Join us for an informative two-hour webinar designed to inspire students and young professionals interested in careers that make a difference in mental health and wellness.  This session will spotlight behavioral health providers from the Great Lakes Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI) through pre-recorded interviews, providing a firsthand look at what it’s like to work in counseling, social work, peer support, and other behavioral health roles. Each video will address key questions, such as the objectives of these roles, the day-to-day responsibilities, and the education and training pathways required to enter the field. Participants will also learn about the unique perks, job prospects, salary ranges, and financial support options available, including loan forgiveness and paid internships. Additionally, we will highlight recruitment and retention strategies employed by regional organizations in Great Lakes Region 5. CDR Sharyl Trail, PsyD, from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), will join us to discuss national recruitment efforts and resources available to those interested in pursuing a career in behavioral health.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Learn what behavioral health professionals do, how they spend their workday, and how they create positive change in the lives of others. Learn about the necessary education, training, and time commitment required for various behavioral health careers. Get details on job demand, salary ranges, and available financial support, such as loan forgiveness and paid internships. Gain knowledge of effective recruitment and retention strategies employed by behavioral health organizations in Region 5. Learn about HRSA’s national efforts to recruit and retain mental health providers and the resources available to support your career journey.   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.   PANELISTS: Sharyl Trail, PsyD CDR Sharyl Trail serves as the HRSA Regional Administrator for HHS Region 5- Chicago.  She previously served as the Deputy Regional Administrator and Acting Regional Administrator in HHS Region 6- Dallas. CDR Trail is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Officer in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS). Prior to joining HRSA, CDR Trail served for 12 years at Indian Health Service (IHS) as a clinician, BH Director, and Healthcare Administrator. CDR Trail is a National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Alumni with experience working at FQHC look-a-likes in rural and frontier areas. She is a national leader and speaker on the topic of Workforce Wellness, Resiliency, and Burnout. CDR Trail’s scholarly publications, book chapters, and presentations focus on leadership development, burn out and secondary trauma, trauma informed and integrated care, suicide and crisis assessment, and clinical supervision.  She is committed in her clinical work and roles as Administrator and Public Health Officer to work toward health equity for all citizens.   INDIANA ASPIN Kathy Cook, CEO/President Karissa Morris, MSW, LSW, CCHW-CT   ILLINOIS ILABH Meredith O'Brien, Vice President of Public Policy and Training   MICHIGAN CMHA Robert Sheehan, Executive Director   OHIO OACBHA Elijah Jones, MSW, MEd, LISW-S, LICDC, CHES, CDP   WISCONSIN WAFCA Allyson Forseth, Behavioral Health Initiatives Coordinator   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.

This is Session 1 of the "Empowering Pathways" series. Event Description This training provides participants with tools and techniques to implement strength-based goal setting within behavioral health practices. By focusing on clients' inherent strengths, rather than deficits, this approach empowers individuals to set and achieve meaningful, personalized goals that foster resilience and recovery. Participants will learn how to collaborate effectively with clients to identify strengths, set achievable goals, and track progress. This training is ideal for behavioral health professionals seeking to enhance client outcomes through a positive, empowering framework.  Learning Outcomes:  Participants will learn ways to identify and leverage client strengths to develop personalized, achievable goals in behavioral health settings.  Participants will identify at least 2 techniques for facilitating collaborative goal-setting conversations that empower clients and foster engagement.  Participants will gain strategies for tracking and adjusting goals to ensure continuous client progress and motivation.  Trainer Lamarr Lewis is a dedicated advocate, author, and agent of change. With a focus on community-based mental and public health, he works with diverse groups including individuals living with psychiatric disabilities, people in recovery from substance abuse, and at-hope youth (He does not use the term at-risk).    He is an alumnus of Wittenberg University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with minors in Africana Studies and Religion. He later received his master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Argosy University.    His career spans over twenty years with experience as a therapist, consultant, public speaker, facilitator, trainer, and human service professional. He has been a featured expert for such organizations as; Boeing, Region IV Public Health Training Center, Fulton County Probate Court, Mississippi Department of Health, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and many more.    His lifelong mission is to leave the world better than how he found it.  

