Past Events

About the Event:  A certified peer specialist is a person who self identifies as living with a behavioral health concern or diagnosis and who is in recovery. Peers work from the perspective of their lived experience to build connections and promote hope, recovery, and self-determination in the communities where they serve. Their ability to share their lived experience in a way that promotes hope for recovery and wellness in others is one of the talents of peer specialists that distinguishes them from other members of a care team. However, barriers to and support for their recovery and well-being are often overlooked. Self-care is an important part of life for many peer specialists. What that looks like will vary from peer specialist to peer specialist (just as it differs from person to person). Learning from a peer specialist what self-care looks like for them is important in establishing and managing expectations for the peer specialist, their supervisor, and their organization. Join Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network as they discuss challenges to and strategies for supporting and enhancing peer workforce well-being. Key Learning Objectives:  1. Discuss and identify barriers to recovery and wellness commonly experienced by the peer workforce.   2. Identify actions peer support providers, their supervisors, and their organizations can take to support peer workforce well-being. 3. Distinguish the benefits and objectives of recovery and wellness trainings such as Whole Health Action Management and Wellness Recovery Action Planning.      About the Facilitators:  The Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network believes in the ability of everyone living with mental health concerns to enjoy lives of purpose, meaning, productivity, and wellness. Since it was founded in 1991, this grassroots nonprofit organization has been led and run by mental health peers—people in mental health recovery. At its core, the basis of peer support—one person using their lived experience to support another—is not new; in fact, it is the basis of human growth and development. Mental health peers with special training are now able to use their lived recovery experience in clinical settings to provide something beyond a diagnosis or medication.     Roslind D. Hayes, BS, CPS-AD, CARES, WHWC is the Statewide Coordinator of the GMHCN's Peer Support, Wellness, and Respite Centers. She is a trainer/facilitator for the Certified Peer Specialist Project, Peer Zone, and Intentional Peer Support.  Chris Johnson, MFA, CPS, CPS-AD is GMHCN's Director of Communications. He is responsible for sharing information about recovery and wellness opportunities to behavioral health peers and providers across Georgia. 

Exploring Ethics and Boundaries in Youth Peer Services: Maintaining Professional and Caring Relationships with Youth Adults Receiving Peer Support Ethics and boundaries are critical to any profession, and are especially important in helping professions. There are specific ethical dilemmas related to supporting youth and young adults with mental health and/or substance use challenges. This workshop will describe ethics and boundaries in the context of youth peer support, identify the ethical responsibilities of a peer provider, and discuss strategies to make skilled judgments related to privacy and confidentiality, boundaries of dual relationships, informed consent, mandated reporting, and more. Attendees will come away with a clear understanding of the ethics, guidelines, and boundaries that are essential in youth peer support work. 

This presentation will focus on discussing the importance of integrating cultural humility and structural competence within the Coordinated Specialty Care service delivery framework. We will review the Cultural Formulation Interview and discuss ways in which it can be effectively used when working with program participants and family members to gain a better understanding of the individual's cultural context and inform treatment practices. Presenter: Iruma Bello is a clinical psychologist, Co-Director, and Clinical Training Director of OnTrackNY, and an Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Iruma received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and completed her clinical internship and post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She has a broad background in public sector clinical psychology with specialized training in evidence-based practices and cognitive behavioral therapy. Iruma’s career has focused on research and practice aimed at improving outcomes for individuals diagnosed first-episode psychosis. As the Clinical Training Director of OnTrackNY, she is responsible for helping to develop effective implementation strategies through the delivery of technical assistance and consultation, to support the dissemination of the OnTrackNY treatment model both in New York and across the United States.

