Past Events

The Peer Support Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (PS ECHO) is a movement to share knowledge, and amplify capacity to provide best practices. The PS ECHO is an online community for Peer Recovery Specialist and Mental Health Peers to: Share community and statewide resources Learn new skills and tools for doing peer work Meet and connect with other peers    

The Northeast and Caribbean MHTTC wants to support you and your work during this unprecedented public health crisis. And we know you want to support each other! Many of you have created unique strategies for meeting the needs of your service participants, but you may still also be grappling with questions or looking for better ways of doing things. To help facilitate support and the sharing of resources and ideas, we will be facilitating Mutual Support Calls for Thriving at Work During COVID-19. These calls will be facilitated by knowledgeable leaders in the field, but we also want to benefit from your experience and expertise. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions or comments in advance, but we welcome all to join and share with each other or just listen and benefit from the community. What & Who: One-hour virtual learning discussions for Mental Health Service Providers who want to share experiences, exchange resources, and ask and answer questions of and for each other. When: You are welcome to join 1, 2, or all 3. Mental Health Providers: Every other Thursday at 12 noon ET, 4/30, 5/14, and 5/28 Before joining each call, we invite you to submit a question or comment that you would like to see discussed during the call. We look forward to connecting with you!

  Click here to tune into the DBT STEPS-A YouTube Channel every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10am for their live lessons. Registration is not required. DBT STEPS-A Online Lesson 26: Interpersonal Effectiveness - DEAR MAN Student Life Skills to Survive & Thrive During COVID-19 & Beyond About: Join Doctors Jim & Lizz Mazza & family in their living room as they teach kids the basics of emotional regulation and specific skills such as mindfulness, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness—essential skills at any time, but even more critical during COVID-19. Our kids -- all of us -- are upended emotionally right now. Tune in with your kids to help you reduce conflict and to keep this pandemic in perspective.    Tune in to YouTube live for the Tuesday and Thursday morning sessions here. It is not necessary to watch these lessons in order. You can join in the series at anytime and catch up with the recorded videos! Audience: Parents, students, educators, and more!   >> Access recordings for all 16 live lessons after the event here. << The Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center is partnering with Forefront Suicide Prevention Center & DBT in Schools to bring you a 16-lesson online curriculum for DBT STEPS-A and 2 Q&A sessions with the trainers.   This series is part of The Well-Being Series - Connections During COVID-19: Mental Wellness Webinars for Families and Educators. Click here to learn more about our series of webinars for kids, parents, and educators, focusing on mental wellness and suicide prevention. About the Presenters: Dr. James J. Mazza is the co-author of the DBT STEPS-A social emotional learning curriculum for middle and high school students. He received his masters and Ph.D. in school psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is a professor at the University of Washington – Seattle where he has been for over 20 years teaching and conducting research in the field of adolescent mental health.       Dr. Elizabeth Dexter-Mazza is a certified DBT therapist and co-author of the DBT STEPS-A social emotional learning curriculum for middle and high school students. She received her doctoral degree from the School of Professional Psychology at Pacific University in 2004, and completed her predoctoral internship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center’s Adolescent Depression and Suicide Program. Dr. Dexter-Mazza completed her postdoctoral fellowship under the direction of Dr. Marsha Linehan at the University of Washington.   Want more information and school mental health resources? Visit the Northwest MHTTC's School Mental Health page and sign up for our monthly newsletter for regular updates about events, trainings, and resources available to the Northwest region.  

