Run in collaboration with the hospital’s Behavioral Medicine Center, it’s one of the few state programs providing mental health treatment specifically for children with chronic medical conditions and their families. Research shows children with chronic illnesses are at least twice as likely as healthy children to develop a mental health disorder. Yet there are few mental health treatment programs that cater to the needs of these children and their families. “We can’t continue to treat people as if their physical health is over here, and their mental health is over here,” Distelberg said. Her investigative stories on access to mental health care have resulted in legislative and policy changes.