**This is a private technical assistance not opened to our community** This technical assistance is intended to increase the utilization and implementation of culturally adapted Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) for Hispanic and Latinx children and youths presenting mental health conditions at the recipients’ agency. Mental health providers will participate in 1x monthly (for 5 months) virtual consultation group sessions and didactic presentations by experts about the clinical application of cultural elements, and cultural adaptations of EBP skills implementation via case presentation and performance feedback.     Who should attend? This is an advanced level technical assistance designed for social workers, counselors, graduate students, and psychologists.     About the presenters: Danita Gallegos, LCSW- Danita Gallegos is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Houston, Texas. She has experience working with families in medical social work, crisis response, school social work and as a psychotherapist. Danita currently works at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) Program in providing school crisis evaluations and individual therapy.   Michelle Evans, DSW, LCSW, CADC- Dr. Michelle Evans is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and Licensed Sex Offender Treatment Provider with experience in individual and family counseling and in developing therapeutic groups. She has worked primarily with the Latino population throughout her career as a bilingual and bicultural social worker. She is currently the Hospital Administrator for Elgin Mental Health Center in Elgin, Illinois. She is in private practice at Nickerson & Associates, PC as a bilingual therapist where she treats adults and adolescents with mental health issues, substance abuse issues and sex addictions. She also teaches on these topics at Aurora University and University of Chicago. Previously, she was the Assistant Dean for Health Professions and Public Service at Waubonsee Community College, and she has held other positions within private psychiatric hospitals. Throughout her career, she has worked to increase equity, justice, and cultural awareness to these institutions.   Michelle Evans earned a Doctor of Social Work and a Master of Social Work degree from Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois.    Isa I. Vélez Echevarría, PsyD- is a clinical psychologist. She obtained a certification as Interpersonal Psychotherapy Clinician, was trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Family Therapy, and Neurofeedback. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Community Services Institute in Boston, MA., where she provided home-based and school-based psychotherapy for communities of color. She is currently working as a clinical psychologist at A&R Behavioral Associates and as a Training and Content Specialist for the National Hispanic and Latino MHTTC, at the Universidad Central del Caribe, in Bayamon, PR.        

Migrant Clinicians Network and the Witness to Witness Program are pleased to present Part 3 in this three-part online seminar series that addresses how to manage the multiple stressors impacting service providers and those they serve.  The series will present a model of the helper as witness that provides concrete suggestions as to how the provider can shift from feeling ineffective to feeling effective and competent.  Participants will learn ways of activating resilience, creating a self-care toolbox and managing grief and loss.    As the losses mount with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, people are feeling a range of emotions. Confusion, fear, anger, and sadness are strong, as is grief. Grief usually takes shared public forms, but during the pandemic, there are constraints. In this online seminar, Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, presents materials about grief in general and grief in the circumstances of the pandemic. We discuss the particular challenges of grief following estrangement or ambiguous loss. We look at ways to support others – clients, friends, colleagues, family members – without becoming overburdened ourselves, so that we may avoid empathic pitfalls while offering support. Throughout the online seminar, we create ways for participants to share their experiences and form a felt sense of community. We need to balance despair with hope, and hope is something best done with others. For 90 minutes, we become your community.   Meet the Presenter  Kaethe Weingarten, Ph.D., directs the Witness to Witness Program (W2W) whose goal is to help the helpers, primarily serving health care workers, attorneys, domestic violence advocates and journalists working with vulnerable populations.  She was an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry from 1981-2017 and a faculty member of the Family Institute of Cambridge where she founded and directed the Program in Families, Trauma and Resilience.  She has published six books and over 100 articles and essays. 

Developing cultural competence is an aspirational journey. This training will support your efforts to increase your understanding of Native culture. The training will also provide clinicians with practical tips for improving engagement with this population, in order to improve clinical outcomes with your American Indian/Alaska Native clients. Thursday, July 22nd 1-2 ET . 12-1 CT . 11-12 MT . 10-11 PT . 9-10 AKT SPEAKER: John Jewett (he/him) member of the Oglala Lakota Nation and member of the Advisory Council for the Native Center for Behavioral Health. He's a Board Certified Clinical Counselor and Certified Addictions Specialist, has spent his entire psychotherapy career in Indian Country and is currently practicing at the Indian Health Service in Albuquerque, NM.

