Transforming the workforce in children's mental health.

Building on the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, this article highlights the twofold crisis in children's mental health: a critical shortage of practitioners in child-serving disciplines, and a mismatch between training and preparation and actual practice and service delivery. The authors discuss the challenges of transforming the workforce in the context of changing population demographics, the prevalence of complex childhood disorders, and emerging evidence-based practices. The authors conclude with recommendations targeted to states, community agencies, universities, professional associations, and advocates.