Department of Psychiatry

Michelle Dorwart, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine (left), and Margaret Spottswood, M.D.’11, M.P.H., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and medical program director of the Vermont Child Psychiatry Access Program

(AUGUST 5, 2024) Michelle Dorwart, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine, and Margaret Spottswood, M.D.’11, M.P.H., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and medical program director of the Vermont Child Psychiatry Access Program (VTCPAP), were quoted in a WCAX-TV story on expanding children’s mental health access in Vermont.

A grant-funded program started in 2022 amid a mass shortage of child psychiatrists in Vermont, VTCPAP helps track down the right therapists or connects primary care physicians with resources, forging a faster path to better care.

PCPs like Dorwart struggled to keep up with patients who could spend months waiting for a doctor’s appointment. “Before we were kind of on our own to sort it out,” she said.

Today, VTCPAP is nearing 1,000 calls from PCPs in all 14 counties of Vermont. More than 82 percent report improved work-life quality because of the program. “To be able to know that we have that kind of support is really huge,” said Dorwart.

Spottswood says shorter wait times are exactly what the program aims to accomplish. “We want that to happen immediately. As soon as we have identified a challenge,” she said.

The program has also helped identify gaps in Vermont’s mental health resources, like a lack of therapists who specialize in autism and eating disorders. VTCPAP hopes to be part of the solution, training hundreds of PCPs every year to treat these mental health conditions.

“It’s really exciting that a lot of therapists are really interested in meeting the need,” said Spottswood.