Communication 101 for School Mental Health: Engaging Adults on Campus Who Do Not Have a Mental Health Background Intended Audience This session is designed for SEA and LEA team members who want to gain an understanding of proven communication practices. It is ideal for those with a role in developing communications content about school mental health for audiences who do not have a mental health background, such as educators, school staff, and school administrators.  Note that this session does not focus on modes of communication (e.g., social media), but rather on how to develop content that effectively communicates school mental health concepts and issues to lay stakeholders. Learning Objectives Participants who join this session will be able to: Identify language that is effective and accessible in conveying key concepts about children’s mental health and avoid language pitfalls. Use tools and resources to guide communication that increases awareness, builds knowledge, and engages school mental health stakeholders and partners on campus. Refine planning and practices to optimize state grant management processes  alignment with SAMHSA’s systems. Session overview How do we convey the role of student wellness in student success to educators and staff on campus? What does mental health have to do with school? Why do I (a teacher, aide, coach, principal) need to learn about school mental health? This topical learning forum is dedicated to building capacity for Project AWARE teams invested in a shared understanding of the value of school mental health. In this virtual learning session, you will learn about proven communication strategies on the topic of school and children’s mental health. Tools and resources will be provided to help shape your communication content for lay audiences in your schools. There will be opportunity to discuss real world examples and to learn from your AWARE peers.   Speaker Christina Borbely PhD [“borbay”], is a developmental psychologist (Columbia University, 2004) in Aptos, CA. She is coordinator of professional development for Santa Cruz County California Behavioral Health Services and leads her own consulting firm specialized in translating research science into developmentally relevant and culturally competent practices. She strives to support thriving youth in healthy families within safe communities based on connecting evidence of what works to the people and systems serving them (e.g., teachers, social workers, administrators, or volunteers).  Her work provides direct training and expertise to public and private sector agencies, and administrations, as well as disseminates curricula, research resources, and reports to the field. With an emphasis on real world application of behavioral and mental health sciences, Dr. Borbely is a committed partner on a spectrum of projects. She most recently served as Project Director for SAMHSA’s Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center. Her prior roles include leadership of state and federal infrastructure and policy initiatives, such as SAMHSA’s mental health and violence prevention initiatives (Project AWARE, Healthy Transitions, and ReCAST), USDE’s Safe Schools Healthy Students, and California’s Safe and Drug Free Schools, and Alliance for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Service. Through California Department of Education and the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, she developed and advised on multi-tiered systems of cross-sector supports to raise awareness and accountability for promoting mental, emotional, and behavioral safety and wellness. These professional experiences are a conduit for her passion working with communities to promote the wellbeing of children and youth.

Developing cultural competence is an aspirational journey. This training will support your efforts to increase your understanding of Native culture. The training will also provide clinicians with practical tips for improving engagement with this population, in order to improve clinical outcomes with your American Indian/Alaska Native clients. Speaker bio: John Jewett, MA John Jewett (he/him) is a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation and a member of the Advisory Council for the Native Center for Behavioral Health. He's a Board Certified Clinical Counselor and Certified Addictions Specialist, has spent his entire psychotherapy career in Indian Country and is currently practicing at the Indian Health Service in Albuquerque, NM.

This webinar has concluded.   Watch the webinar | Download the slides   Webinar Overview: Family psychoeducation is an evidence-based treatment for individuals with psychotic disorders. In this free introductory presentation, we will review the common elements of family psychoeducation and benefits of this intervention. We will also discuss specific considerations for clinicians providing family psychoeducation to relatives of individuals early in the course of a psychotic disorder. Certificates of completion will be available to attendees who view 50% or more of the live webinar.   Presenter:   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 former 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).  

Join us for 3 interactive coaching sessions to help you plan and implement a manualized wellness program for yourself and your colleagues at work. During these unprecedented times when stress, anxiety, and pressures are high it’s critical to take care of yourself in order to take care of others. But this can be challenging. To support you in this effort, we’ve created a simple, manualized wellness program that you can do with your colleagues at work. Our Facilitation Manual for Self-Care in the Workplace outlines 5, 30-minute sessions. The Manual includes information for facilitating each session (i.e., a session plan for each session, a detailed outline of what the facilitator will say and do during each session, and video guidance for self-care activities). You can access the manual on our website. Each coaching session will walk you through the critical steps in planning to implement this program in your work setting. The sessions build on each other so please plan to attend all three sessions. Session 1: Assessing Motivation, Audience, Comfort, and Supports | Thursday, July 8,12:00-1:00 pm ET Session 2: Planning Considerations | Thursday, July 22, 12:00-1:00 pm ET Session 3: Action Steps for Implementation | Thursday, August 5,12:00-1:00 pm ET Presenters: Peggy Swarbrick, Ph.D., FAOTA, Associate Director of the Center of Alcohol & Substance Use Studies and a Research Professor, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology; Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey.  Michelle Zechner, Ph.D., MSW, LSW, CPRP, Assistant Professor at Rutgers, Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Programs.