*Note: This workshop will be delivered in two 90-minute Zoom sessions with a break in between Parts 1 and 2. The biopsychosocial approach to the study of childhood complex trauma incorporates information about child development and brain growth as it relates to the environment and/or social context in which a child is growing. Regarding the identification and treatment of children with a history of physical or psychological trauma, scientific research tells us that repeated early childhood trauma exposure changes the architecture of the brain and may create oversensitivity to threat and later compromise planning and organization skill development. Not only does untreated early trauma affect neurodevelopment but it can also significantly alter appropriate psychosocial functioning, provide a basis for violence, and negatively affect life-long outcomes. Not only does untreated early trauma affect neurodevelopment but it can also significantly alter appropriate psychosocial functioning, provide a basis for violence, and negatively affect life-long outcomes. However, trauma-related responses in the brain, illuminated by recent but little known affective neuroscientific research, indicates that trauma responses are adaptive and helpful if understood and placed in context. If we drill down and truly understand the biological/homeostatic human emotional functioning, then we have the key to providing efficient and powerful assistance that optimizes adaptive functioning and we will be able to assist the transformation of trauma into resilience. There are generally four main lines of research that inform the biopsychosocial aspects of trauma-informed approaches for school psychologists: 1) brain development and toxic stress, 2) the neuroscience of emotion 3) educator self-care, and 4) biologically-informed trauma sensitive systems. Human biopsychosocial systems are about homeostasis (survival) and homeostasis is about learning how to survive optimally. Trauma-informed schools are therefore fundamentally based on or about physical and psychological safety. Securing the physical plant, training crisis prevention and management, making the environment predictable, having predictable policies and procedures, fair and equitable management of negative behaviors, highlighting positive behaviors, positive support from the community, and centering the whole school/child experience around positive relationships are necessary conditions mandated by the human nervous system for optimal learning to take place. The more we learn about homeostatic neuroscience the more we will understand how to drive the design and sustainability of trauma-informed schools.   Presentation Objectives Participants will be able to: Describe the key findings of the Adverse Childhood Events study as it relates to enacting a trauma sensitive approach to children in schools. Describe the impact of childhood trauma on brain development and behavior. Describe the components of trauma-informed schools. Practice trauma-sensitive interactions with children in schools.   Presenter Bio Elaine Fletcher-Janzen, Ed.D., NCSP, ABPdN, obtained her doctorate in School Psychology from the College of William and Mary in 1993, and has been a school psychologist in the public schools, neuropsychiatric inpatient, and university settings for the past 36 years. Dr. Fletcher-Janzen received her Diplomate in Pediatric Neuropsychology in 2010; Distinguished Research Scholar Award from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2014; and the Excellence in Psychological Assessment Award from Gonzaga University in 2019. Dr. Fletcher-Janzen is a member of the National Association of School Psychologists, the International Neuropsychological Society, the American Psychological Association, Division 40, and the International School Psychology Association.

  About the Event:  Life, as we knew it just a few weeks ago, has been completely turned upside down. That feeling you are feeling but can’t seem to describe in words may be grief. People are experiencing the loss of jobs, school, hugs, social connections, sports, graduations, weddings, funerals, it seems that every area of our life has been touched. We can’t even go to the grocery store without worry and stress. And if we were already grieving a loss, coping can be complicated. What do we do with this surreal feeling of disorientation? How do we recognize the signs and symptoms of grief and how do we cope? This webinar will give you an overview of what grief looks like at any time but especially during a time of ambiguous loss. We will talk about how to care for yourself and others in a time of uncertainty.   Key Learning Objectives: To define ambiguous loss To identify the signs and symptoms of grief To understand the difference between grief and mourning To identify ways of coping with grief To know when and how to ask for support Access presentation materials and recording after the event here. The Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center is partnering with Forefront Suicide Prevention Center to bring you training and Q&A session with Charlene Ray on Ambiguous Loss: Grieving in the Time of COVID-19, Followed by Live Q&A Session. This event is part of The Well-Being Series - Connections During COVID-19: Mental Wellness Webinars for Families and Educators. Click here to learn more about our series of webinars for kids, parents, and educators, focusing on mental wellness and suicide prevention. About the Presenters: Charlene Ray, MSW, LICSW is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and has been in practice as a therapist, mentor, grief counselor, and workshop facilitator for 35 years. Charlene teaches mindfulness in the school, K-6, and facilitates Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for teachers. Charlene has led programs for school districts on various mental health topics and is a frequent speaker at Sno-Isle Library Issues that Matter events. She works for Forefront Suicide Prevention as a school coach and trainer.     Want more information and school mental health resources? Visit the Northwest MHTTC's School Mental Health page and sign up for our monthly newsletter for regular updates about events, trainings, and resources available to the Northwest region.  

Times: 5pm ET / 2pm PT / 11am HT (view your time zone) Educators and school mental health leadership are resilient, creative, and tenacious, but they need to be supported to be able to provide support. In this period of stress and uncertainty, now is the time to gather and resource one another. In collaboration with the Meaning Makers Collective, we’re pleased to offer a series of School Mental Health Wellness Wednesdays. Each Wellness Wednesday is a 60-minute virtual session for the school mental health workforce to connect, reflect, and support each other. Led by Judee Fernandez and Michelle Kurta, Meaning Makers Collective.

