The South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC), invites Region 6 Peer Specialists and Family Partners to participate in our monthly networking meetings. These no-cost, virtual meetings offer you the opportunity to collaborate with other Peer Specialists and Family Partners in a supportive, mentoring environment. The goal is to provide a space for resource sharing, support around ways to be most effective when working with clients, options for self-care strategies, and more! This event takes place on the first Friday of each month from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. CT.  About the Facilitator:  Jessi Davis (she/they) is an experienced Program Coordinator with a demonstrated history of working in the Peer Support, Mental Health, and Substance Use Recovery fields. Jessi is known for work surrounding Youth and Young Adult Peer Support training, technical assistance, and leadership. Their qualifications include Mental Health Peer Specialist, Recovery Support Peer Specialist, Peer Recovery Support Specialist – Transitional Aged Youth, and Digital Peer Support certifications. Currently working at the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, Jessi works to provide support, technical assistance, and training to the peer workforce throughout the 5 states and all tribal communities within Region 6. They have spent much of their career focused on Youth and Young Adult Peer Support and is currently the President of the National Association of Peer Supporters.

The South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) invites peer specialists from across Region 6 to apply for the Healing & Power in Peer Support training. Studies have shown that most people will experience trauma at least once in their lifetimes. In order to be effective, peer specialists should have an embodied understanding of trauma and healing. The Healing & Power in Peer Support training was developed to train peer supporters on the concepts of power and healing-centered practice, and how those concepts impact peer support. The Youth and Young Adult Peer Support training is available for anyone who works, or is interested in working, as a peer specialist. The only prerequisite to attendance is that participants must have previous formal training in peer support practice (e.g., their state’s Peer Specialist certification training, Intentional Peer Support, etc.). This three-day training provides participants with a foundation for how power shows up in peer support relationships, how Healing-Centered Engagement principles can foster healing relationships and “power with,” and how peer specialists can integrate healing-centered principles into their practice of supporting others and themselves. This is a highly experiential training, where participants will integrate practice with their own lived experience through structured reflection, group discussion, and interactive activities. The application deadline is June 17, 2024. Learning Objectives: At the end of this training, it is envisioned that participants will be able ​​to: Identify the basic principles of Healing-Centered Engagement; Employ radical acceptance and empathy to foster healing relationships; Define the concept of “meaning-making” and how storytelling plays a role in healing; Apply skills for holding space in relation to supporting self and others; Describe the different forms that power can take; Assess power dynamics within a peer support relationship to foster “power with” another person; and Understand how racism and oppression impact power dynamics both broadly and specifically to peer support.     Facilitators: Jessi Davis (she/they) is an experienced Program Coordinator and Peer Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the Peer Support, Mental Health, and Substance Use Recovery industries. Jessi is known for work surrounding Youth and Young Adult Peer Support training, technical assistance, and leadership. Currently working at the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, Jessi works to provide support, technical assistance, and training to the Peer Workforce throughout the 5 states and all tribal communities within Region 6. They have spent much of their career focused on promoting access to quality Peer Specialist services across the lifespan. Darcy Kues (she/her) is a Project Manager with the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center and the Addiction Research Institute, where she writes curricula focused on peer support and recovery services. She has over 7 years of experience in curriculum development, grant writing, and program coordination for peer support services and recovery-oriented behavioral health. Darcy has developed trainings on reentry peer support, youth and young adult peer support, trauma responsiveness, peer support supervision, LGBTQ affirming services, and more. She is committed to building a world where recovery and lived experience are centered at every level of decision-making.

