DESCRIPTION Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects individuals from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, including the Black community. However, there are unique challenges and considerations when it comes to autism in the Black community. It is important to recognize and address these factors to ensure that families receive access to care, appropriate treatment, support and understanding. This webinar is in recognition of Autism Acceptance Month (April), which promotes the inclusion and acceptance of individuals diagnosed with ASD.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES Cite statistics and prevalence Explain cultural awareness and recognition of autism in Black Communities Identify disparities and barriers to access, diagnosis and treatment Name solutions to barriers   PRESENTER LaKisha Mamon, MD is an Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatrist who serves as the Director of Child and Youth Services at Metropolitan Human Services District in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Mamon holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana and a medical degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She completed her adult internship and residency at the Louisiana State University/Ochsner Adult Residency Program in New Orleans and completed an additional 2-year fellowship in Child and Adolescent Training at LSU. She is also a trainee of the Harris Program for Infant Mental Health. Dr. Mamon has special interests in early childhood intervention and the impacts of systemic inequity on children and families.    HOST Annelle Primm MD, MPH is the Senior Medical Director of the Steve Fund, an organization focused on the mental health of young people of color. She is also a member of the Black Psychiatrists of America Council of Elders.   AUDIENCE Mental health professionals, behavioral health professionals, general public, education professionals, speech therapists   This webinar is part of the Health Equity Webinar Series, an ongoing collaboration between the Central East MHTTC and the Black Psychiatrists of America to increase education and awareness surrounding mental health in the Black community. View past webinars in the series 

Research has indicated that youth may experience racism, prejudice, and bias as early as preschool. In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their experiences of working within schools and school districts and learn strategies to help students navigate a culturally complex world while decreasing negative physical, emotional, and psychological outcomes. This webinar will also focus on existing policies within school systems and assess how those policies impact access to equitable and high quality mental and behavioral health care for communities of color. Attendees will walk away with strategies for how to discuss these topic areas with their students and how to support students who are coping with complex cultural issues in developmentally appropriate ways.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Define racial stress and trauma and Provide examples of how racial stress and trauma can occur in schools Identify the systems & policies within schools that impact student health and wellness Understanding the role of implicit bias in school systems & policies   CERTIFICATES: Registrants who fully attend this event or training will receive a certificate of attendance via email within two weeks after the event or training.   PRESENTERS: Nicole L. Cammack, PhD Dr. Nicole L. Cammack is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Speaker, Media Contributor, and the Founder, President and CEO of Black Mental Wellness, Corp. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Howard University and her Master’s and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The George Washington University. Lastly, she completed a specialized Postdoctoral Fellowship, with the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine. Dr. Cammack is passionate about mental health awareness, treatment, and reducing the mental health stigma, particularly as it relates to Black communities. This passion is what led to the development of Black Mental Wellness, Corp an organization of clinical psychologists passionate about shifting the narrative of mental health in the Black community. In addition, she is a co-author of, Healing Racial Stress Workbook for Black Teens: Skills to Help You Manage Emotions, Resist Racism, and Feel Empowered. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, Essence, People, Thrive Global, Good Housekeeping, Salesforce, and Rally Up Magazine (Cover feature). In addition, she was recognized as a 40 under 40 Honoree with the Leadership Center for Excellence and recognized through her work at Fort Meade and the Department of the Army with an Achievement Medal for Civilian Service. Danielle R. Busby, PhD Dr. Danielle Busby is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Speaker, Author, Educator, and Co-Founder and Vice President of Professional Relations of Black Mental Wellness Corp. She received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan and her Master’s and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the George Washington University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship, with a child trauma specialization, at Duke University’s Medical Center and a postdoctoral fellowship at Michigan Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Busby is passionate about decreasing barriers to mental health service use for underserved patient populations and is committed to continuously bridging the gap between research and clinical practice. Her research and clinical work are centered on examining barriers to mental health service use, specifically among Black youth who are at an elevated risk for suicide. She has led and contributed to scholarly articles and research on child trauma, youth suicide prevention, racial discrimination among Black youth, and the psychological effects of neighborhood stressors, such as, community violence exposure among Black adolescents. Dr. Busby and her work has been featured in NBC News, People, Women’s Health, Parents, Rally Up Magazine (Cover feature), PsychAlive, and WJLA news. Additionally, she is an awarded recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research. She is a proud member of the American Psychological Association’s Leadership Development Institute, SelfSea Digital Wellbeing Advisory Board, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she has served for over 15 years. Dr. Busby was born in Detroit, MI and raised in Southfield, MI. She loves early morning yoga, college football Saturdays, and traveling with her close family and friends.   This event is being held in partnership with Black Mental Wellness.   The Great Lakes MHTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.