The emergence of mental health as a talking point in media reports and conversations around COVID-19 has demonstrated how language can be a barrier to wellness and recovery. “Elevating Language through COVID-19” provides a 360-degree view of the language of behavioral health. In the training, we take a peer-centered look at how language is used by others to describe us, how we use language to describe ourselves, and how language can increase or decrease stigma and access to quality mental health recovery and wellness supports. In “Part Two: Creating the Elevating Message,” participants will develop a two-minute message of behavioral health hope and possibility to use when advocating for behavioral health supports and services. This webinar is presented by the Southeast MHTTC and our partners, the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network. For more information regarding the expertise and training opportunities at the GMHCN, please visit https://www.gmhcn.org/.

Talking about death and dying is always difficult, but communicating to families during pandemics like COVID-19 poses special challenges.  This presentation will discuss strategies for respectfully communicating with Latino families about COVID related end of life issues.   Who should attend? This is a basic level workshop designed for mental health professionals including psychologists, mental health counselors, graduate students, social workers, and other behavioral health professionals.     About the presenter:  Julie Kutac, PhD- Dr. Julie Kutac is a medical humanist with an interdisciplinary background in religious studies, literature, and narrative studies in medicine, health care ethics, and gerontology. As an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Physician Assistant Studies Department in the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), she guides physician assistant students as they cultivate their professional identities and work to become compassionate communicators.   Dr. Kutac holds a master's degree in Religious Studies from Rice University and a Ph.D. in Medical Humanities from the Institute for Medical Humanities at UTMB, where she completed a National Institute of Aging Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Minority Aging. Her writings are published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine, The Journal of the Medical Humanities, The Journal of Religion and Health.     Please read the following before registering:  The National Hispanic and Latino Mental Health Technology Transfer Center use GoToWebinar as our online event system.  Audio for the event is accessible via the internet. To receive audio, attendees must join the event by using computers equipped with speakers or dial in via telephone.  After registration, a confirmation email will be generated with instructions for joining the event. To avoid problems with log-in, please use the confirmation email to join the event.  

Description: This webinar series will explore how faith-based community leadership can build mental health capacity in the midst of COVID-19. It addresses the need to assist these leaders in (1) improving their general knowledge base around mental and emotional disorders and (2) removing the stigma regarding mental health issues. By incorporating a cross collaboration between faith leaders and psychiatric practitioners, the three-part series will help improve the overall well-being of African-American communities during and beyond the current pandemic.   Presenters: Altha Stewart, M.D. is Senior Associate Dean of Community Health Engagement for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. As an Associate Professor and Chief of Social and Community Psychiatry, she also serves as the Director of the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth and the medical school. In 2018 she was elected President of the American Psychiatric Association, becoming the first African American to hold this office. Her career spans over three decades of work as the CEO/Executive Director of large public mental health systems in Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. She received her medical degree from Temple University and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Regis College in 2006 and Doctor of Science from her alma mater, Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN in 2018.  Dr. Stewart is a past president of the Black Psychiatrists of America, the Association of Women Psychiatrists and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. Annelle Primm, M.D., MPH is the Senior Medical Director of the Steve Fund, an organization focused on the mental health of young people of color including college students.  She is also the Convener of the All Healers Mental Health Alliance and mobilizes organizational collaboration to provide healing services for disaster-affected marginalized communities. Dr. Primm is a former Deputy Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association (2004-20015).  She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, her medical degree from Howard University and psychiatric training as well as training in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She is a published author and serves as an adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, New York University and Howard University Schools of Medicine. Dr. Primm is a member of the Black Psychiatrists of America Council of Elders.   Learning Objectives: Identify the more common mental disorders and psychological distress symptoms presenting to clergy in the faith community. Develop referral resources for assistance in the treatment of congregants manifesting symptoms of psychological distress. Gain confidence in communicating and securing assistance in congregants expressing suicidal thoughts. Assist in the improvement of mental health self-care among clergy and church leadership. Facilitate the identification and need for assistance in clergy and church leaders that are facing challenges related to impairment and addressing their own need for assistance.   Who Should Attend? Faith-based leaders, congregants and mental health clinicians.     Guiding the Shepherd and Shepherding the Flock in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic – Webinar series Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.  

