How Backpack Healthcare is Supporting Children’s Advocacy Centers with Timely Mental Health Care
Clinically reviewed by Afshan Mizrahi, Licensed Therapist
When a child discloses abuse or trauma, timing is everything. At Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), professionals work tirelessly to ensure victims are heard, believed, and supported—but one of the most critical challenges they face is securing immediate, trauma-informed mental health care.
That’s where Backpack Healthcare comes in.
Bridging the Gap After Disclosure
At the moment of disclosure, often during a forensic interview, children are emotionally raw and in urgent need of support. Unfortunately, long waitlists, transportation barriers, and lack of Medicaid-accepting providers can delay care for weeks or even months.
Backpack Healthcare partners with CACs to eliminate these barriers. Our virtual care model ensures children can be connected with a licensed, trauma-informed therapist within just a few days, often before the child has even left the center’s support system.
Trauma-Informed, Family-Centered Care
Backpack’s clinicians are trained in trauma-informed practices, ensuring children are treated with sensitivity, empathy, and care. Many of the families CACs serve face additional challenges: poverty, language barriers, lack of access to transportation, and distrust of medical systems.
Our virtual model helps break down those barriers:
- Telehealth from anywhere: Children and caregivers can receive care from their home, shelter, or trusted location
- Medicaid accepted: We partner with state agencies to ensure insurance is never a barrier.
- Bilingual clinicians: We offer services in English and Spanish to meet families where they are.
The Power of Partnership
Working with CACs is more than a referral pipeline, it’s a collaborative relationship. We understand that reliving traumatic events during intake or telling their story repeatedly can be retraumatizing for families. That’s why our care team coordinates closely with CAC advocates, using warm handoffs and trauma-sensitive communication to ease the burden on families.
When organizations like Advocates for Children (advochild.org) refer a family to us, they can trust that we’ll carry that family forward with dignity, urgency, and compassion.
When and How to Refer
CAC professionals, family advocates, and case workers can refer children and families to Backpack Healthcare in three easy ways:
- Use our online referral form to submit a referral
- Call or text: (866) 968-6342
- Email: intake@hellobackpack.com
- Online: Complete our referral form at hellobackpack.com/partners
Our Promise to Advocacy Partners
Backpack Healthcare is committed to:
- Timely access: Appointments within 5 days or less
- Trauma-informed clinicians: Skilled in child abuse recovery and emotional regulation
- Family support: Including caregiver counseling and psychiatry services
- Ongoing communication: We’ll provide updates, care coordination, and wraparound support
Together with Children’s Advocacy Centers across Georgia and beyond, we’re redefining what it means to show up for kids.
Let’s build a path to healing, one child at a time. Partner with us today.