Products and Resources Catalog

The 2020 Southwest First Episode Psychosis Conference took place virtually on August 3rd through the 5th. In this session, Dr. Nev Jones facilitates a discussion with panelists Edith Burns and Trinity Blue to discuss their experiences with early psychosis care. Participants hear from youth and families about how to improve services and supports for persons who have experienced psychosis. Participants were also given the opportunity to ask questions and discuss pathways for implementing the ideas that arise from the panel into their own communities.

The 2020 Southwest First Episode Psychosis Conference took place virtually on August 3rd through the 5th. In this session, Jennifer Baran-Prall summarizes key themes from the conference and Dr. Molly Lopez concludes the conference with an exciting Thought Exchange.

The 2020 Southwest First Episode Psychosis Conference took place virtually on August 3rd through the 5th. In this presentation, Dr. Aaron Brinen, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Drexel University College of Medicine, shares practical strategies for addressing distressing hallucinations using Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy. Download the session slides.

The 2020 Southwest First Episode Psychosis Conference took place virtually on August 3rd through the 5th. In this presentation, Dr. Jason Schiffman, Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, describes strategies for early identification of chronic high risk for psychosis to help minimize delays in service and care. Special attention will be paid to cultural and contextual considerations to assessment. An introduction to psychosocial treatment for those at risk for psychosis is also be presented. Download the session slides. 

The 2020 Southwest First Episode Psychosis Conference took place virtually on August 3rd through the 5th. In this presentation, Nybelle Caruso, Dr. Nikolas Buekea, and Tamara Sale, from the EASA Center, build on research about first episode psychosis to discuss how early intervention programs have been established nationally focusing on the needs of young people and their families. Participants learn about the evolution of these national initiatives and the support, assessment, and treatment they provide for teenagers and young adults. This presentation provides a current state of affairs for early psychosis programs throughout the nation. Download the session slides.

Prepared by Jorge Ramírez García, PhD; Jessica Maura, PhD; Sarah Kopelovich, PhD The growing diversity of the United States highlights the importance of inclusion among those at risk for and experiencing early psychosis. Emerging literature suggests higher incidence rates of psychosis among individuals of Black descent, poorer treatment engagement rates for immigrant groups, and less access to individual and family-based psychotherapy among Hispanic and African American populations. These troubling disparity trends along ethnic and racial lines speak to the need for evidence-based guidance on how to ensure that early psychosis care is accessible to and appropriate for families of all cultures. The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) were developed to help eliminate health care disparities by providing a framework for individuals and healthcare organizations to implement Culturally Responsive Care (CRC). CRC is an approach that is both respectful and responsive to cultural beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy levels, and communication needs. This evidence-based practice brief, designed for behavioral health providers working with individuals who experience psychosis, describes the principles and practices of CRC.

On 6/24, Yuhua Bao and Lisa Dixon led this webinar. Sustained implementation of Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) calls for innovative payment models that reflect local preferences and circumstances. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, our research team are working to develop a tool to support decision-making by payers and providers of CSC to design a bundled payment. During the EPLC discussion, we will conduct a demonstration of the interactive tool and seek feedback from the audience on its utility and ways to improve the tool.   to access a copy of the presentation, click here. 

Aims: Minority groups are underrepresented in the research on coordinated specialty care (CSC). New Mexico (NM) has the highest percentage of Hispanics and Latinos (48.8%) and the second-highest percent of Native Americans (8.7%) in the U.S. Therefore, NM is in a unique position to better understand the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of Hispanics and other minorities (H&OM) referred to and enrolled in CSC and to learn about the communities in which they live. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to explore differences among 67 White Non-Hispanics and 113 H&OMs referred to CSC. Several variables were explored, such as age at referral, history of substance use, referral source, and enrollment status. Zip code data were also examined to explore differences in poverty and high school graduation rates. Results: H&OMs were significantly more likely than non-Hispanics to (i) be referred from inpatient and outpatient mental health services rather than communities sources (86% vs 65%), (ii) have a history of substance use (69% vs .46%), (iii) be lost to follow-up after initial referral (64% vs. 28%), and (iv) reside in communities with higher rates of poverty (20% vs. 16%) and lower rates of high school graduates (85% vs. 91%). Conclusions: These exploratory findings suggest the importance of (i) increasing psychosis literacy among H&OM families and community agencies that serve these individuals, and (ii) identifying ways to engage H&OMs referred to CSC. The community-level differences also suggest that H&OMs may benefit more than their non-Hispanics counterparts from vocational services within CSC and linkage to other community resources, such as food stamps.

On May 6th, we held an online discussion session led by Ian Lang, MBA, Executive Director of the Brookline Center for Community Mental Health, Former Executive Director Continuum Behavioral Health in Rhode Island.   To download the slides, click here. 

On April 29th, we held an online discussion session led by Melissa Rowan, MSW, MBA, the Executive Vice President of Policy Implementation at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.  To download the slides, click here.  To access the Payment Strategies for Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) report mentioned in the presentation, click here. 

The Northwest MHTTC invites you to read this special edition of our newsletter from April 2020, which compiles a variety of resources on the subject of providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a virtual conference, a Telemental Health Toolkit, and guidance from leaders of First Episode Psychosis programs.

The Northwest MHTTC invites you to read our April newsletter. We invite you to engage in self-care and share some resources and supports from our partners and colleagues who have poignant messages of coping and staying resilient. We are pleased to share several new products including webinars on stigma reduction among people with HIV to improve health outcomes, culturally and linguistically responsive care for early psychosis and behavioral health crisis response systems.

On April 15th, we held a consultation line with Dr. Matcheri Keshavan and Dr. James Feldman, where they addressed specific clozapine-related psychopharmacology questions.    To download the slides, click here. 

Efforts to improve the quality and population reach of services for psychosis underscore the need to provide culturally and linguistically responsive care (CLR). With an emphasis on early psychosis, this presentation reviews clinical and organizational best practices to promote such care. Highlights of research findings that empirically support the need for CLR care are presented and largely focus on Latinx sub-populations. For example, patients’ and their caregivers’ narratives of illness (psychosis) and of its treatment, expectations of patients’ functioning, and the nature of care-giving relationships, alongside social disadvantages are known to be linked with early psychosis service utilization and course of illness. Implications for practice and research applicable to multiple service settings with varying service sectors are illustrated.  Resources Slides available for download here View references for this presentation   Speaker Jorge Ramírez García, PhD, cared over 30 years for a family member diagnosed with Serious Mental Illness. His professional activities have focused on service programming and research to strengthen family and community care of individuals with psychosis. His research has examined holistic frameworks of family and ethno-cultural factors that affect – and are affected by – individuals with psychosis as well as at-risk-youth. He serves on the editorial boards of Cultural and Ethnic Minority Psychology and Journal of Latinx Psychology. Jorge is a Research and Evaluation Scientist at Oregon Research Institute and has held Program and Research Analyst and Health Equity Coordinator positions at Greater Oregon Behavioral Health. He currently serves on the Cultural Competence and Continuing Education steering committee and the Health Equity Committee of the Oregon Health Authority.        

On March 11th, we held an online discussion session led by Reid Plimpton, MPH and Terry Rabinowitz, MD, DDS. In this session, they discussed telehealth from a provider's perspective. To download the slides, click here. 

A number of national, regional, and state groups are all working toward system change and better financing mechanisms to provide better care.  The MHTTC Network compiled this list of some of the national stakeholders and key resources on first episode psychosis and clinical high risk found by downloading above.

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. 

On January 29th, Shirley Yen, Ph.D. reviewed risk factors associated with higher risk for suicidal behaviors, with a particular focus on individuals with clinical high risk and early psychosis. She also reviewed the essentials components of a safety plan and review some treatment approaches that target suicidal behavior.​   If you have additional questions for Dr. Yen, you may reach her at: [email protected]   Additional resources: •American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (ASFP) for grant funding and slides https://afsp.org/ •Suicide Prevention Resource Center https://www.sprc.org/ •Zero suicide initiative https://zerosuicide.sprc.org/

On October 28, MAPNET and NE-MHTTC hosted a webinar led by Manny Hernandez and Michelle West, who currently work in early psychosis programs in Massachusetts. The presenters discussed the importance of cultural responsiveness and and the inclusion of peer support in psychosis.   Practice Profile: Julia - Practicing Cultural Responsiveness Video   Presenters: Emmanuel (Manny) Hernandez Manny is a young adult peer coordinator at the Department of Mental Health. In that capacity, he works to help young adult’s live healthy lives by promoting systems change. He also, works towards the ongoing development of the young adult peer workforce.     Michelle West Michelle is a clinical psychologist with the CEDAR Clinic and with MAPNET. Her roles include providing direct care to young people and families experiences possible signs of risk for psychosis, and doing multiple types of teaching focused on early psychosis.

On September 20th, Emily Kline discussed how many individuals with first episode psychosis are reluctant to attend treatment and are at risk for dropping out before receiving the full benefits of care. This webinar reviewed reasons that teens and young adults may be wary of first episode psychosis treatment and offer practical suggestions for creating a program that promotes engagement and minimizes barriers at the outset of treatment. 

On August 22nd, we held a consultation line with Dr. Roscoe Brady and Dr. Matcheri Keshavan, where they addressed specific bipolar-related psychopharmacology questions. 

On August 14th, we held a webinar on "Non-Adherence and its Management in Early Course Psychotic Disorders". Dr. Matcheri Keshavan discussed the causes of non-adherence, approaches to identifying non-adherence, and the management non-adherence in patients in the early course of psychotic disorders. 

On July 11th, we held a psychopharmacology consultation line with Dr. Matcheri Keshavan, where he addressed specific psychosis-related psychopharmacology questions. 

Northwest MHTTC's Co-Director, Lydia Chwastiak, MD, MPH presented a didactic to the UW Psychiatry and Addictions Case Conference (PACC) on June 13, 2019. This was one of two sessions which focused on the diagnosis and medical management of psychosis in primary care settings. The goal of these two sessions is to build understanding among primary care providers about the treatment and management of psychosis and how the medical management of psychosis can impact the physical health of those receiving treatment. In this session Dr. Lydia Chwastiak reviews the five principles that guide evidence-based safe anti-psychotic prescribing, provides an overview of the recommended first-line medications for treatment of psychosis and their side effects, and identifies changes that can be made to current primary care practice to mitigate metabolic risk among patients treated with anti-psychotic medications. The UW Psychiatry and Addictions Case Conference (UW PACC) series is a CME-accredited program designed to expand the mental health and addictions care capacity of health care professionals in remote, under-served areas of Washington. The goal of UW PACC is to develop a regional peer learning and support network for treating mental health and addictions that will ultimately result in better patient care. Modeled after the University of New Mexico's Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), UW PACC offers telehealth resource support to build the confidence and skills of providers who care for patients with mental and behavioral health conditions. The series is appropriate for primary care providers, mental health or addictions providers, and psychiatrists willing to engage in a proven model of distance learning. Using interactive video, each session includes a 20-minute educational presentation from a year-long curriculum, followed by in-depth case consultations between community providers and a panel of UW Medicine psychiatrists. New attendees are welcome at any time and weekly attendance is not required.