About the Session: In this fifth 90-minute session of the Culturally Responsive Evidence-Based and Community-Defined Practices for Mental Health Series, we will: Discuss how Achieving Whole Health (AWH) is being implemented with various cultural groups across the Network/in different regions. Highlight additional culturally responsive “AWH practices” being utilized across the Network/in different regions. Share lessons learned during the implementation of AWH (i.e. Balancing AWH and the cultural needs of the people served). Certificate of Completion: This session will be recorded and available on the series landing page here within a week of each live event. CEUs are not available for these sessions; however, certificates of completion for each learning session are available to viewers of 50% (45 minutes) or more of the live session. Questions? Contact Jessica Gonzalez, MHTTC School Mental Health Coordinator, at [email protected]. Session Facilitators and Panelists: Dr. Pata Suyemoto is a feminist scholar, writer, educator, diversity trainer, mental health activist, jewelry designer, and avid bicyclist. She is the co-chair for the Greater Boston Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition and the chair of the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) Alliance for Equity’s People of Color Caucus. Pata is a co- author of Widening the Lens: Exploring the Role of Social Justice in Suicide Prevention – A Racial Equity Toolkit. She has spoken and written about her struggles with depression and is a co-founder of The Breaking Silences Project, which is an artistic endeavor that educates about the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American young women. She is also a long-time volunteer for Asian Women for Health and is a trainer and wellness coach for the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association’s (NAAPIMA) Achieving Whole Health program.   Dr. Rachele Espiritu is the co-director of SAMHSA's Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands). Dr. Espiritu provides training, technical assistance, and capacity building at the local, territory, tribal, state, and national level in multiple systems, including mental health, substance use, public health, and education. She is a founding partner with Change Matrix LLC, a minority- and women-owned small business that motivates, manages and measures change to support systems that improve lives. She is a former School Board Member of Denver Public Schools (DPS), where she provided direction and leadership for Whole Child efforts and successfully passed a resolution for DPS to become a trauma-informed school district.               Dr. Martha Staeheli is the School Mental Health Site Lead for the New England MHTTC and an Instructor in the Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry.            

In this month's consultation call, we will discuss how to support youth in healthy, individualized decision-making. We will cover how to support youth in weighing pros and cons, exploring potential consequences, and anticipating the situation.  This call is offered in partnership with Pathways Research and Training Center (RTC) and the Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center as one installment in a series of monthly consultation calls focused on "Advanced Topics in Strengthening Youth/Young Adult Peer Support." Each call has its own topic, in an area such as skill building, supervision, coaching and training, organizational policies and procedures, hiring and onboarding, and more. This series is intended primarily for peer support specialists, their supervisors, and administrators charged with implementing youth/young adult peer support. Learn more about the series here. Here's what you can expect from each consultation call: Focus on one topic such as skill building, supervision, coaching and training, organizational policies and procedures, hiring and on-boarding, and more Sharing a practical resource related to the meeting's topic, such as  a strategy, tool, set of research findings, or template Time for focused discussion in which attendees can ask questions and share knowledge and ideas relevant to the day’s topic, followed by an open discussion of any topic related to youth/young adult peer support To allow for interaction and discussion, registration will be limited. Register early to ensure your space! Trainer 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.       Want more information? Visit the Northwest MHTTC's Resource Library and Websites by Topic  and sign up for our monthly newsletter for regular updates about events, trainings, and resources available to the Northwest region.

The Great Lakes MHTTC offers this training for behavioral health providers in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, and WI.  This training is offered in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.   This class looks at the dynamics of conversations where there is ambivalence and reluctance about vaccines. In these conversations it is easy to play the role of the expert and tell the person what they need to do to improve their situation. The problem is that this usually provokes resistance in the ambivalent person, and as they voice the reasons not to change, it reduces the likelihood of behavior change. This class presents an alternative guiding style for these conversations using Miller and Rollnick’s “OARS” skills.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES Explore the difference between a guiding style and a confrontational one Identify how using a guiding style helps explore ambivalence about vaccines Identify and practice: open questions affirmations reflections summaries   Speaker:    Russ Turner, MA, MS is the Director of the People Incorporated Training Institute. During his 14-year tenure he has developed and taught a curriculum of training classes and workshops in a wide variety of subjects related to behavioral health from crisis de-escalation to motivational interviewing. His audience includes mental health professionals, social workers, case managers, addiction professionals, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and organizational leaders. He trains trainers, works with management, and has consulted and coached on numerous mental health related training projects. He has worked as a teacher or trainer for over 25 years in a variety of countries and settings including Japan, the Czech Republic and the UK. His teaching philosophy is that adults learn best when they are challenged, the material is applicable to work situations, and sessions are interactive and engaging. Continuing Education 2 CEUs, MN Board of Social Work This training is offered in partnership with The Training Institute, People Incorporated Mental Health Services.  