This webinar will delve into the evolving landscape of virtual reality (VR) in mental health and behavioral healthcare. It will cover the therapeutic potential of VR, balanced against the risks of unregulated virtual environments. Attendees will gain insights into how virtual worlds can revolutionize telehealth applications, offering innovative therapy options and expanding access to care. By viewing these environments as social systems, both their positive impacts and potential pitfalls will be explored. The webinar will also discuss the critical legal and ethical questions surrounding VR in mental health, highlighting the urgent need for policy development to guide its safe and effective use.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES: -Understand the therapeutic potential and risks of virtual environments and analyze virtual environments as social systems. -Discuss ethical and legal considerations for integrating virtual environments into mental health care. -Emphasize the need for policy development, professional engagement, and learning to guide the safe and effective use of virtual reality.   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.   PRESENTER: Donna Z. Davis, PhD, Director, Immersive Media Communication Master’s Program & Oregon Reality (OR) Lab, University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication Donna Z. Davis joined the University of Oregon faculty in fall 2010 when she taught in Eugene for one year before moving to Portland. She now directs the Immersive Media Communication master’s program and the Oregon Reality (OR) lab at the SOJC-Portland. She brings more than 25 years’ experience in public relations, fundraising, and nonprofit communication to the classroom, including 10 years as producer and host of Family Album Radio, an award-winning, daily, two-minute radio program distributed through NPR.   Davis earned her PhD in mass communication from the University of Florida, where she studied relationship formation in 3D immersive virtual environments. Her ethnographic research continues to focus on the potential uses of immersive media, virtual worlds, gamification, and other emerging social media, with a special interest in marginalized and vulnerable populations. Her research on embodied experience and identity among people with disabilities in virtual reality was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation. She was also an inaugural faculty fellow for the SOJC Agora Journalism Center for Innovation and Civic Engagement, extending her work with people with Parkinson’s disease who find and build support in the virtual world. 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.

About this Resource: The Southeast MHTTC Newsletter highlights upcoming events and recently released products as well as shares information on available resources from SAMHSA and the MHTTC network. The September 2024 issue promotes National Suicide Prevention Month and National Recovery Month. This issue also highlights our recently developed products, celebrates efforts being done by Region IV states, and provides resources available through the MHTTC Network and SAMHSA to connect individuals to needed treatment and support.

The first issue of our September 2024 newsletter features events and resources of interest to the workforce, and spotlights resources for Suicide Prevention Month.

ABOUT THIS RESOURCE This presentation will review the ways in which climate change threatens human wellbeing. Bearing in mind the interdependence of mental and physical health, we will start with an overview of health impacts in general. We will then go into more detail about the different ways in which climate change can affect mental health, summarizing recent research on direct, indirect, and vicarious impacts. Finally, we will draw from some Canadian research to describe specific examples of communities where mental health has been affected by events associated with climate change. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Presentation slides FACILITATORS Kristie Ebi, PhD, MPH Kristie Ebi has been conducting research on the health risks of climate variability and change for over 30 years, focusing on estimating current and future health risks of climate change; designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce these risks in multi-stressor environments; and quantifying the health co-benefits of mitigation policies. She has worked with multiple countries worldwide in assessing their vulnerability and implementing adaptation measures. She was a lead author for the 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment cycle; edited four books on aspects of climate change; and has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. Susan Clayton, PhD Susan Clayton is the Whitmore-Williams Professor and Chair of Psychology at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Dr. Clayton’s research examines people’s relationship with the natural environment, how it is socially constructed, and how a healthy relationship with nature can be promoted. She has written about the effects of climate change on mental health and has developed a scale to assess climate anxiety. She is author or editor of six books, including Identity and the Natural Environment, Conservation Psychology, and Psychology and Climate Change, and is currently the editor of the Cambridge Elements series in Applied Social Psychology. A fellow of the American Psychological Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology, she was a lead author on the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  Sherilee Harper, MSc, PhD Sherilee Harper is a Canada Research Chair in Climate Change and Health, Kule Scholar, and Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta.  Her research investigates associations between weather, environment, and health equity in the context of climate change, and she collaborates with partners across sectors to prioritize climate-related health actions, planning, interventions, and research. She was a Lead Author on two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports; served on the Gender Task Group for the IPCC; Lead Author on Health Canada's 2022 Climate Change and Health Assessment; and Co-chaired the Government of Canada's Health and Wellbeing Advisory Table for the National Adaptation Strategy. Terms of use and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) disclosure statement