Products and Resources Catalog

Prolonged delays from psychosis onset to care (or Duration of Untreated Psychosis-DUP) can imperil the benefits even of evidence-based Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) clinics. Early detection efforts to shorten DUP are thus a necessary component of modern early intervention  services for schizophrenia. The NIMH-funded Mindmap campaign reported the first successful demonstration of DUP reduction in a U.S. region. Details of the design and implementation of Mindmap will be presented with lessons for future early intervention efforts.   Presenter: Vinod Srihari, MD is a staff psychiatrist at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University, and the founding Director of the Program for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP). STEP completed the first U.S. based RCT of specialty team based care for early psychosis and followed this with the first successful replication of the Scandinavian TIPS study of DUP reduction. The Program delivers a care pathway that integrates early detection with CSC and within a population health framework that targets geographically defined populations. This webinar was co-hosted by the Massachusetts Psychosis Network for Early Treatment (MAPNET, www.mapnet.online).   View a recording of this 11/3/23 session here. 

About this Resource: The Southeast MHTTC Newsletter highlights upcoming events and recently released products as well as shares information on available resources from SAMHSA and the MHTTC network.  The November 2023 issue promotes Native American Heritage Month. This issue also highlights our upcoming events and recently developed products, celebrates efforts being done by Region IV states, and provides resources available through the MHTTC Network and SAMHSA to connect individuals to needed treatment and support. 

Many of us at some point in our lives decide what type of information and how much to tell others. We may not formally sit down and consider this decision but we nevertheless weigh the pros and cons of what we want our colleagues or others to know about us. Researchers in this area (Waghorn and McGahey, et al., 2014; Waghorn, et al., 2010) describe this type of disclosure decision-making as developing a plan for managing personal information (PMPI). A PMPI includes agreed upon language of how the student wishes to describe their disability as well as any accommodations that might mitigate support needs. This workshop will provide resources and strategies to assist students in developing a plan for managing personal information in education, including assessing the need for and requesting reasonable accommodations., including assessing the need for and requesting reasonable accommodations. This training will utilize a service conceptualization framework and peer/expert discussions to apply the skills learned. If you wish, please come prepared to discuss an individual participating in services (please no names or other identifying information). This training is in collaboration with the Integrated Employment Institute (IEI) at Rutgers University.   View session recording.   Presenters: Joni Dolce, M.S., CRC  Joni Dolce is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions at Rutgers School of Health Professions. Joni has many years of experience working in behavioral health services, specifically Supported Employment (SE), providing both direct services and supervising SE staff. She has authored and co-authored several articles and workbooks on employment and presents and provides webinars and trainings locally and nationally on a variety of employment related topics. She has provided training in SE on a national level, including at the NY Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, Washington State Healthcare Authority, the Veterans Administration, and SAMHSA’s Northeast and Caribbean Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC). She has taught/co-developed the inaugural academic courses for Rutgers in SE and Supported Education. Joni was training coordinator for a Field Initiated National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) grant evaluating the implementation of SE into Supportive Housing environments. Joni has been invited to present to Human Resource professionals on the topic of mental health in the workplace and is listed in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) as a recommended speaker on this topic. She is currently a member of the MHTTC’s Dissemination and Implementation working group and is a past president of the National Rehabilitation Association’s NJ affiliate chapter and past secretary of the NJ Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association. Joni is a doctoral candidate in Psychiatric Rehabilitation further exploring the impact of disclosure decision making in employment.     Amy Banko, M.S., LAC, NCC, CPRP Amy Banko is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions at Rutgers University. In addition to providing course instruction, Ms.Banko is a trainer and consultant at the Integrated Employment Institute of Rutgers. Within this role, she facilitates trauma-informed, Supported Employment & Supported Education training and technical assistance to enhance practitioner competencies and program outcomes. Previously, Ms. Banko was a clinical contributor on three NIDILRR funded studies focused on education, employment,  and trauma for individuals with mental health conditions. Additionally, Ms. Banko is a co-author of a best practice manual for providing career services to transition-age youth with mental health conditions. She currently serves as Co-Investigator on two NIDILRR funded studies related to postsecondary education, mental health conditions, and trauma. Ms. Banko’s research agenda focuses on rehabilitation counseling and social/transformative justice as well as critical disability theory as she seeks to build interventions and counseling services that bolster the social determinants of health for those with mental health conditions. Her passion is addressing disability stigma, internalized stigma, ableism, and improving the social determinants of health for people with disabilities and those who experience the intersectionality of disability with other marginalized and oppressed identities. Additionally, Ms. Banko leverages her lived experience of a mental health condition to inform her research, course instruction, and counseling. Ms. Banko is currently attending her doctoral studies at Kean University for Counseling and Supervision with a focus on the treatment of trauma.

