Chad Anderson is Chief Clinical Officer of KVC Health Systems where he oversees all clinical behavioral healthcare services the organization provides to children and families.  He also manages government relations, and provides leadership for the KVC Institute for Health Systems Innovation which uses neuroscience, technology and evidence-based practices to transform the experience of childhood for all children. He is passionate about prevention, both as it relates to mental health and preventing suicide, and to child welfare and safely preventing the need for foster care.

Chad began working for KVC as a residential therapist and intake social worker in 1999. Over the last 25 years, he has served in many roles including Clinical Treatment Supervisor, Lead Clinician for In-Home Evaluations and Treatment, Permanency Director, Director of Outpatient Clinical Services for KVC Kansas, Director of Clinical Services for Camber Mental Health (previously KVC Hospitals), Vice President of Clinical Services for KVC Kansas, and ultimately President of KVC Kansas. In that role, he led a team of over 700 people building a child welfare system that is safe, secure and stable. He also ensured the services were family-centered, connected to the community and focused by evidence-based practices. Chad led the integration of trauma-informed care into the Kansas foster care system, an endeavor which was the subject of a five-year study from Child Trends and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This trauma-informed care work, known as “Bridging the Way Home,” was shown to positively impact children’s wellbeing and placement stability.

Currently, Chad and his team are involved in several groundbreaking research projects. One includes a partnership with Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago to study the impacts of using KVC’s Safe & Connected^TM research-informed child welfare practice model. The practice model can be used with community providers, cultural networks, and other community resources as a way of preventing system involvement and safeguarding children, older youth, adults, and families collectively across generations. Ultimately, the goal is to establish an evidence base for the Safe & Connected practice model so it can be reviewed and considered for inclusion within the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse.

Chad received his bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in sociology from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and his master’s in social work with a specialization in mental health from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

He can be found on LinkedIn. More information about KVC Health Systems is here.