1039: How Illinois and Google Are Transforming Children’s Behavioral Health

As part of our spotlight series on artificial intelligence in public health, today’s episode explores the BEACON Portal—a groundbreaking collaboration between Google and the state of Illinois designed to streamline access to behavioral health services for children and families.  Dr. Dana Weiner, Chief Officer for Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation in the Illinois Governor’s Office, and Julia Strehlow, Senior Advisor at the Illinois Department of Public Health discuss how BEACON centralizes information for families, enables secure cross-agency communication, and uses transparent AI-powered matching to connect young people to the services they’re eligible for—faster and more accurately than ever before.  The conversation highlights Beacon’s unique development process rooted in family and provider feedback, the platform’s rigorous privacy and security protections, and how Illinois is partnering with clinicians statewide to boost adoption.