Products and Resources Catalog

Counselors have the privilege of working with individuals and families from various backgrounds; intersecting identities; and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions. Deliberately incorporating culturally responsive care in mental health settings can help ensure that individuals have access to treatment that meets their needs. This guide was created by WAFCA with funding from the Great Lakes MHTTC and is based on material presented by Dr. Patricia Arredondo on February 17, 2022, for WAFCA-CE. WAFCA serves as the Wisconsin partner for the Great Lakes MHTTC. 

Understanding the essential pieces to effective treatment is beneficial for new and seasoned counselors alike. In each session and with each client, mental health providers work to do many things at once: build rapport, practice active listening, navigate triggers and distractions for themselves and clients, create an environment of safety, provide support and regulation, monitor time, and more. This guide was created by WAFCA with funding from the Great Lakes MHTTC and is based on material presented by Kelli Underwood on June 8, 2023, for WAFCA-CE. WAFCA serves as the Wisconsin partner for the Great Lakes MHTTC. 

The National American Indian and Alaska Native MHTTC has published its most recent newsletter. The theme for this issue is Mental Health and Indigenous Elders. This issue focuses on Preserving the Mental Health of Indigenous Elders.

The third August issue of our newsletter features two upcoming Northwest MHTTC webinars, ATTC and MHTTC Network events, other events of interest and resources. 

This resource highlights how Buffalo Grove High School implemented Classroom WISE, as part of the 2023 Classroom WISE School TA Opportunity. To learn more about Classroom WISE, visit www.classroomwise.org.

This resource highlights how Provisional Accelerated Learning Academy implemented Classroom WISE, as part of the 2023 Classroom WISE School TA Opportunity. To learn more about Classroom WISE, visit www.classroomwise.org.

  Managing grief in the modern era workplace can be complex. To view resources from this training, please click DOWNLOAD above Click here to watch the recording Event Description Modern western culture has long struggled to deal well with grief, and workplace productivity demands and social scripts further complicate our responses to grief. Yet, our modern era is replete with grief: The COVID-19 pandemic, addiction crises, worsening racial and other injustices, increasing employment and financial insecurity, and more. In this webinar, we will identify the ways in which grief presents in the workplace in behavioral health and primary care, the barriers to responding well to grief, and how to develop more compassionate and responsive approaches to managing grief. Learning Objectives Upon completion of this webinar, participants will be able to: Name at least two sources of grief in the workplace Identify at least two barriers to responding well to grief Explain how to respond more compassionately and responsively to grief Trainer Melanie Wilcox 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.  

The one-hour Reclaiming Native Psychological Brilliance virtual series provides an opportunity for participants to: Gain skills on strength-based approaches in partnership with Native People to enhance Native behavioral health, and Discuss ways that Native brilliance is demonstrated and supports behavioral health, and Learn about Native brilliance examples to share with behavioral health and other health care staff, as well as with local Tribal Nation citizens The concept of Native psychological brilliance will be celebrated through Native music videos and Native spoken word performances as part of each session of the Reclaiming Native Psychological Brilliance series.   July's topic was "Native Crisis Response: Tribal 988 Successes and Challenges."   Watch a recording of this 7/25/23 session here. 

This three-hour webinar deep dives into the core competencies previously drafted and shared during the Competencies for Peer Support Workers in Crisis Services webinar hosted in March 2023. The co-facilitators – including a youth peer with recent experience working in the field in a crisis setting - explore each competency and allow participants to apply the competencies in peer crisis work scenarios. We present detailed information about how each competency is applicable in peer crisis work and then use breakout rooms and case studies to prompt discussion on how to utilize a specific competency.    Participants gain knowledge about the complexities of working as a peer in crisis settings and how to maintain the ethical standards of the peer role; gain a detailed understanding of the 5 Core Competencies and how they were developed by the MHTTC team; develop a practical understanding of how the competencies will show up in their work in crisis settings; and learn about practices and tools that can be used to assist with becoming comfortable and skilled in the competencies.   View a recording of this 7/31/23 session here.  

About this Resource: Region IV is the largest HHS region, comprised of eight states and 26% of the U.S. population. These states have large rural populations, high poverty rates, and face racial and cultural disparities in care. In addition the Southeast states have considerable clinical, geographic, workforce, and health system differences and often score below the median on state rankings for mental health outcomes. While these factors are important considerations when planning mental health care and support services, understanding these influences separately can be challenging. Similarly, determining the location of additional resources and the possibility of building or expanding upon mental health - public health partnerships may also be an important consideration. The Southeast MHTTC Data Visualization Project provides information on Region IV priorities in an easy to understand graphical format. Click on the "View Resource" button above to access this map and learn more about the availability of public sector healthcare resources. Public Sector Healthcare Resources Relevant Factors: Locations of public sector healthcare resources, including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Mental Health facilities; provider shortage areas; and rural versus urban communities. Helpful Tips: To view each map in this visualization series, scroll using the gray scroller bar or gray arrows below. You may also click on each of the gray boxes (or tabs). Map 1 shows the location of FQHCs in Mental Health Provider Shortage Areas. Map 2 shows the location of FQHCs in rural versus urban areas. Map 3 shows the presence of healthcare facilities within each county. Map 4 shows the distance between FQHCs and Mental Health facilities within counties. References for Data Sources: ​​Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Data Warehouse Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Behavioral Health Treatment Locator. 2023 County Health Rankings National Data Rankings data & documentation | County Health Rankings & Roadmaps