Join us for a webinar about the power of Courageous Conversations, a model for creating safe spaces for staff and students to have challenging, but necessary conversations about inequity. Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, M.S., Project Manager for Training and Education at Yale University’s Program for Recovery and Community Health and Manager of the New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, will review the four agreements of a courageous conversation, explain how to use the courageous conversation compass, and discuss ideas for starting courageous conversations in your classrooms and schools.   Presenter: Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, BNS, M.S., Manager, New England MHTTC

The coming out process is a unique and individualized process, preferably driven by the client. Often times, many individuals that identify as a sexual or gender minority face the coming out process multiple times. This webinar will highlight the impact of coming out and how to best support someone through this process.

Whether you’re a counselor, teacher, or social worker, serving children is hard. You’re taking care of everyone, and often feel exhausted. This series of 12 self-compassion sessions teach you how to care for yourself in the moment that you most need it. Research has shown that those who are more self-compassionate experience less stress, anxiety, and depression, are more resilient, and better able to deal with emotional challenges. Drawn from the internationally-acclaimed Mindful Self-Compassion program, which was created by Dr. Kristin Neff (educational psychologist at University of Texas, Austin) and Dr. Chris Germer, (clinical psychologist, Harvard University), the sessions will be comprised of didactic presentations, guided practices, and discussions which will offer specific tools that you can use to give yourself the support you deserve.

 “Strategies of Support for Mental Health Providers” - Empowering one another during times of crisis This is the eighth session of a weekly open forum to listen and share suggestions and resources. Special attention will be paid to resiliency, strength, overcoming challenges of social distancing, and supporting mental health professionals in their efforts to adapt their delivery of services. Discussion will be facilitated by Sean A. Bear, BA, Meskwaki; Matt Ignacio, PhC, MSSW, Tohono O’odham; and Anne Helene Skinstad, PhD. Times for next session: 11:00am – 12:00pm AKDT 12:00pm – 1:00pm PDT 1:00pm – 2:00pm MDT 2:00pm – 3:00pm CDT 3:00pm – 4:00pm EDT

This three-part interactive series provides information and skill building activities to enhance participants' use of the skills and spirit of Motivational Interviewing.   Time: All dates, 1-2PM CST May 6: Topic #1: Challenges to MI Spirit, especially when there's a crisis going on! May 19: Topic #2: Responding to language about change (even if it's teeny tiny) May 26: Topic #3: Be deliberate with your reflections: Don't overuse empathy and ignore the change or vice versa Intended Audience: Mental health and substance use disorder providers Trainer: Laura Saunders State Project Manager, Wisconsin Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC Laura A. Saunders, MSSW, is the Wisconsin State Project Manager for the Great Lakes Addiction, Mental Health and Prevention Technology Transfer  Centers. Her position is housed at the UW–Madison, where she’s worked since 1988. Since 2001, Laura has provided SBIRT and Motivational Interviewing training to physicians, nurses, medical students, psychologists, specialty addiction treatment providers, social workers, physical therapists, health educators, and staff who work in correctional settings. She has provided feedback and coaching to hundreds of social workers, correctional staff,  and other human service providers who are interested in using evidence-based practices with fidelity. Laura joined the international group of Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) in 2006 (Sophia, Bulgaria) and is an active member of the Wisconsin MINT group.

This one -hour online session will provide information on culturally responsive coping strategies to address and reduce stress in Latino clients. The presenter will address stressors among Latino communities as well as culturally responsive strategies to address symptoms. The presentation will further discuss therapeutic interventions for Latino clients with mental health disorders whose symptoms have exacerbated during the pandemic. The presenter will discuss approaches to further develop a therapeutic relationship while using telehealth platforms. Who should attend? This is an intermediate level webinar designed for social workers, counselors, psychologists, and graduate students.     About the presenter:  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.    Please read the following before registering:  The National Hispanic and Latino Mental Health Technology Transfer Center use GoToWebinar as our online event system.  Audio for the event is accessible via the internet. To receive audio, attendees must join the event by using computers equipped with speakers or dial in via telephone.  After registration, a confirmation email will be generated with instructions for joining the event. To avoid problems with log-in, please use the confirmation email to join the event.  