This training is full. If you'd like to be put on a waiting list, please contact Jen Winslow ([email protected]).   An Introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Enhancing Your Practice and Your Life with Acceptance, Self-Compassion, and Values-Based Action. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an evidenced-based intervention model grounded in mindfulness, self-compassion, and values-based action. Clients learn to encounter thoughts and feelings in a mindful way, neither dwelling on them nor pushing them away. At the same time, they are encouraged to act on their most deeply held values. In over 1000 randomized controlled trials and nearly 200 meta-analyses and systematic reviews, ACT has been shown to be efficacious for a wide variety of problems helping professionals address, including depression, anxiety, OCD, psychosis, substance abuse, chronic pain, dealing with cancer, stress, and stigma. Rather than going after reducing symptoms, ACT increases psychological flexibility: the capacity to turn to the present moment as a conscious human being and take action according to personally-chosen values. ACT can enhance your practice as professional as well move one, giving you a transdiagnostic evidence-based model from which to stand. But it can also impact your life, giving you a framework for preventing burnout, finding balance, and engaging meaningfully in the world outside of work. In this two-day, highly interactive virtual workshop, professionals of any experience level will be introduced to psychological flexibility both intellectually and experientially. You will learn what it’s like, in practice, to open up to thoughts and feelings without getting entangled in them, identify what truly matters to you, and take meaningful action. Training modalities will include brief lecture, clinical vignettes, clinical demonstrations, mindfulness exercises, experiential exercises, large group discussions, small group discussions, and small-group skills practice. This won’t be your typical slog of slides as you sit for hours with glazed eyes. You’ll get multiple opportunities to watch ACT demonstrations, practice ACT with yourself, and practice ACT skills with others. The workshop is intended to be both professionally and personally meaningful.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES Define psychological flexibility and identify its six components: acceptance, defusion, present moment awareness, self-as-context, values, and committed action. Identify three strategies for facilitating acceptance and willingness with clients. Identify three strategies for facilitating defusion with clients. Help clients contact the moment-to-moment experience of thoughts, feelings, and sensations without becoming absorbed in them or trying to push them away. Contact a sense of self that is more stable than transient thoughts and feelings and transcends personal narratives about who they are and what they are capable of. Facilitate conversations with clients about personal values and values-based behavior activation.   PARTICIPANT REQUIREMENTS Must have the appropriate technology and work environment to join the Zoom training sessions. Must actively engage during training sessions using both camera and microphone. Space is limited. Please only register if you are able to attend both days of the training, Due to the limited capacity, priority will be given to those working in HHS Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI).   CONTINUING EDUCATION Registrants who fully attend this training will be eligible to receive 12 continuing education (CE) hours. CE certification will be managed by the co-sponsoring organization, UW–Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work.   PRESENTER   Michael P. Twohig, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in the state of Utah and a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University, where he co-runs the ACT Research Group (with Dr. Levin). He received his B.A. and M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno, and completed his clinical internship at the University of British Columbia Hospital. He is past-President of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science, the organization most associated with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). His research focuses on the use of ACT across a variety of clinical presentations with an emphasis on obsessive compulsive and related disorders. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, many book chapters, and 9 books, with the most recent being ACT in Steps (with Levin and Ong) and the Anxious Perfectionist (with Ong). His research has been funded through multiple sources including the National Institute of Mental Health and the IOCDF. In 2022, he was rated as currently the most productive author on ACT and that USU was the most productive institution in the world.   This training is co-sponsored by the UW–Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. 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.

The Healing and Transformation Learning Academy (HTLA) manual was created to provide guidance on facilitating this program. It is intended to facilitate a process of professional growth, and guide participants on their creation of a "final project." The manual is available at no cost through the download link on this page. The Healing and Transformation Learning Academy (HTLA) is founded on the principles of peer support, acknowledging and respecting the unique paths individuals have taken in their lives. Consequently, it does not have a predetermined outcome in mind. This framework empowers participants to explore unlimited pathways that will lead them to their intended destinations throughout their time in HTLA. Although this document provides detailed facilitator notes, the space is collaboratively created to meet individuals where they are. Email [email protected] for any Technical Assistance on the utilization and implementation of this program.

This presentation discussed the history of cognitive remediation and its early application in medical conditions. We also talked about how psychology and psychiatry have incorporated CR into their techniques to treat psychiatric disorders, including psychosis. This talk showed a couple of clinical cases to illustrate how cognitive remediation can improve social skills and neurocognition.   Presenter: Luis R. Sandoval, Ph.D. - Psychologist, Clinical Researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School   Dr. Sandoval is a researcher and a clinician in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Sandoval is a senior psychologist, supervisor, and researcher with an extensive background in mood, cognitive, and psychotic disorders. Dr. Sandoval has over 20 years of experience applying his expertise in multicultural settings, translating theoretical and clinical knowledge into clinical, research, and academic contexts in English and Spanish. Dr. Sandoval has led research studies and collaborated on NIH, NIMH, PCORI, and NASA-funded studies, mainly focusing on innovative treatments for cognitive issues in mood and psychosis disorders using computerized intervention. Dr. Sandoval has served as a senior clinical research consultant at the Yale School of Medicine, NASA-Johnson Space Center in Houston, Hartford Hospital, McLean, BIDMC, The Guidance Center, UT-Austin, among others.   Dr. Sandoval's expertise includes applying cognitive remediation in medical conditions (i.e., Sturge Weber,  Epilepsy, TBI) and psychiatric conditions, including psychosis, depression, Bipolar Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD, and other neurocognitive illnesses. Additionally, Dr. Sandoval's research and clinical areas include digital psychiatry and psychodynamic psychotherapy.   As part of his research work, Dr. Sandoval trains and supervises clinicians in cognitive remediation treatments for early and chronic psychosis across the U.S. and how to improve cognition in medical and psychiatric conditions, combining digital tools with evidence-based therapies.

To view resources from this training, click ATTACHMENT links Recording coming soon! Event Description The mental health fields have long been leaders in understanding and raising awareness of the importance of understanding power and privilege. Multiple critiques in the past decade, however, have suggested that an overly simplistic understanding of these constructs can impede personal and professional development in multicultural awareness and, as such, be detrimental to those with whom we work. Thus, in this presentation, nuanced understandings and analyses of power and privilege will be discussed on the basis of advancements in the anti-oppression and antiracism literature.    Trainer Melanie Wilcox, PhD, ABPP  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.