The Great Lakes MHTTC offers this training for behavioral health providers in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, and WI. This training is offered in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.   STAR-Lite is an evidence-based, research and practice-supported professional development and community education training integrating neuropsychology, trauma healing and resilience, restorative justice, nonviolent conflict transformation, and broadly defined spirituality to become trauma-informed, resilience-oriented, and restorative justice-focused for cultural competence, racial justice, healing, and equity. This training is based on the 5-day Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) Training. While inclusive of the traditional psychiatric/medical model understanding of trauma, this training is designed for those seeking to understand and address psychological trauma from a broader bio-psycho-social-racial-spiritual-cultural perspective. STAR Lite teaches trainees the language of the complete spectrum of psychological trauma for building authentic just peace within trainees’ spheres of influence. CE: For an additional $35/trainee, Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute will provide 6.5 hours of professional continuing education/training completion certificate. Enrollment: This training is for a maximum of 60 people.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. Learn the complete intersectional spectrum of individual and collective trauma that affects diverse populations and the common responses to psychological trauma. 2. Learn the links between unhealed trauma and the cycles of victimhood and violence experienced by all people. 3. Learn effective trauma awareness, restorative justice, and resilience models and associated practices for cultural competence, racial justice, healing, and equity. 4. Explore ways to apply trauma awareness, restorative justice, and self-care for resilience practices to build just peace within our lives, families, neighborhoods, organizations, and society.   Trainers:  Crixell Shell, MS, Assistant Executive Director, Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute and Local Coming to the Table (CTTT) Racial Healing Talking Circle Group Leader, is a cisgender, African American woman with a professional legal and technology background. She was in the first Minnesota Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) training cohort in 2010 and, since then she has been an integral part of the development of the STAR Training and CTTT in Minnesota. Crixell facilitates multiple CTTT gatherings each month, and she is on the national CTTT leadership team.           Donna Minter, PhD, Founder and Executive Director of Peacebuilding, is a European-American cisgender woman. She is a licensed psychologist who has practiced pediatric neuropsychology for over 25 years in outpatient and inpatient clinics and educational settings. For over 19 years she has conducted court-ordered mental health evaluations and provided expert court testimony. She is a Certified STAR Trainer and she administers, implements, and conducts trainings and talking circles in Minnesota, throughout the USA, and internationally.    

/*--> Our next Family Compassionate Conversation will focus on holistic health and the interconnectedness of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness. Learn more about the mind, body, spirit connection and ways to implement whole-wellness strategies to health and wellness that support overall well-being for you and your family members.

Monthly Open Consultation Calls on Adult Peer Workforce Topics for Region 10 providers Facilitated by Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon, these are open monthly consultation calls for Region 10 (Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho) supporting the Adult Peer workforce. These calls are intended for peer support specialists, supervisors of peers, and administrators of peer-delivered services and programs. MHAAO Consultation Calls & Webinars You may join any or all of these calls. While we use a recurring Zoom link, you are welcome to choose the sessions that work for your schedule and interests.   July 21 Topic: Group Facilitation Facilitators: Adrienne Scavera is the Training and Outreach Department Director for Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon (MHAAO), one of Oregon's oldest and largest peer-run organizations. In her role as a department director, Adrienne works to support the peer workforce from initial entry and training to systems-level advocacy. Currently, Adrienne serves on several committees and boards, including the Oregon Health Authority’s Training Evaluation and Metrics Program Scoring Committee and the state Traditional Health Worker Commission. In her work, Adrienne prioritizes the experience of individuals as the experts on their own lives. Over the years, she has worked in research, direct service, program development, management, training, and with non-profits, educational institutions, and peer-run organizations. She enjoys writing about herself in third person, well-organized spaces, and friendly animals. Want more information? Visit the Northwest MHTTC's Resource Library and Websites by Topic  and sign up for our monthly newsletter for regular updates about events, trainings, and resources available to the Northwest region.

