Past Events

Trauma Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Tools for Youth & Young Adults: Community of Practice, Part 2 Using a trauma-informed lens, this Community of Practice series offers tools from Expressive Arts Therapy (EXA) for working with youth and young adults. Presenter Suraya Keating, MFT, REAT, RDT, will share a variety of multimodal arts practices that can be used to soothe the nervous system; promote self-awareness; and support the agency, empowerment, and well-being of youth and young adults. Simple interventions using visual arts, visualization, movement, creative writing, music, and theater will be introduced as embodied alternatives to talk therapy that are rooted in attuning to the unique needs and diverse background of each youth or young adult client.  Each of the three trainings will focus on specialized forms of therapy and allow for in depth exercises, discussion, and practice.  All sessions are designed around the framework of the four most common trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, and fawn), and a variety of effective bottom-up and top-down arts strategies will be incorporated to address each of these four responses.  Session 2 will focus on music and movement techniques in therapy for youth and young adults.  The following are goals for this session:     Participants will learn three movement approaches that calm and energize the nervous system, cultivate connection, and promote a sense of safety.  Participants will practice two music therapy tools to help clients who are in dysregulated states return to a place of more ease and balance.  Participants will learn and practice tools that combine music and movement to inspire a sense of play, gratitude, and joy, and will reflect on the importance of these three elements in healing trauma.    This Community of Practice series is open to all behavioral health providers, including school- and community-based mental health; private practice; primary care and hospital settings; and state, regional, and local mental health professionals.   For more information about the presenter and the 3-part Community of Practice series, visit the main page.

This is the fourth session for Healing School Communities: Shifting the Dominant Paradigm to Center Student Wellness, a Community of Practice intended for students, families, educators and school mental health professionals who are navigating the ongoing impact of racial violence in all forms on student mental health. This Community of Practice session will offer opportunities for participants to:   Name and examine the organizational structures that lead to Racial Violence within School Communities. Explore the various mental health implications of racial violence on school ecosystems. Identify and elevate community strengths, wisdom and voice as effective strategies for healing and place them at the center in supporting mental health. Become familiar with resources and tools to address the detrimental effects of racial violence in schools, that further build protective factors, power and agency.   Note: A recording of the learning session will be made available in the MHTTC Products and Resource Catalog. Certificates of completion are available to viewers of 50% (45 minutes) or more of the live webinar. CEUs are not available for this session. Speaker:  Noor Jones-Bey is a transdisciplinary educator, researcher and artist from the Bay Area, CA. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY where she is pursuing a PHD in Urban Education at the Steinhardt School and holds fellowships from the Ford Foundation and the Urban Doctoral Research Initiative at NYU. Noor is program director of EXCEL at NYU, a critical literacy and college access program for youth in the South Bronx housed at the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. As a scholar deeply interested in the movement between theory and practice, Noor has served as an equity consultant and serves as a founding member of the Radical Listening Project to assist educational professionals. Noor received an M.A. in Sociology of Education from New York University and a B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.  Noor’s interests engage across disciplines of sociology, education, Black and Native studies, and visual culture to examine issues of liminality, identity, space and power as they relate to education. Her dissertation work examines intergenerational knowing of Black womxn and girls navigating in and out of schools. In her spare time, she loves to cook, dance, run marathons, travel, and stir up good vibes.    NOTE: This session is part of a Community of Practice that includes 7 weekly learning sessions. For more information about the other sessions in this Community of Practice, please click here.

  The Great Lakes A/MH/PTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.     Register to join us on the first Tuesday of each month from 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Central (11:00 AM – 11:30 AM Eastern). Each session will feature a new expert presenter.     DESCRIPTION  Alcohol is STILL a drug.  The opioid crisis, increase in stimulant misuse, and marijuana legalization dominate the news— yet alcohol remains the number one substance causing health, social, legal and financial problems throughout the US.    While this series will focus on the hopefulness of recovery from alcohol use disorder, we’ll also take a deep dive into what we know about the full impact of alcohol overuse and the ways it affects every person in the US.   This session will provide an introduction to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) including general information about the risks of alcohol intake during pregnancy, the negative impact on the developing fetus, as well as how to prevent it.     SERIES LEARNING OBJECTIVES These are the overall learning objectives for the full 10-session series:  Summarize the current impacts of problematic alcohol use in various/special populations, including pregnant women, youth, rural, and minority populations.  Assess and prioritize alcohol reduction efforts in targeted settings.  Describe the current efforts to curb problematic alcohol use, including best practices in providing treatment.      CERTIFICATES Certificates of attendance will be emailed to all participants who attend the sessions in full.     TRAINER     Rahm, Lisa, B.S., CMP is the Special Initiatives Manager for Prevention First. She has 28 years experience in the education and human services fields with the last 21 years at Prevention First. In her current position she has developed, implemented, and evaluated special initiatives such as FASD Screening and Brief Intervention Project, Statewide FASD Project as well as oversee conferences, meeting planning and special events. Rahm holds a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from Greenville College and holds the certification as a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP).     TRAINING SCHEDULE All sessions in this series will be held on the first Tuesday of each month from 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Central. There will be a new expert presenter for every session.  September 7, 2021 October 5, 2021  November 2, 2021  December 7, 2021 January 4, 2022 - NO SESSION February 1, 2022 March 1, 2022  April 5, 2022  May 3, 2022  June 7, 2022 July 5, 2022 - NO SESSION August 2, 2022    

The South Southwest MHTTC is sponsoring the Texas Suicide Prevention Symposium: Schools and Youth Day on March 1st, 2022. The event is hosted by the Texas Suicide Prevention Collaborative and features keynotes by Dr. Michael Anthony Lindsey and Dr. Jonathan Singer. Learn about best practices in the state to prevent the rising suicide rates in children and youth in Texas. This event is currently sold out.