Times: 2-3:30pm ET / 11-12:30pm PT / 8-9:30am HT (view in your time zone) This event has ended. Click here to view the event recording. This webinar is being hosted by our partner, California Primary Care Association (CPCA), and facilitated by Leora Wolf-Prusan, the School Mental Health Lead & Training Specialist at the Pacific Southwest MHTTC.   Times of crisis necessitate health care leaders to balance competing priorities, including patient need, staff wellbeing, and one’s own health. While it can be difficult to reflect in the midst of a crisis - like in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic - this session will dedicate time to exploring strategies for improving leadership’s response in times of crisis. This session will explore the Crisis Leadership Continuum (readiness, response, recovery, and renewal), highlighting health care leadership approaches and strategies integral to ensuring staff wellbeing through crisis.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES Explore and examine the four stages of the Crisis Leadership Continuum: read-iness, response, recovery and renewal. Using reflective questions, identify 2-3 leadership crisis strengths and growth points to enhance organizational resilience. Identify 2-3 applicable strategies in the short term and long term to address staff wellbeing through crisis. To access at no-cost use promo code: covid19nm   About the Facilitators: Leora Wolf-Prusan, EdD, is the School Mental Health Lead and Training Specialist for the Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, a project of SAMHSA that provides no-cost professional development to support the school mental health workforce in the Pacific Islands, Hawaii, California, Nevada & Arizona. She formerly served as the field director for a SAMHSA Now is the Time Initiative, ReCAST (Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma), which involves providing support to the 10 grantee cities and counties as they build city-based resiliency plans to respond to civil unrest due to community-based trauma. In addition to these national grants, she provides consulting and training for numerous other clients around issues related to school climate and positive youth development, educator mental health & wellness, and trauma-informed approaches to education.   Nkem Ndefo is the founder and president of Lumos Transforms and creator of The Resilience Toolkit, a model that promotes embodied self-awareness and self-regulation in an ecologically sensitive framework and social justice context. Licensed as a Registered Nurse and Nurse Midwife, Nkem also has extensive post-graduate training in complementary health modalities and emotional therapies. She brings an abundance of experience as a clinician, educator, consultant, and community strategist to innovative programs that address stress and trauma and build resilience for individuals, organizations, and communities across sectors, both in the US and internationally.  Nkem is known for her unique ability to connect with people of all types by holding powerful healing spaces, weaving complex concepts into accessible narratives, and creating synergistic and collaborative learning communities that nourish people’s innate capacity for healing, wellness, and connection. She has served on regional trauma-informed task forces and regularly provides trauma-informed subject matter expertise to organizations and initiatives both locally and nationally, including serving on the Los Angeles County Trauma-and Resilience-Informed Systems Change Initiative Workgroup and developed a pilot trauma-informed learning academy for peer support workers as part of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Trauma Prevention Initiative. She is currently an advisor to the Strategic Planning Committee of Trauma Informed Los Angeles and a facilitator for Los Angeles County’s Office of Violence Prevention Community Partnership Council.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a formidable challenge to care continuity for community mental health clients with serious mental illness. Providers have had to quickly pivot the modes of delivering critical services. What does this look like for practitioners who are delivering cognitive behavioral therapeutic (CBT) interventions for psychosis? This hour-long webinar serves to help practitioners consider critical intervention targets and high-yield motivational, cognitive, and behavioral strategies that are amenable to telephonic encounters, telehealth, or digital accompaniment. The strategies that were selected are appropriate for delivery in any combination of the above-mentioned modalities. Companion clinical tip sheets and self-directed CBT for psychosis learning resources will be provided to webinar participants. Certificates of completion are available to those who attend at least 30 minutes of the live webinar. Speaker: Sarah Kopelovich, PhD is an Assistant Professor and holds an endowed professorship in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She directs the Northwest CBT for Psychosis Provider Network, and is a founding member of the North American CBT for Psychosis Network.       Note: This is the second session of the Clinical Innovations in Telehealth Learning Series, a weekly online series targeting high-priority clinical issues for providers using telehealth. For more information on the series and other upcoming sessions, please click here. Note: CEUs are not available for these sessions.