Motivational interviewing (MI) provides us with a way to have conversations about change. Practitioners use MI with adolescents, young adults, and parents to successfully support their values and guide them toward their own desired change targets. In this session, Dr. Dempsey discussed research-based MI interventions for youth and specific strategies to reduce resistance and engage young people in conversations about and movement toward personally meaningful change.   Viewers of this video can benefit from the following learning objectives:  Determine at least one type of motivation-based intervention appropriate for children, adolescents/young adults, and parents. Construct at least one values-based intervention to help guide adolescent and young adults toward change targets. Practice two interventions to reduce resistance and support autonomy of youth engaged in conversations about change. Design one conversation about change intended to support and guide parents of youth involved in change.

This is a recording of the Closing Session in the Aging Out or Growing Together? Flipping the Youth Services Paradigm to Better Support Young Adulthood series. This final session took place on July 26, 2023 and featured special guests Rudy Corpuz, Executive Director of United Playaz; Associate Director John Torres of Youth ALIVE!, and Mariaynez Carasco, Program Coordinator of Mission Neighborhood Centers. Region 9's Technical Assistance and Training Specialist Oriana Ides facilitated a discussion to address how organizational values, program design, implementation strategies, and long-term visions for young adults can expand to support their evolving needs. This session is designed for agencies and individuals that serve transition-aged youth and young adults and explore themes specific to the needs of this age group.

This is a recording of the Social Media & Youth: Perils, Powers, and Pathways to Resilience panel on August 1, 2023. The Pacific Southwest MHTTC gathered a group of leaders in the fields of social science research, mental health and youth advocacy including Senior Research Scientist and Director of Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab at Wellesley College, Linda Charmaraman; Founder/CEO of Log OFF Movement, Emma Lembke; Assistant Professor of Equity, Diversity and Justice in Education at University of Colorado, Boulder, Tiera Tanksley; and Outpatient Therapist, Skyler Blankenship. Together, they presented and discussed the risk factors and benefits of social media for young people. The session focused on strategies for fostering a more empowered, healthier relationship with digital technology and provided a nuanced view of both the perils and powers of social media use for youth.   This session is designed for providers who work with youth, young adults and their families and viewers of this video can benefit from the following learning objectives:  Understand the positive and negative psychological impact of social media on youth and young adults Identify strategies mental health providers can use in supporting youth to reflect on their social media use, make meaning of it, and develop coping responses to harmful exposure  Learn about available tools and resources to support diversion and self-regulation in social media use Understand risk factors and impacts to specific populations of youth around social media harms  Support community efforts and advocate for improved monitoring and filtering of social media while supporting healthy social development

This is a recording of Session 3 of Rising Practices & Policies Revisited - Working with Youth and Families Experiencing Homelessness and Home Insecurity, which occurred on July 10, 2023. In this session, Pacific Southwest MHTTC's Co-Director Miranda March hosted and Technical Assistance Specialist Evelyn Clark facilitated a panel discussion on how community-based organizations, mental health systems, and school services are responding to the issues, challenges, and needs of home insecurity and what rising practices and policies are emerging to meet the mental and school mental health needs of people experiencing the impact of structural inequities. The Session 3 panelists included Program Specialist of Homeless Education for the Orange County Department of Education, Elida Sanchez; Executive Director of CARE Olympia, Emily Clouse; Special Projects Coordinator for McKinney-Vento & Foster Care Liaison, Hannah Etchison; and Samantha Taitano who serves as Executive Director of Manelu in Guam. In this session, we explored the following questions and more: How can we interrupt the stigmatization of homelessness and foster safe and equitable access to mental health services? How are school and community-based mental health partners utilizing the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and other federal funding streams to maximize the workforce’s skills and support? How can we increase access to school services and supports? How can we collaborate with services that address compounding issues (e.g., interpersonal violence, the foster system) to be innovative in our approaches?

Motivational interviewing (MI) provides a way to have conversations about change. Common MI and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) interventions are both powerful and effective strategies that practitioners often find challenging to decide which intervention to use for various school-based social and emotional issues. In this session, Dr. Kristin Dempsey provided considerations for when to use common MI and CBT interventions based on the stages of change being experienced, which interventions overlap, which have specific applications, and which common MI and CBT interventions can be flexibly applied to a number of common school-based challenges.    Viewers of this video can benefit from the following learning objectives:  Identify at least four common factors shared between motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy. Create a collaborative treatment/change plan with students and parents that contains at least three change targets that can be addressed using motivational interviewing or cognitive behavioral therapy. Practice applying at least three motivational interviewing and/or cognitive behavioral interventions based on a student’s or parent’s identified concerns and stage of change for each concern. Construct a plan to use integrated motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral interventions for at least one student/parent.

