them to onboard and consult with new clinicians within their own organizations, significantly accelerating capacity building at the local level.

MACA continues to invest in trainers, which is central to MACA’s goal of building a Massachusetts-specific training team capable of running cohorts independently within the next two years.

Expanding Access to Training and Clinical Excellence

Throughout 2025, MACA continued to send clinicians across the state to specialized advanced training opportunities, including:

MACA recently partnered with the Essex County Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) and Children’s Cove to secure a grant from the Tower Foundation, which supported an in-person Child Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI) training in October 2025. The two-day training was attended by 32 clinicians from across Essex County and the Cape and Islands, expanding the reach of this important intervention to providers who might not otherwise have access to it.

CACs have identified the need for support in managing wait times for services, clearer pathways for partnership with community-based mental health agencies, and broader outreach to clinicians trained in diverse modalities, languages, and telehealth availability. That’s why MACA works regularly with the mental health coordinators and clinical directors of our CACs to address these barriers and connect families to appropriate care.

The Service Navigator: Deepening Connections to Care

Madeline Bacon, LICSW, rejoined MACA in 2026 in the role of Service Navigator, bringing with her a background as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker whose career has focused on supporting children and families impacted by trauma and abuse, increasing access to mental health care, and providing high-quality training and consultation on child sexual abuse and problematic sexual behaviors.

The Service Navigator role has expanded in meaningful ways. When a CAC or mental health agency needs help finding appropriate mental health treatment for a young person, whether PSB specific or otherwise, Madeline steps in to identify suitable providers aligned with a family’s specific needs, initiate contact with agencies to facilitate introductions, securely share essential intake information, and provide additional support for complex cases including out of county referrals and telemental health options.

Madeline also plays a key role as a crucial link between families, providers, and the broader system of care.

Looking Ahead: The YPSB Advisory Board and 2026 Goals

In late 2025, MACA launched the Youth with Problematic Sexual Behavior (YPSB) Advisory Board, a multidisciplinary body formed to improve the statewide response to all youth ages 4 to 17 who have engaged in problematic or illegal sexual behaviors. More than 25 members drawn from juvenile justice, the Department of Children and Families, Children’s Advocacy Centers, in-state PSB CBT trainers, Assistant District Attorneys, and other key professionals make up this board.

Some of the YPSB Advisory Board’s work includes:

Looking ahead, MACA is also partnering with Dr. Ryan Shields of UMass Lowell, lead researcher on our independent study of PSB CBT outcomes in Massachusetts, to build a new data management system. MACA’s goal is to have the system tested and ready for use by Fall 2026, with the administrative side fully operational by 2027, allowing Massachusetts to independently manage PSB CBT cohort applications and training administration as ownership transitions fully to our state team.