Description: Educators and school-based staff play important roles in supporting student mental health, often listening to students’ fears and helping them cope with stressful events. In addition, educators and staff report working long days and feeling overwhelmed by juggling many job responsibilities – including the abrupt shift to remote learning as a result of school closures. The cumulative effect of this stress can take the form of compassion fatigue, burnout, or secondary traumatic stress, which contribute to lower job satisfaction and educator turnover. This live webinar training will explore the differences between and strategies to counter fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Participants will also learn strategies to enhance well-being and promote job satisfaction.   Presenter: Kristin Scardamalia, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine National Center for School Mental Health. Dr. Scardamalia has extensive experience working with high needs youth and their families as a school psychologist in both the public schools and juvenile services. Her research focuses on the intersection of the education, juvenile justice, and mental health systems including development and implementation of social emotional learning skills. Dr. Scardamalia has contributed to the development and dissemination of a national curriculum promoting comprehensive school mental health with an emphasis on educator well-being.   Learning Objectives: Describe contributors to and symptoms of compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress Gain an understanding of experiences with compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress Learn strategies to improve well-being and to counter compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress   Who Should Attend? Elementary educators (Ohio County, West Virginia: Woodsdale Elementary School, Elm Grove Elementary School)   Closed Registration.

Making a Good Connection: Engaging Students and Families in School Tele-Mental Health is a three-part webinar series geared toward providers who are making the transition from in-person to telehealth services. Session content will focus on practical strategies and equity concerns related to engaging children, adolescents and families using distance technology. Attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions upon registration, enabling our Technology Transfer Center (TTC) Network specialists to shape their content to meet your needs. The presenters will devote the first segment of each hour-long presentation to a specific topic, then address attendee-submitted questions. Speakers: Jennifer Cox, LCSW-C, is the program director of the University of Maryland School Mental Health Program (SMHP). The SMHP provides a full continuum of mental health services to students in 22 Baltimore City Public Schools. Jennifer has been leading tele-mental health efforts in the SMHP for over five years, and she quickly and effectively helped to convert the clinical program to tele-mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.   Kay Connors, LCSW-C, is the director of the Maryland Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is the executive director of Secure Starts, an outpatient mental health program providing clinical services to children up to age 6 and their families. Kay has been instrumental in addressing tele-mental health considerations for young children.    Angela Castellanos, LCSW, is an experienced mental health consultant and administrator with 25+ years of diverse and progressive expertise in the mental health care industry and school settings. As a licensed clinical social worker, she specializes in administering school mental health programs, mentoring industry professionals (local, state, and federal), developing and teaching best practices.   Kazique J. Prince, PhD, founder and chief executive officer of Jelani Consulting LLC, is  provides executive consultation and coaching services focused on cultural competency for individuals, teams, and organizations. Based in Austin, Texas, Dr. Prince also serves as the senior policy advisor and education coordinator for City of Austin Mayor Steve Adler focused on education, public safety, and equitable economic development. The 1-hour webinar sessions take place on Fridays at 10am PT / 11am MT / 12pm CT / 1pm ET. Certificates of attendance will be available to viewers of 50% (30 minutes) or more of the live webinar. CEUs are not offered for these sessions. Webinar recordings and FAQs will be posted on the website here.

We are pleased to announce that the MHTTC Network’s new webinar series, Making a Good Connection: Engaging Students and Families in School Tele-Mental Health, kicks off 12-1 p.m. CST this Friday, May 22. This series occurs over three Fridays and is geared toward providers who are making the transition from in-person to telehealth services. Session content will focus on practical strategies and equity concerns related to engaging children, adolescents and families using distance technology. Attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions upon registration, enabling our Technology Transfer Center (TTC) Network specialists to shape their content to meet your needs. The presenters will devote the first segment of each hour-long presentation to a specific topic, then address attendee-submitted questions. Certificates of attendance will be available to viewers of 50% (30 minutes) or more of the live webinar. Webinar recordings and FAQs will be posted on the website. Use the following links to register:   Best Practices for Student Engagement Through Tele-Mental Health 12-1 p.m. CST May 22 Register   Enhancing Family-School Partnerships Through Tele-Mental Health 12-1 p.m. CST May 29 Register   Strategies for Addressing Trauma, Crises and Grief Through Tele-Mental Health 12-1 p.m. CST June 5 Register

The Northeast and Caribbean MHTTC wants to support you and your work during this unprecedented public health crisis. And we know you want to support each other! Many of you have created unique strategies for meeting the needs of your service participants, but you may still also be grappling with questions or looking for better ways of doing things. To help facilitate support and the sharing of resources and ideas, we will be facilitating Mutual Support Calls for Thriving at Work During COVID-19. These calls will be facilitated by knowledgeable leaders in the field, but we also want to benefit from your experience and expertise. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions or comments in advance, but we welcome all to join and share with each other or just listen and benefit from the community. What & Who: One-hour virtual learning discussions for mental health supervisors who want to share experiences, exchange resources, and ask and answer questions of and for each other. When: You are welcome to join 1, 2, or all 3. Mental Health Supervisors: Thursdays at 2 pm ET, 4/30, 5/7, 5/14, and 5/21 Before joining each call, we invite you to submit a question or comment that you would like to see discussed during the call. We look forward to connecting with you!

Part three: Understanding Grief and Increasing Wellness Trauma-Informed Learning for Early Childhood Educators Series The third session in this series will focus on the grief that different traumatic experiences can trigger, including the current pandemic. By understanding that the experience of grief can be used to build resilience, this session provides participants with tools needed to build and cultivate resilience within themselves. Other topics that will be covered include the stages of grief and variability within those stages, the developmental psychology of grief, and strategies for building and promoting resilience practices that foster connection and wellness among children, staff, and communities.   Learning objectives for this series: Learn evidence-based practices that teach children how to replace trauma-based coping strategies with resilience-based strategies. Understand and develop strategies to address trauma-based inequities in your systems and raise equity. Review and practice several evidence-based wellness and resilience practices.

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. Crisanti, A.S., Friedman, B., Halperin, D., Nestsiarovich, A., Bustillo, J., Lenroot, R., and Tohen, M. Who should attend?This is a basic level workshop designed for psychologists, mental health counselors, social workers, graduate students, and other mental health professionals working with Latino populations.     About the presenter:  Mauricio Tohen, MD, DrPH, MBA- Mauricio Tohen, MD, DrPH, MBA is a tenured Professor and the Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque NM, USA. Dr. Tohen was born and raised in Mexico City. He earned his medical degree from the National University of Mexico and his Doctorate in Public Health (Epidemiology) from Harvard University (1988). His postdoctoral training included a residency in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto (1979-1982) where he also obtained a DPsych (Diploma) in Psychiatric Research, and a fellowship at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Psychopharmacology (1982-1985). Dr. Tohen also obtained an MBA degree from the Indiana University Kelly School of Business.   Dr Tohen was the Clinical Director of the Bipolar and Psychotic Disorders Program at McLean Hospital (1988-1997). In 1997 he joined Lilly Research Laboratories where he reached the senior most scientific rank of Distinguished Lilly Scholar. From 2009-2013 he was the Head of the Division of Mood & Anxiety Disorders and the Krus Endowed Tenured Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio. Dr Tohen has been recognized professionally, has received several grants and his work has been published in professional journals.   Please read the following before registering:  The National Hispanic and Latino Mental Health Technology Transfer Center use GoToWebinar as our online event system.  Audio for the event is accessible via the internet. To receive audio, attendees must join the event by using computers equipped with speakers or dial in via telephone.  After registration, a confirmation email will be generated with instructions for joining the event. To avoid problems with log-in, please use the confirmation email to join the event.    

Compassion Fatigue: Additional Risks while Serving Vulnerable Populations During a Pandemic A Webinar Hosted in Collaboration with Indian Health Services Tele-Behavioral Health Center of Excellence **Please note the same content will be repeated during each of the three sessions. You only need to register for one session in this series to receive the content provided.** The current pandemic has heightened concerns that providers are experiencing increased compassion fatigue. This session will raise awareness about compassion fatigue - which is the cost of caring for people who are in emotional and physical pain. This session will provide attendees with an overview of the symptoms of compassion fatigue and how unaddressed compassion fatigue can lead to burnout. Attendees will have an opportunity to assess their current level of compassion fatigue and be provided with tools and resources to build compassion satisfaction. Annotations for how the current pandemic is increasing compassion fatigue and impacting self-care strategies will be explored.  Learning Objectives Recognize the signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue. Identify how compassion fatigue impacts the workforce. Develop strategies for preventing and reversing compassion fatigue.   Presenters     Marvis Doster, RN, CARN