Event Description This presentation will define and describe adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and review the substantial empirical evidence on their mental and physical health effects. Multiple ways of understanding and assessing for ACEs will be discussed, as will how to identify and address them in clinical practice.    Trainer Melanie Wilcox Dr. Melanie Wilcox is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences, Institute of Public and Preventive Health, and Department of Psychiatry at Augusta University. She is also a licensed psychologist and board certified in counseling psychology and works part-time in private practice providing both therapy and assessment via telehealth. Her clinical areas of expertise include culturally responsive and trauma-informed care as well as substance abuse and addiction. Her research focuses on culturally response and antiracist psychotherapy and training, racial and socioeconomic inequity in higher education, and racial and social justice more broadly. She is in her final year as a member of the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, which she chaired in 2020, and is currently President Elect-Elect of APA Division 17, the Society of Counseling Psychology.  

This event is part of the UW SMART Center's 2024 Virtual Speaker Series. Learn more and register for upcoming events in the series here. Bullying Prevention in Elementary and Middle Schools: Foundations and Student Ownership Description: Session attendants will learn about school readiness for bullying prevention, what staff and students can do to create a safe school climate, and how school members and students can teach and reinforce prosocial behaviors.   Objectives Core features of bullying prevention  Increasing student buy-in and ownership  Examples of student ownership from exemplar districts    Presentation Materials Recording Available Here! About the Presenter: Rhonda Nese, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences Scientist, Prevention Science Institute Affiliate Faculty, Prevention Science Program   Rhonda Nese, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon and the Director of the Nese Lab. She is also a Scientist within the Prevention Science Institute, a multidisciplinary research institute at the University of Oregon. Dr. Nese’s research involves equitable intervention delivery within a multi-tiered behavior support framework focused on preventative strategies for improving student outcomes.​ Dr. Nese currently serves as the director of an IES grant to refine and test an intervention to reduce exclusionary discipline practices, improve student-teacher relationships, and increase instructional time for students in secondary settings, and co-principal investigator on additional federally-funded projects to identify factors that predict implementation and sustainability of evidence-based practices, to develop technology to improve online learning for educators, and to develop and validate an automated scoring system for oral reading fluency. Dr. Nese also provides technical assistance to state, district, and school level teams across the nation on preventative practices, including addressing implicit bias in school discipline, effective classroom behavior management strategies, bullying prevention, and alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices through the OSEP-funded National TA-Center on PBIS. Dr. Nese is the recipient of the 2022 Presidential Equity Award from the NorthWest PBIS Network and the 2022 Outstanding Early Career Award from the University of Oregon, the UO’s highest award for early career faculty to recognize and celebrate an emerging and significant record of scholarship and research.      Want more information and school mental health resources? Visit the Northwest MHTTC's School Mental Health page and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates about events, trainings, and resources available to the Northwest region.

It is imperative to create and maintain a safe, comfortable, open, and welcoming work environment with opportunities for learning and growth for organizations.  When considering a safe and supportive work environment, we must stress the importance of leaders who embrace and prioritize person-centered approaches. Creating a positive workplace challenges our individual and collective beliefs on what may be needed to create and sustain healthy work environments. Although there is no one answer, this resource can be helpful when building this environment within your organization.

Description: For those who grew up associating drugs with natural sources like marijuana plants, poppy fields, and cocoa leaves, it can be tough to keep up with the shift to synthetic drugs made of chemicals some people may not know they’re ingesting. This workshop will help participants understand the current drug landscape, including stimulants (e.g. methamphetamine and cocaine), powerful opioids like fentanyl and nitazines, and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer increasingly showing up in the drug supply in some regions. It will also cover drug use trends, such as increasing polysubstance use, higher potency drugs, and the risks of mixing illicit drugs, alcohol, and medications. Participants will learn about factors that have contributed to rising overdose rates—including nonfatal overdoses—strategies to minimize risks, and how to recognize and respond to an overdose, as well as where to obtain naloxone. Goals: Increase participants’ awareness of current drug use patterns, the increasing potency of both plant-based and synthetic drugs, and how to prevent, recognize, and respond to an overdose. Workshop Outline: Discuss drug use trends (increasing polysubstance use, shift to synthetics vs. plant-based drugs, mixing prescription medications & illicit drugs, increasing stimulant use). Present graphics depicting increasing strength and potency of illicit drugs (cannabis, methamphetamine, etc.) and effects of different drugs. Overview of fentanyl and xylazine as well as other drugs like nitazines + kratom. Overdose statistics and definitions (opioid vs stimulant ODs). Risk factors for an overdose (including nonfatal overdoses). Strategies to reduce overdose risks. Signs of an overdose. Naloxone – brief overview and where to get it, plus sources for additional training. Good Samaritan laws protecting people who respond to an overdose. Trainer Bio Susan Stellin, MPH is a writer, educator, and public health consultant focusing on health-centered responses to substance use and addiction. Since earning a master's in public health at Columbia University, she has worked on projects about ways to reduce overdose deaths, reform punitive drug policies, and expand access to harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support. Recent clients include NYU Langone’s Health x Housing Lab, the Northeast & Caribbean Addiction Technology Transfer Center, the Opioid Response Network, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Overdose Prevention Program at Vital Strategies, and the Vera Institute of Justice. She regularly leads training workshops for service providers working with people experiencing substance use, mental health, and housing challenges, and has also taught undergraduate courses about media ethics, collaborative storytelling, and the history of journalism.