Experiential Ways to Build Up Your Mental Health and Resilience - Workshop Wednesday Session July 21, 2021 12:00pm - 1:00pm MST | 1:00pm - 2:00pm CST Registration is free and required. This session is available to individuals residing in HHS Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, and WY). Certificates of Attendance will be available.   This training focuses on improving mental health wellness by teaching participants to recognize when they are thriving or languishing and provides skills and strategies for building and increasing resilience. Christina Ruggiero will give an overview of the foundations of mental health wellness and guide participants through exercises that support self-reflection, relaxation, and the development of a personalized self-care plan. Christina will close the session by reviewing additional resources that participants can use to establish self-care strategies to cope with uncontrollable events.      This hour is to help you focus on YOU and how YOU are doing. Visit the Mountain Plains MHTTC provider well-being resources page for additional self-care resources.   After attending this session, participants will:    Understand the difference between Thriving Mental Health and Languishing Mental Health. Recognize the significant role mental health plays in overall health and well-being. Have practiced and become familiar with exercises to improve mental health using relaxation and self-care.   Develop self-care strategies to help manage COVID-19 uncertainty.   Trainer Christina Ruggiero, CCC, RP Christina Ruggiero (she/her) is a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario, Canada, currently working full-time as a mental health counsellor for students attending McMaster University. She obtained her Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Toronto, before pursuing her Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology at Adler University in Vancouver, BC. She finds great meaning in educating individuals about mental health, and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. During her graduate degree, she created an anti-stigma training module for students and staff to use at Simon Fraser University, believing that change involves education and experiential components, including self-awareness and reflection. She continues this method training students and staff at Queens in mental health awareness, compassion fatigue, and distress support.

The Great Lakes MHTTC offers this training for behavioral health professionals in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, and WI. This session is offered in partnership with the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.   The emotional strain of working in the educational and other helping professions can cause burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. This has an impact on staff turnover, effectiveness, and professional/personal lives. Without effective coping mechanisms, teachers and helpers can become frustrated, overwhelmed, and immobilized. This two-hour training will be led by Eileen Russo, MA, LADC.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES   Recognize the differences between burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. Identify personal warning signs for compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma. Identify strengths and gaps in a personal self-care plan.   Speaker: Eileen Russo, MA, LADC Eileen M. Russo, MA, LADC is a licensed addiction counselor, a certified clinical supervisor, and an advanced certified addiction/co-occurring disorders (AADC) professional who has worked in the addiction and mental health field for the past thirty-five years. Ms. Russo is a professor and program coordinator for the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Counselor program with Gateway Community College, New Haven, CT.  Ms. Russo has co-authored articles on the integration of trauma-specific services into substance abuse treatment and is a co-author of the curriculum Healing Trauma: A Brief Intervention for Women by Dr. Stephanie Covington. Full bio.                

The Great Lakes MHTTC offers this training for behavioral health professionals in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, and WI. This training is offered in partnership with ASPIN in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.   This course is designed to help therapists, caseworkers, and other providers successfully navigate their relationships with criminal justice partners. By learning how to build a strong partnership, clinicians will be able to focus on what they do best: facilitate quality services.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this course, participants will be able to: 1. Identify solutions to common barriers experienced 2. Understand how to prepare for interactions outside of the service session 3. Learn techniques to communication effectively with criminal justice staff   PRESENTERS Tess Ottenweller is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Vice President of Intensive Services at the Bowen Center.  Over the last 15 years, she has worked collaboratively with criminal justice and child welfare partners to ensure quality services are available and accessible to those in need.  She is passionate about treating the whole person, incorporating family supports, and breaking down stigma associated with serious mental illness and substance use disorders.                Wayne Peterson-Stephan is the Director of Addiction Recovery Services at the Bowen Center.  Wayne is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate and a Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Consultant. Wayne hopes to be able to make a positive impact in the communities served by the Bowen Center by creating and facilitating, effective pathways to quality addiction recovery services that are community based and collaborative in their approach to addiction treatment and recovery.

