On January 13-14, 2020, Directors for the Western States MHTTCs (Regions 6, 7 8, 9 & 10) met at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) office in Boulder, Colorado. 

The meeting was full of great conversations and potential collaborations, driven by a collective desire to provide our stakeholders with programs that have lasting value. Dr. Lydia Chwastiak, Co-Director and Christina Clayton, Program Manager represented the Northwest MHTTC. 

On Monday, the Directors and staff had a chance to meet each other, some for the first time.  Now in our second year of the MHTTC network, we found we had many experiences and lessons learned to share. 

On Tuesday, a roundtable discussion provided an opportunity to share achievements and challenges from the first year, including our work plans, areas of focus, training approaches and infrastructure.  We described our regions, our staffing and how we are providing training to various aspects of the workforce in our areas.  We exchanged ideas about potential collaborations and strategies to support each other in our continuing work in Year 2 and beyond.  

After lunch, we had a video call with Dr. Heather Gotham of the National Coordinating Office (NCO) who helped clarify some topics discussed in the morning session as well as sharing network updates.  

We ended the day with reviewing the National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH) Conference in Portland, OR in August 2020.  Everyone was excited about the possibility of offering a joint training opportunity to be pursued to bring our regional and area expertise to this important event.  This also provides a natural next forum for collaborating again with our Western Directors. 

The meeting was extremely successful and enlivening, and we are so grateful to Region 8 for hosting!