Overview
Please join the Mid-America MHTTC and the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN, pronounced “Beacon”) for a five-part webinar series on developing a behavioral health workforce. This series will illustrate the strategies necessary to address the behavioral health workforce shortage throughout Nebraska and other states. Engagement and recruitment of behavioral health undergraduate will be discussed, as well as aiding the preparation and training of graduate students in behavioral health fields through field placements and funding to support students and supervisors. BHECN shares their insight of state workforce data trends through their studies involving Nebraska workforce data, exemplifying the importance of retention strategies to maintain the current behavioral health workforce. From 2009, when BHECN was founded by the state legislature, to 2020, Nebraska saw a 32% increase among psychiatric prescribers and a 39% increase among psychologists and mental health therapists. Please join us to learn how to improve access to behavioral health care by developing a skilled and compassionate behavioral health workforce within your state.
Series Learning Objectives
Target Audience
This activity is intended for behavioral health providers (psychologists and masters level counselors), primary care providers (physicians, NPs, PAs), and Nurses (RN).
Innovative Recruitment Strategies for Behavioral Health Careers
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Description:
Join us to learn about best practices involving retention efforts within the behavioral health workforce. This webinar discusses recruitment strategies that are essential to enhance behavioral health pathways for a successful career while addressing the shortage of this specialty in rural communities. Many resources will be explored to assist with recruitment of behavioral health students in rural communities through academic training programs, rural partnerships to collaborate on common goals, and support networks through residences, internships, and practicum placements within a community. Discussion will explore the options available for students to engage within student advisory boards, the BHECN app, and other engagement opportunities in the effort to maintain and strengthen the rural behavioral health care workforce throughout the states.
Learning Objectives:
Speaker:
Christine Chasek, PhD, LIMHP, LADC, LPC
Dr. Tina Christine Chasek is an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha and Associate Workforce Director for UNMC’s Behavioral Healthcare Center of Nebraska. Dr. Chasek is a practicing mental health and addictions counselor with over 20 years of experience in treating substance use disorders. Dr. Chasek serves on the Nebraska Alcohol and Drug Licensing Board, Past President of the International Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors, and coordinates Project ECHO in Nebraska.
Retaining Behavioral Health Professionals
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Description:
Join us to discuss effective retention methods utilized to support behavioral health professionals within the workforce. We will explore a multifaceted outreach program for professionals derived by BHECN to illustrate the dimensional efforts from exemplary behavioral health professionals in the state. Opportunities to engage behavioral health trainees not only with practicing professionals and continuing education for professional development, but also engaging trainees with partners across the state to offer timely and local opportunities.
Learning Objectives:
Speaker:
Tara Wilson, PhD, NCC, LMHP
Dr. Tara Wilson is an Associate Professor at Chadron State College in the Professional Studies department. Before working at Chadron State College in 2016, Tara was on faculty at Wayne State College. Her past clinical experience includes working in integrated behavioral care at Western Nebraska Behavioral Health Clinics, providing mental health counseling in schools while interning with Oceti Sakowin Education Consortium (OSEC), and working as a school counselor at Red Cloud Indian School.
Dr. Wilson's training includes a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, an M.A.E. in Community Counseling from Chadron State College, and a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Wyoming. Her research interests focus on rural mental health.
Using Data to Support the Behavioral Health Workforce
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Description:
Join us to learn how to leverage data collection to analyze and drive work forward. Hear about the trends in the behavioral health workforce including what has been seen during BHECN’s more than ten years of functioning and analyzing new data endeavors to better understand timely challenges facing the field.
Learning Objectives:
Speaker:
Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, PhD
Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, PhD, joined BHECN as Research Director in August 2016.
Dr. Watanabe-Galloway’s focus is on strengthening BHECN's workforce evaluation and reporting efforts to produce evidence-based practices. She has been instrumental in publishing a semi-annual Nebraska Behavioral Health Workforce Analysis for BHECN since 2011. This project uses data obtained from UNMC, the College of Public Health (COPH), and the Health Professions Tracking Service (HPTS) annual survey database.
BHECN and COPH also developed the Nebraska Behavioral Health Workforce Dashboard, a tool designed to help policymakers, employers, and behavioral health care stakeholders understand the state of the behavioral health workforce and make decisions that impact its future.
Dr. Watanabe-Galloway joined UNMC in 2004 and is also the Associate Director at Buffett Cancer Center and a professor in the College of Public Health. She was a recipient of UNMC’s 2015 Distinguished Scientist Award.
How State Policies Support the Behavioral Health Workforce
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Description:
Join us to learn how state legislatures can create and implement policy solutions to positively impact the behavioral health workforce. This webinar will describe how to leverage policy solutions to recruit, train, and retain the behavioral health workforce, as exemplified by the creation of BHECN in the Nebraska state legislature in 2009. Information will be shared on how legislative bills have supported student internships across Nebraska, including correctional facility settings. In addition, we will explore how annual policy forums amongst numerous policy stakeholders can make a difference in the legislative process.
Learning Objectives:
Speaker:
Erin Schneider, MSW
Erin Schneider joined BHECN in June of 2020, as the new Outreach Coordinator. Erin will be working with the leadership team to evaluate, develop, and promote BHECN's outreach plan to the behavioral health workforce.
Erin has 12 years of experience in social work and behavioral health, a bachelor of science degree in Psychology from Drake University, and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas.
Erin's combined experience in workforce development and behavioral health is an excellent fit for the BHECN outreach coordinator position.
Unique Considerations for Rural Behavioral Health Workforce Development
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Description:
Join us to learn how to overcome the unique challenges of rural practice and how to address these obstacles utilizing satellite locations based on BHECN's programming within rural Nebraska.
Learning Objectives:
Speaker:
Catherine Jones-Hazledine, PhD
Dr. Jones-Hazledine has been collaborating with BHECN for several years on projects in the Nebraska Panhandle, such as FARM CAMP and the Rural Provider Support Network.
She formally joined the BHECN ranks in 2018. Her other roles currently include Supervising Psychologist/Owner at Western Nebraska Behavioral Health (WNBH) Clinics (with integrated care sites around the Sandhills and Panhandle of Nebraska), adjunct faculty with Chadron State College, and the Munroe-Meyer Institute, and training and supervising early career clinicians in rural mental health.
Before starting WNBH in 2011, Dr. Cate served as an Assistant Professor with the Munroe-Meyer Institute at UNMC for seven years.
Dr. Cate’s training includes a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Chicago, an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