Telebehavioral Health Services: Planning and Investing for the Future of Your Services The COVID-19 pandemic forced many mental health organizations to rapidly modify services that are typically provided in-person to remote delivery via telehealth. Now as social distancing restrictions are lifted, you have to decide how your services will look going forward. This series of 6 sessions will help you think about how telebehavioral health services could continue to be utilized, how to think about investing in telebehavioral health, and what you need to do now for long-term success. Intended Audience: Behavioral health administrators and organizational decision-makers. Dates: Wednesdays from 12:00 – 1:00 pm ET from July 14 – August 18 July 14 | Session 1: The future of telebehavioral health and digital mental health services July 21 | Session 2: The evidence-base for telebehavioral health and digital mental health services July 28 | Session 3: Return on Investment for telebehavioral health and digital mental health services August 4 | Session 4: Future planning and investment for telebehavioral health and digital mental health services August 11 | Session 5: What telebehavioral health and digital mental health infrastructure to build now and what can be built later August 18 | Session 6: Rollout Lessons: Recommendations for training, known issues with provider training, and lessons learned Each session will include a request for questions to be addressed in the presentation and time for questions and answers. Participants will receive a downloadable PDF of the presentation and access to the speaker for additional confidential questions. Presenter: Jay Ostrowski, MA, NCC, LPC-S, ACS, BC-TMH, is the CEO at Adaptive Telehealth. Mr. Ostrowski serves as a consultant providing training, consulting, and development services for telebehavioral health, telepsychiatry, telemental health, ambulatory telehealth, telehealth billing, population health, remote patient monitoring, and chronic care management. He also has expertise in telebehavioral health best practices and service delivery operations, HIPAA security, HIPAA-secure software applications, and telehealth regulations for all states and 8 professions. He has authored many peer-reviewed telebehavioral health trainings and founded the Board Certification in Telemental Health (BC-TMH). With a background in counseling psychology, Mr. Ostrowski develops products, services, and trainings on the clinical application of digital health products, services, and artificial intelligence.

A Psychiatric Advance Directive (PAD) is a legal document that details preferences for future mental health treatment, services, and supports. This webinar will present the core elements of a PAD, and the role and benefits of Peer Specialists facilitating and supporting their development. Presented by experts in the field, this panel discussion will share how PADs are having positive impacts on mental health and crisis services. Learning Objectives: 1. List at least 5 core elements of a Psychiatric Advanced Directive (PAD): 2. Identify the benefits of developing a PAD to quality of care, community safety, and cultural responsiveness 3. Describe the role of Peer Specialists and benefits of peer-facilitated PADs

Attendees will be able to distinguish between resilience factors and burnout symptoms; identify healthy, ongoing practices in the profession for sustainability; and validate the positive impact of boundary setting. Guest speaker: Ray Gottesman, LSWIC. The Northwest MHTTC is excited to collaborate with Aleks Martin, MSW, LSWAIC, SUDP, to deliver a webinar and podcast series as part of our support for provider well-being. Find out more about the series here. Presenter Aleks Martin (S/he pronouns, but they is ok) has been in the health and social service field for over 20 years. Aleks was drawn to the LGBTQI2+ community in their mid-twenties working for a national HIV-prevention study with youth called, Young Asian Men’s Study (YAMS). This exposed them to the great work of HIV workers from other organizations and how community-based programs are critical in reaching out to the most vulnerable populations. During this time, they worked as a Disease Intervention Specialist with Public Health - Seattle & King County for 7 years, including working on the pilot study for the Rapid HIV Test Kit (then a 20-minute test). A big portion of their professional career was spent at Seattle Counseling Service, a behavioral health agency for the LGBTQ community. From 2003 to 2019, Aleks started as Database Manager, Health Educator, Program Coordinator to Chemical Dependency Counselor and Addictions Program Supervisor. This was the safe space where their yearning for higher education was cultivated so they could serve their community further. As a graduate of the University of Washington’s School of Social Work - Masters Program, Aleks developed their skills as a mental health clinician and social justice advocate. Aleks’ perspectives where shifted and allowed them to have a wider lens for diversity, inclusion and equity. Aleks was inspired to start a private practice to address the special needs of the LGBTQI2+ and BBIPOC (Black, Brown, Indigenous and People of Color), particularly Queer and Trans Asian and Pacific Islander people dealing with unique and special issues that intersect with race/culture and gender/sexuality like coming out, spiritual conflicts, cultural dissonance, gender transition, social navigation at work and other environments, interpersonal relationships from intimacy to friendships, understanding relationships with non-LGBTQI2+ partner(s), and so on. Want more information? Visit the Northwest MHTTC's Resource Library and Websites by Topic  and sign up for our monthly newsletter for regular updates about events, trainings, and resources available to the Northwest region.