The second August issue of our newsletter features an upcoming Northwest MHTTC webinar, TTC Network events, other events of interest and resources. 

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for individuals with psychotic disorders. In this presentation, we will review CBT strategies to address common symptomatic concerns experiences by individuals with psychosis, including positive symptoms, negative symptoms, depressed mood, and anxiety. Presented by: Dr. Nicholas Breitborde is Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Ohio State University and Director of the OSU Early Psychosis Intervention Center (EPICENTER). He serves as a Content Area Expert for the Global Burden of Disease Study and is a member of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Serious Mental Illness/Severe Emotional Disturbances. To date, his research has been cited over 40,000 times and has been funded by agencies such as the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Learn more about this series: First Episode Psychosis Webinar Series & Learning Community  

In collaboration with the Connecticut State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) and its Office of Multicultural Health Equity, the New England MHTTC supported a training and technical assistance activity highlighting the stats and statistics around the state of minority mental health in Connecticut.   While the statistics help to validate that the rates of mental health illness are similar across racial groups, they also conceal a deeper inequity. What you can’t tell from the numbers is how the severity, persistence, contributing factors, and implications for the overall well-being of mental health conditions vary widely across demographic groups. This event aims to raise awareness, foster dialogue, and share strategies that support optimal behavioral health treatment, care, and recovery for minoritized populations.   Featured Speakers Nancy Navarretta, MA, DMHAS Commissioner Charles Dike, FRCPsych, MBChB, MPH, DMHAS Medical Director Karin Haberlin, Behavioral Health Program Manager, DMHAS Jessica Isom, MD, MPH, Keynote Speaker, Vision for Equity, LLC Taylor Bryan Turner, Assistant Regional Director, SAMHSA Region 1   View a recording of this 7/27/23 session here.  

This is a recording of Session 4 in the "Creating Safe Spaces for Peer Support Providers" series entitled, “Peer Support Series, Session 4: Career Paths for Peer Support Specialists,” that took place on June 28, 2023. In session 4, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC's Technical Assistance and Training Specialist Evelyn Clark facilitated a forum with special guests Jason Clark, Lindsey Burton-Anderson, and Stacey Thompson who shared their lived experiences and discussed burnout, trauma and compassion fatigue along with cultural, structural and individual risk and protective factors. 

The South Southwest MHTTC is pleased to collaborate with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) to host a Trauma Informed Care Open Office Hours series. Get 'hands on' application and clarity on concepts through case-study examples and interactive discussion with TACHC Trauma Informed Care Coordinators. This session was held on July 25, 2023 and focused on the foundation and application of Trauma Informed Care.

  The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   The August 2023 issue honors International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31), opioid overdose prevention training on HealtheKnowledge, and the newest NIATx in New Places series blog post written by Lynn Madden, PhD, MPA.  And as always, you will find links to all upcoming events and trainings hosted by the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC!  

This workshop introduces the dominant theoretical model of anxiety disorders and the best-established treatment: exposure-based CBT. Strategies for making the most of exposures to achieve optimal outcomes for anxious youth will be illustrated, and practical application discussed. The training will include didactics, experiential activities, video modeling and behavioral rehearsal of exposure strategies.       Facilitator     Dr. Sarah Kate Bearman Sarah Kate Bearman’s research focuses on the dissemination and implementation of empirically supported practices (ESPs) for underserved youth in community settings. Her research examines the processes and contexts that promote and support the effective use and sustainability of ESPs, with particular focus on treatment redesign, training and supervision, and the use of non-traditional providers and settings to increase ESP access. Bearman also has many years of experience in the development, testing, and dissemination of effective treatments for youth. She provides both clinical supervision and national trainings for therapists in the use of empirically supported practices for anxiety, depression, disruptive conduct and traumatic stress.

Individuals recovering from a first episode of psychosis are prone to high rates of comorbid medical disorders due to a combination of lifestyle, medication, and self-management factors. This presentation provides practical guidance regarding strategies for promoting a healthier lifestyle and integrated training in mental health and physical illness self-management. Principles of effective supports to improve physical health in persons with FEP, as well as multi-episode clients, are illustrated with clinical vignettes.   Presenter: Kim T. Mueser, Ph.D. is Professor of Occupational Therapy and Psychological and Brain Sciences, researcher at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. His research interests are on the development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions for persons with serious mental illnesses.   This webinar was co-hosted by the Massachusetts Psychosis Network for Early Treatment (MAPNET).   View a recording of this 7/28/23 session here. 

The August issue of our newsletter observes National Grief Awareness Day and International Overdose Awareness Day, features an upcoming Northwest MHTTC webinar, MHTTC & ATTC network events, other events of interest and resources.