  The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   The November 2023 issue honors National Native American Heritage Month, National Homelessness Awareness Month, and a brand-new Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy intensive technical assistance opportunity. As always, you will also find links to all upcoming events and trainings hosted by the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   Make sure you're subscribed to our email contact list, so you never miss a month of The Great Lakes Current newsletter and thank you for reading!

About this Resource:  In this on-demand recording, panelists from Part 1 of our 'Ready for Re-entry' series discuss the Forensic Peer Mentor role, including the responsibilities, qualifications and organizational framework needed to build and support a Forensic Peer Mentor Program.   Click here to learn more about our 4-part 'Ready for Re-entry' series! 

The Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) is an alternative, non-diagnostic conceptualization of distress created by providers and service users, published by the British Psychological Society and attracting international attention. Participants learned the basics of the framework and had an opportunity to discuss how it might be useful to the family workforce, especially in the areas of meaning-making, empowerment and choice. Attendees also gained knowledge of where to access further information about the use of PTMF to enhance family workforce knowledge and tools.   Presenter: Dr. Lucy Johnstone is a consultant clinical psychologist, author of ‘Users and abusers of psychiatry’ (2nd edition Routledge 2000) and co-editor of ‘Formulation in psychology and psychotherapy: making sense of people’s problems’ (Routedge, 2nd edition 2013) and ‘A straight-talking guide to psychiatric diagnosis’ (PCCS Books 2014), along with a number of other chapters and articles taking a critical perspective on mental health theory and practice.   

In celebration of the National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, in partnership with the New England MHTTC, invited people to a listening session about the importance of elevating Lived Experience Leadership among Latine/Latinos/Hispanic Peer Supporters and Latinos/Latine People with Lived Experience to inform the development of the first Hispanic/Latine Yale LET(s)Lead Transformational Leadership Academy, a 9-month FREE transformational leadership development opportunity. 

  In the wake of the recent mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, it’s vital to remember that recovery and healing take time, compassion, and support. Recognizing that everyone affected by this tragedy will navigate grief and trauma uniquely, the New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center is offering specific behavioral health resources to support survivors, their loved ones, as well as the larger community.   For an easy-to-understand overview of the disaster trauma recovery process: Disaster Behavioral Health: Response and Recovery Considerations. Reaching out for help can be the first step towards hope.

This clinical brief is intended to introduce mental health providers to the current understanding of culturally responsive care in early psychosis by providing an overview of culturally responsive tools and models for early psychosis (EP) care and highlighting the need for the continued development of a culturally responsive care (CRC) model within EP care.

About this Resource:  In this on-demand recording, panelists describe how the Pathways Housing First program works to end homelessness for individuals with mental illness, addiction, and other health challenges. National experts provide case studies to illustrate how Housing First is successfully implemented to address homelessness through City (Milwaukee County Housing Services), State (Georgia Housing Voucher Program), and Federal (VA Homeless Programs Office) programs.

  The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   The October 2023 issue honors National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, National Youth Substance Use Prevention Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, World Mental Health Day (October 10), and the newest installment of the NIATx in New Places blog series on the ATTC/NIATx Service Improvement Blog! As always, you will also find links to all upcoming events and trainings hosted by the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC!  

About this Resource:  Two-track programs focusing their energy on either substance use or other mental health challenges have continued to be the norm in many treatment settings despite the evidence showing improved outcomes for people who are dually diagnosed that receive specialized treatment. In this webinar recording, panelists explore why we should work to change this standard, and how peer support can be deployed to better support people in dual recovery.

About this Resource: This is the Spanish language version of our previously published fact sheet titled "Faith, Spirituality, and Peer Support." It is meant to accompany a webinar presented by Dr. Monty Burkes. 

  RECORDING: The Importance of Dual Recovery   September is National Recovery Month – a time when those affected by substance use disorders (SUDs) come together at rallies, parades, and parties to share knowledge, experiences, and hopes for the future. This month also commemorates those we've lost and celebrates those who are traveling on or seeking out their own journey of recovery.    Substance use disorders and mental illness overlap at the rate of 50–70%. Despite this significant overlap, there is often not enough attention paid to co-occurring mental health concerns or dual recovery within SUD treatment. This presentation is an informational celebration of dual recovery.      LEARNING OBJECTIVES: In this webinar, participants will learn: Help clients define dual recovery for themselves Help clients improve the quality of life in recovery Articulate the tenants of person-centered recovery Recognize seven varieties of recovery experiences Help clients identify purpose in recovery Create ideas to celebrate dual recovery     PRESENTER: Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, is the State Project Manager for the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC and PTTC. Mark has worked for 40 years as a social worker, educator, and part of the SUD workforce. He is founder of the Online Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment and Recovery and co-founder of Serenity Academy of Chicago, the only recovery-oriented high school in Illinois. Mark is also an international speaker, trainer, and consultant in the behavioral health field whose work has reached thousands throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, and the British Islands.    Recently, Mark Sanders was named as the 2021 recipient of the NAADAC Enlightenment Award in recognition of his outstanding work and contributions to NAADAC, the field of SUD services, and SUD professionals. He is also the recipient of the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health’s 2021 Lawrence Goodman Friend of the Field award in honor of the many years of dedicated service Mark has provided to communities throughout his home state of Illinois.     The Great Lakes MHTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.

Person-Centered Recovery Planning (PCRP) is increasingly required by both state behavioral health authorities and funders such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The implementation of PCRP requires attention to multiple aspects of the change process including overall agency culture, stakeholder competencies in PCRP, and organizational business practices. This report presents key findings from a multi-agency learning collaborative offering intensive training and technical assistance to support the uptake of PCRP across the New England Region.    by Milena Stanojlović, Maria O’Connell, Dana Asby, Stephanie Lanteri, Larry Davidson & Janis Tondora  

Dr. Irwin discusses health disparities for individuals with serious mental illness across the cancer continuum. She reviews the development of a model of person-centered collaborative care, including findings from a recent randomized trial, and introduces a coalition dedicated to ensuring mental illness is never a barrier to cancer care.   Presenter: Dr. Kelly Irwin is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a faculty psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center and MGH Schizophrenia Program. She is the founding director of the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program, a clinical and research initiative dedicated to improving cancer outcomes for individuals with serious mental illness in the Center for Psychiatric Oncology and Behavioral Sciences at the Mass General Cancer Center.   View a recoding of this 9/22/23 session here. 

The fourth September issue of our newsletter spotlights the MHTTC Network Newsletter, features two upcoming Northwest MHTTC webinars, MHTTC & ATTC network events, other events of interest and resources. 

School violence, including school-based gun violence, is a major public health issue that has negative consequences for students, families, schools, and communities (Basile et al., 2020; Peterson et al., 2021). One approach that schools have adopted to address school violence is behavioral threat assessment (BTA). Based on a request from our funder, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), we developed a report on behavioral threat assessment and its intersection with youth mental health. This report aims to: Describe the problem of school violence and how BTA became a widely implemented school violence prevention strategy; Report on the current state of BTA implementation and its effectiveness; Discuss considerations for the fit and appropriateness of using BTA in schools; and Offer recommendations for schools, policymakers, funders, researchers, and SAMHSA on addressing BTA use in schools.

This 5-hour asynchronous course is a free, self-paced, basic orientation to the components of coordinated specialty care for early psychosis. It is appropriate for new staff working on an early psychosis team or anyone interested in learning more about this topic. Each course module is co-presented by individuals with professional and lived experience. Topics include: introduction to psychosis, culturally responsive coordinated specialty care, peer support services, individual therapy, medication management, family psychoeducation and support, and supported education and employment. Access the course.

  This toolkit offers resources and a roadmap from the National Family Support Technical Assistance Center, the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, and the National Center for School Mental Health to move schools from the tokenism that often comes with family involvement to authentic family engagement. Learn how incorporating Family Peer Specialists on school-based mental health teams can move schools towards family-driven partnership and support for youth experiencing mental health and/or substance use challenges.

NAMI has many free support and educational programs. This talk reviews these programs and discuss NAMI's first book You Are Not Alone, where people who have lived with mental health conditions use their names and share what they have learned. They do so to reduce the isolation and shame so common with mental health conditions and to make meaning of their experience. Their lessons include ways they have found to live with symptoms, give to others, and build a life. Families who have learned to communicate and cope with loss will also share what they learned.   Presenter: Ken Duckworth, MD, is the chief medical officer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Ken is board certified in adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, and is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.   View a recording of this 9/13/23 session here. 

In this series, participants will learn about implementing and evaluating new or existing programs at their agency. In this first session, the planning stage will be covered.   View session recording here.