The Northwest MHTTC and the Great Lakes MHTTC are pleased to jointly offer this 90-minute webinar for Assertive Community Team Leads. This fourth and final webinar in our series "Team Leaders Making a Difference! Conversations on Leadership and Supervision in ACT" will present lessons learned from the listening sessions conducted over the last year and results from the needs assessment survey and will seek to engage in a dialogue with team leaders around the findings and next steps for the project.   Target Audience Primarily Assertive Community Treatment Team Leaders and other supervisors of multi-disciplinary mental health treatment teams serving a high-needs population group.   Presenters Mimi Choy-Brown, PhD, MSW, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work. Informed by over a decade of practice and leadership in community mental health services, her research focuses on improving access to high quality mental health services for individuals who experience significant psychiatric disabilities and supervision-focused strategies to improve the implementation of recovery-oriented, evidence-based practices in routine care. She received her PhD from NYU and her MSW from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.         Maria Monroe-DeVita, PhD, is an Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, School of Medicine, and the Director of the Washington State Center of Excellence in First Episode Psychosis. Her expertise is in implementation and services research related to evidence-based practices for adults with serious mental illness, particularly the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) model. She has served as the Principal Investigator on several projects with the Washington State Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, including the development, implementation, and fidelity assessment of 10 new ACT teams, and several Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) and Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) pilots across the state. She is also in the process of developing and testing novel approaches to better serving people with serious mental illness. She received a collaborative R34 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to develop and pilot-test the integration of IMR within ACT teams and is working to better define and implement integrated primary care services within ACT. She is also the lead author of the new ACT fidelity tool – the Tool for Measurement of Assertive Community Treatment (TMACT) – which has been disseminated and pilot-tested in several U.S. states and countries.   Lynette M. Studer, PhD, MSW, LCSW, is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. She teaches MSW students in a mental health field unit as well as classes on Mental Health Policies & Services and Advanced Practice Skills in Mental Health. Prior to joining the UW-Madison faculty, she held a position as both an Agency Policy Specialist and State Administrator with the State of Minnesota Department of Human Services, Chemical and Mental Health Administration overseeing and improving policy and the provision of technical assistance for the state’s 32 Assertive Community Treatment teams who serve individuals with serious mental illness. Dr. Studer holds clinical social work licenses in both Wisconsin and Minnesota and has been a practicing clinical social worker for over 20 years.    

Objectives: - examine the negative mental health consequences for healthcare workers of COVID and in general/intro to the idea that resilience can be increased/prior evidence that brief resilience-enhancing interventions can improve outcomes in healthcare workers. -explore specific interventions to build resilience incorporating such skills as mindfulness and self-compassion. Finally, we will examine different modalities in which these interventions are offered such as via zoom, in-person, and pre-recorded video sessions.   Dr. Elyse Park, PhD, is a clinical health psychologist and health services researcher who is dedicated to understanding and improving health-related behaviors among cancer survivors and populations at risk for cancer and chronic disease. Her research focuses on developing and implementing behavioral interventions to enhance resiliency, decrease tobacco use, and improve access to healthcare. A Professor of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, her research is conducted at the MGH Mongan Institute’s Health Policy Research Center and Department of Psychiatry. She directs the BHI behavioral research agenda and is director of a new joint Psychiatry and Medicine, initiative, the Health Promotion and Resiliency Intervention Research Program (HPRIR (pronounced hip-errr). Clinically, she treats cancer survivors.       Dr. Nicole DeTore, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and the Director of Research in the Resilience and Prevention Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. DeTore’s research interests are focused in resilience, prevention in psychiatry, cognition, schizophrenia, and work and school functioning in those with severe mental illnesses. Dr. DeTore works clinically with those at risk for psychosis, those experiencing a severe mental illness and those hoping to improve their quality of life, specifically in the area of work or school.           Dr. Louisa Sylvia, PhD, is a staff psychologist and associate director at Dauten Family Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital, director of the Office for Women’s Careers at Massachusetts General, and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Sylvia’s major research interests are developing resilience and wellness programs for individuals with mood disorders. She has received funding to develop in-person, therapist-administered lifestyle and sleep interventions for individuals with serious mental illness as well as online, self-directed programs to increase physical activity and overall wellness. Dr. Sylvia has published over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts in her area of specialization, co-authored a workbook for Bipolar II Disorder, authored the Complete Wellness Workbook for Bipolar Disorder as well as presented her work at numerous local, national and international conferences. She assisted in creating MoodNetwork, a patient-powered research network, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Initiative.   MoodNetwork (www.moodnetwork.org) brings together thousands of individuals with mood disorders to improve their overall wellness.  Dr. Sylvia is also a clinician who treats patients with mood and anxiety disorders as well as a prominent educator and mentor in her field. She has spoken nationally on the importance of role models and mentors for female faculty and currently oversees faculty development for women at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Sylvia received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. She received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and completed her psychology internship at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA. Dr. Sylvia is a member of the American Psychological Association, Society of Research and Psychopathology, Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy.