Products and Resources Catalog

Newsletter published March 3, 2020.

Executive Summary: Mental Health Training and Technical Assistance Needs among Probation and Parole Officers This is an executive summary of the larger report: Mental Health Training and Technical Assistance Needs: Findings, Implications, and Summary of a Survey of Probation and Parole Officers in Region 8.   The Mountain Plains Mental Health and Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) team, in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and state probation and parole offices, conducted an electronic survey in November and December 2019. The survey was distributed electronically to probation and parole officers in all six states located in the United States Department of Health & Human Services Region 8 in order to identify specific mental health training needs. Results will assist the Mountain Plains MHTTC staff to better serve correctional officers and stakeholders throughout the region. Additionally, the survey results will inform the development of new products, training materials, and technical assistance requests. This work includes expanding collaborations with entities serving probation and parole staff to address the training needs described. Authors Shawnda Schroeder Thomasine Heitkamp Desirae Martinefski

Criminal Justice Mental Health Resources Justice-involved individuals diagnosed with mental illness are often incarcerated instead of accessing community-based mental healthcare. As a result, they are overrepresented in jails and prisons throughout the U.S. A high prevalence of mental illness and substance use exist among jail inmates, and they reenter society without the necessary supports following incarceration. This occurs for a myriad of reasons, including the lack of community services to better ensure successful reintegration, and the lack of support to meet basic needs for food, housing, and transportation. The outcome is additional arrests and incarcerations. The Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) team is dedicated to addressing mental health among those who are involved with the criminal justice system. In response, the team conducted a needs assessment of training and technical assistance in December 2019 among probation and parole officers in Region 8. In response to the findings of that survey, the Mountain Plains MHTTC team has begun identifying existing resources and technical assistance available to those working with justice-involved individuals. Criminal Justice Mental Health Resources The Criminal Justice resources page houses dozens of reputable resources and evidenced-based models for those working with justice-involved individuals. If you have questions about this website or products you thing would be valuable on this page, please contact Shawnda Schroeder at [email protected]. 

Statistics show that up to 20 percent of women develop a perinatal mental health illness, such as depression or anxiety, either during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth. This fact sheet provides information about postpartum depression (PPD), and explains why women of color are more at risk for developing PPD.

On February 26th, we held an online discussion series led by Douglas Robbins, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with Maine Behavioral Healthcare in Portland Maine and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University. He discussed the financing of First Episode Psychosis (FEP) Programs in Maine. To download the slides, click here. 

This fact sheet provides a brief overview of the peer support services that are available in the state of Georgia, including the history of peers and the certification process for peers in the state.

This fact sheet provides a brief overview of the peer support services available in Florida, including how to become certified within the state.

This webinar provides a foundation regarding the importance of using appropriate terminology and language when working with everyone, including affectional and gender diverse individuals, as well as why language evolves. Additionally, we will begin to understand the current language to use when working with members of affectional and gender diverse populations.   Learning Objectives: Describe the reasons why using appropriate language is important. Recognize how language naturally evolves. Highlight and define appropriate language when working with affectional and gender diverse individuals.  Identify general guidelines for behavioral healthcare workers.      View session recording  

This is the second of three webinars in our series on chronic pain, Managing Chronic Pain in the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH).   This presentation covers assessment across the lifespan, including the role of the behavioral health provider working on an interdisciplinary team, use of open-source materials and assessment of co-occurring issues.   Visit the series web page for more.   Author(s): Klepper, C., Clarke, B.L., Johnson, S., Robinson, L./Mid-America MHTTC  

On February 24th, we co-hosted a webinar with MAPNET, led by Dr. Crow who described harm reduction for substance use in the context of treating early psychosis in young people.   Presenter: Fredrick Crow, MD Dr. Crow is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with the Young Adult Team (YAT), which is a program for transitional aged youth (age 18-26) who are Department of Mental Health Client’s and who struggle to access care in more traditional settings. Common concerns for youth in this program include trauma, mood difficulties, psychosis, and substance use. He has a longstanding interest in early psychosis and was a co-founder of RISE (Recovery in Shared Experiences), the early psychosis program at Cambridge Health Alliance.

According to SAMHSA, “Permanent Supportive Housing offers voluntary, flexible supports to help people with psychiatric disabilities choose, get, and keep housing that is decent, safe, affordable, and integrated into the community. Central to the approach is a belief that people with psychiatric disabilities should have the right to live in a home of their own, without any special rules or service requirements.” (SAMHSA Brochure)   This webinar covers the following objectives:  Describe Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)   Describe how PSH can support a recovery journey Identify the evidence-based and promising practices that can support PSH   View session recording Permanent Supportive Housing SAMHSA Toolkit SAMHSA Tools for Tenants

This webinar, presented by Dr. A. Eden Evins, is designed for those who treat and prescribe medications for people with schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar and serious mood disorders who smoke tobacco. It introduces recent clinically-relevant information that should influence treatment practices and improve provision of evidence-based care for nicotine dependence for people with serious mental illness who smoke.     Speaker A. Eden Evins, MD, MPH  Dr. A. Eden Evins is founder and director of the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and The Cox Family Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Evins holds an MD from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Evins studies the efficacy of pharmacotherapeutic cessation aids in smokers with and without serious mental illness, and the effect of nicotine on cognitive performance in those with and without schizophrenia. She has conducted a series of studies that have changed clinical practice guidelines for tobacco-smoking cessation for those with and without serious mental illness, including a multi-site study in six US states and a PCORI Large Pragmatic Trial which enrolled over 1100 tobacco smokers in Greater Boston. Dr. Evins has been honored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her work.     Additional Resources References for this presentation Presentation by Dr. Evins. This file is password-protected; contact the Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center for the password at [email protected].  

The Pacific Southwest MHTTC School Mental Health Monthly shares resources, events, and insights to support school leadership, educators, and staff throughout HHS Region 9.

On February 4th, a webinar led by Jeff Donald, Mindfulness Coordinator, Montgomery County Public Schools—the largest school district in Maryland—focused on the county's intentional turn to infusing mindfulness and implementing trauma-informed school based mental health programs. Jeff shared how within a short period of time his yoga/meditation practices have expanded from serving one school to requests for services for over 50% of Montgomery County Schools. He also described the program he is spearheading to train teachers to implement yoga/meditation in classrooms, as well as the impact on students. Attendees experienced guided meditations and learn pointers for implementation of yoga and mindfulness practices, with a focus on secondary schools. To download the slides, click here. 

The Pacific Southwest MHTTC Monthly Bulletin provides resources, events, and news that are relevant to the diverse mental health workforce in HHS Region 9. Each Monthly Bulletin includes a spotlight section on youth and young adult mental health, our national area of focus.

On February 13th, Larry Davidson, NE-MHTTC director, led the third session of the webinar series that discussed the principles of recovery-oriented systems of care. In this session, he addressed recovery-oriented modifications to clinical care and how it can be helpful in the mental health treatment of patients.

ISF is most transformative at the local level. This webinar details the installation process at the district, community, and school level that results in a comprehensive ISF action plan. This webinar is led by Susan Barrett, contributing author for the ISF Fact Sheet series. She is joined by school district and system-based ISF practitioners from the Northwest and Pacific Southwest regions, Jennifer Kubista (Oregon) and Kaci Fleetwood (Nevada). Presenters share their ISF implementation challenges, celebrations, and lessons learned or learning.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Define the appropriate roles, functions, and mission of a District/Community Leadership Team (DCLT) Learn the strategies needed to conduct a robust assessment of existing mental health and MTSS resources Understand the process through which the DCLT selects interventions and monitors outcomes Discuss installation challenges, solutions, and innovations with ISF practitioners    

Click here to watch the recording of Healing the Returning Warrior: Historical Overview of Natives in Warfare, Military. 

Click here to view the handouts for Healing the Returning Warrior: Historical Overview of Natives in Warfare, Military

The South Southwest MHTTC criminal justice trainings cover various points along the continuum shown above. This image will be used in all upcoming programming to indicate what stage on the continuum the training material is covering.

February 2020 issue of electronic newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC. 

A downloadable fact sheet highlighting the complexity of Black college students' experiences and how they impact their mental health.

Supported Education is a recovery-oriented support service that increases the ability for people with mental illnesses to access and participate in postsecondary education. The principles of Supported Education are similar to those of Supported Employment. This webinar provides an overview of Supported Education, the need for this type of service, and what it looks like in practice.    Learning Objectives: Understand the rationale for Supported Education Define Supported Education Learn the practice principles of Supported Education Discuss the practice of Supported Education   View session recording

More agencies are seeing the benefits of the youth peer support specialist role, and are working hard to integrate this role within their mental health services. One challenge that many agencies have is mitigating the high level of burnout for youth peer support specialists while growing the workforce within their organization and/or community. In this webinar, two experienced youth peer support specialists (and youth peer support specialist supervisors) discuss concrete strategies for retaining and growing the youth peer support workforce. Resources Slides available for download here.   Trainers Caitlin Baird Caitlin Baird is a Project Manager and Trainer with Pathways RTC at Portland State University. Caitlin has experience working directly with transition-aged youth and young adults as a peer support specialist and as a supervisor for peer support specialists in wraparound and other mental health settings.       Maria Hermsen-Kritz Maria Hermsen-Kritz is a Research Assistant with Pathways RTC at Portland State University. She has experience providing peer support for transition-aged youth,supervising youth peer support specialists,and managing a youth drop-in center program.