View session recording here.   Are you supporting individuals in returning to post-secondary education? If so, you may be interested in attending this training on assessing the need for and identifying the different types of assistive technology and accommodations available for students with mental health conditions in post-secondary settings. Assistive technology and accommodations can significantly improve academic success; however, accessing these supports can be cumbersome. Additionally, there are many types of assistive technology devices/tools that students can use for academic success that range on a continuum from low to high tech. We will define assistive technology and accommodations in the post-secondary setting as well as explore the types of accommodations and assistive technology used to improve performance in post-secondary school settings. Various types of assistive technology and apps will be demonstrated. A representative from Disability Rights’ Assistive Technology Advocacy Center will also be available to provide an overview of relevant legislation and how to access assistive technology. We will utilize a service conceptualization framework and peer/expert discussions to apply the skills learned. If you wish, please come prepared to discuss an individual participating in services (Please no names or other identifying information). This training is in collaboration with the Integrated Employment Institute (IEI) at Rutgers University.   Presenters: Joni Dolce, M.S., CRC  Joni Dolce is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions at Rutgers School of Health Professions. Joni has many years of experience working in behavioral health services, specifically Supported Employment (SE), providing both direct services and supervising SE staff. She has authored and co-authored several articles and workbooks on employment and presents and provides webinars and trainings locally and nationally on a variety of employment related topics. She has provided training in SE on a national level, including at the NY Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, Washington State Healthcare Authority, the Veterans Administration, and SAMHSA’s Northeast and Caribbean Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC). She has taught/co-developed the inaugural academic courses for Rutgers in SE and Supported Education. Joni was training coordinator for a Field Initiated National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) grant evaluating the implementation of SE into Supportive Housing environments. Joni has been invited to present to Human Resource professionals on the topic of mental health in the workplace and is listed in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) as a recommended speaker on this topic. She is currently a member of the MHTTC’s Dissemination and Implementation working group and is a past president of the National Rehabilitation Association’s NJ affiliate chapter and past secretary of the NJ Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association. Joni is a doctoral candidate in Psychiatric Rehabilitation further exploring the impact of disclosure decision making in employment.     Amy Banko, M.S., LAC, NCC, CPRP Amy Banko is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions at Rutgers University. In addition to providing course instruction, Ms.Banko is a trainer and consultant at the Integrated Employment Institute of Rutgers. Within this role, she facilitates trauma-informed, Supported Employment & Supported Education training and technical assistance to enhance practitioner competencies and program outcomes. Previously, Ms. Banko was a clinical contributor on three NIDILRR funded studies focused on education, employment,  and trauma for individuals with mental health conditions. Additionally, Ms. Banko is a co-author of a best practice manual for providing career services to transition-age youth with mental health conditions. She currently serves as Co-Investigator on two NIDILRR funded studies related to postsecondary education, mental health conditions, and trauma. Ms. Banko’s research agenda focuses on rehabilitation counseling and social/transformative justice as well as critical disability theory as she seeks to build interventions and counseling services that bolster the social determinants of health for those with mental health conditions. Her passion is addressing disability stigma, internalized stigma, ableism, and improving the social determinants of health for people with disabilities and those who experience the intersectionality of disability with other marginalized and oppressed identities. Additionally, Ms. Banko leverages her lived experience of a mental health condition to inform her research, course instruction, and counseling. Ms. Banko is currently attending her doctoral studies at Kean University for Counseling and Supervision with a focus on the treatment of trauma.

Because individuals with vision loss can experience a higher prevalence of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues as compared to their sighted peers, Prevent Blindness, the nation’s leading nonprofit eye health and safety organization, has engaged experts from around the country to raise awareness, provide education and offer newly developed resources for patients, care partners, and healthcare service professionals. According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) one in four adults with vision loss reported anxiety or depression. Younger adults with vision loss had almost five times the risk of serious anxiety or depression compared to adults 65 and older.  “As a patient advocacy organization, we’ve heard for many years from our constituents that one of the biggest challenges of vision loss is how deeply it impacts mental health,” said Julie Grutzmacher, director of patient advocacy and population health initiatives at Prevent Blindness. “Working together with patients, their families and healthcare professionals, we are targeting specific areas for improvement and creating strategies to bring support for those whose mental health is significantly affected from vision impairments.”       Prevent Blindness recently convened an all-volunteer Mental Health Task Force, consisting of professionals from a variety of fields, including ophthalmology, optometry, social work and clinical psychology, as well as patients experiencing vision loss.  The group created the Vision Loss and Mental Health: Key Takeaways from an Interprofessional Task Force issue brief, and collectively identified opportunities to promote process improvement and advocacy in: vision rehabilitation, resource development and dissemination, training for providers (eye care, primary care and mental health),  developing an integrated eye care model. The issue brief is intended for policy makers, providers, professionals and program personnel. Funding support for the promotion and dissemination of the mental health issue brief has been provided by Horizon Therapeutics. As a next step, Prevent Blindness is working with the Task Force to develop training modules geared towards mental health providers. Through the free Living Well with Low Vision resource, Prevent Blindness offers the “Vision Loss and Mental Wellness” webpage. The site provides detailed steps to support mental health, and a listing of mental health services from a variety of organizations. For free information on general eye health, please visit PreventBlindness.org. For a patient guide, low vision resource directories and the latest news on low vision rehabilitation, research and developments in the treatment of eye disease, and a wide range of other topics, visit LowVision.PreventBlindness.org/.   About Prevent Blindness Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness touches the lives of millions of people each year through public and professional education, advocacy, certified vision screening and training, community and patient service programs and research. These services are made possible through the generous support of the American public. Together with a network of affiliates, Prevent Blindness is committed to eliminating preventable blindness in America. For more information, visit us at PreventBlindness.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.