/*-->*/ /*-->*/ /*--> This presentation will focus on the ways that various forms of meditation can be used by healthcare providers for self-care. In addition, we will explore how the use of meditation can assist providers in their clinical work with clients. After a brief review of relevant research, various forms of meditation will be demonstrated and practiced.   Objectives: - Review research findings relevant to meditation, self-care, and clinical effectiveness. - Demonstrate and practice specific meditation techniques used for self-care and clinical effectiveness. - Provide meditation resources for healthcare providers.   Presenter: /*-->*/ /*-->*/ /*--> Mark Brenner, PhD, LICSW /*-->*/ /*-->*/ /*--> Mark J. Brenner, Ph.D., LICSW is Professor Emeritus at Bridgewater State University where he taught in the School of Social Work. Dr. Brenner has over 20 years of clinical experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in both inpatient and outpatient settings. He has studied and practiced Zen Buddhism since 1988 in the Kwan Um tradition. As a member of the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team, Dr. Brenner volunteers at local and national disasters. His research interests include the use of contemplative practices and the integration of Eastern philosophies into Western psychotherapeutic models.     We are providing 1 CE credit for this training. More information about how to request CEs will be shared with everyone who registered.        C4 Innovations, Provider #1457, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual trainings, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual training may be accepted for continuing education credit. C4 Innovations maintains responsibility for this training. ACE provider approval period: 10/17/2020 to 10/17/2023. Social workers completing this training receive up to 8 continuing education credits. C4 Innovations has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6576. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. C4 Innovations is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. This course has been approved by C4 Innovations, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #100990, C4 Innovations is responsible for all aspects of their programming.

The Great Lakes MHTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.   DESCRIPTION: This two-hour virtual session will provide an overview on sound and proven behavioral threat assessment and management approaches in schools. The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center recommend threat assessment teams and procedures be established in schools. Studies conducted by the Secret Service have shown in almost all acts of K-12 targeted violence, there were “red flags” or warning signs in advance of these targeted violence incidents.   This presentation will provide an overview of the core components of a sound threat assessment system – components that will form the basis for Michigan’s threat assessment guidelines being jointly developed by the Michigan State Police (MSP), the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).     SPEAKER: Dr. Melissa Reeves, Ph.D., NCSP, LPC, Senior Threat Manager

The Great Lakes MHTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.   DESCRIPTION: This webinar will address the criticality for the crisis continuum to be responsive to the unique needs of the at-risk LGBTQ+ population. Additionally, the training will focus on crisis services for the LGBTQ+ population, understanding identity, and normalizing the use of pronouns, safety planning, and providing resources for non-familial social support while noting the importance of allyship.     LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Understand unique needs of LGBTQ+ individuals to partner effectively with them through a crisis. Recognize the importance of understanding an individual’s identity along the LGBTQ+ continuum and the evolving nature of identity. Explore the role of non-familial social support and allyship when helping clients through a crisis.      CONTINUING EDUCATION Participants are eligible to receive 2.75 CE hours from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.     SPEAKER INFO: Dr. Jei Africa, PsyD, MSCP, CATC-V   Panel Presenters: Savanna Carlstrom Page Alex Anastasia Danielle Boyd

  Each session will go from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. MT / 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. CT Event Description This is a four-part virtual training series on working with youth, parents, and other professionals during a global pandemic. This series will focus on mental health in uncertain times, thinking outside the box to support people virtually and in-person, and resource development for providers. Participants will gain resources, tools, and contacts to use while developing professional skills.   Objectives Be able to identify and connect internally to how each worker is experiencing/feeling and what they are going through before, during, and after working with the youth.  Provide practical tips to assess and address burn out, grief/loss, and crisis.  Distinguish crisis from substance abuse and mental health symptoms while working with parents.  Have tools to address needs of youth/parents who are living in rural areas and have limited access to care or specialists.   Possess options and opportunities to reach out to resources and expertise on cultural knowledge, the LGBTQIA community, and educational opportunities not offered in their area.   Feel more confident in alternative ways to connect with the youth when in person or virtual learning changes suddenly.    HELD - Session 1 - February 4, 2022 Identifying Burn Out, Grief/Loss, and Crisis While Providing Support for Others    Since the beginning of the pandemic, employees reported a 21% increase in burnout, feelings of grief and loss, and not knowing how to manage crisis situations. Burn out, grief and loss, and crisis can cause an increase in physical symptoms of stress like muscle tension, fatigue, and illness. They also add work-life balance challenges and overall job stress. Burn out is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. This training will provide knowledge on how to identify mild, moderate, and severe symptoms of burn out, grief and loss, and crisis. It will also provide tools to de-escalate crises, address grief and loss, and reduce burn out. The training will teach participants how to maintain compassion and empathy in a time when COVID fatigue is affecting them and the youth they are trying to support.    HELD - Session 2 - February 11, 2022 Supporting Passionate Parents and De-Escalating Parents in Crisis   44.3% of parents with children living at home reported worse mental health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 27% of parents reported increased alcohol/drug consumption. 8% of parents reported an increase in suicidal thoughts/feelings, and 11% of parents reported more stress about being safe from physical/emotional domestic violence. 24.8% of parents reported their children’s mental health had worsened since the pandemic, while 22% of parents also reported more frequent negative interactions with their children due to the pandemic. This training will provide skills to de-escalate parents who are in crisis and provide support for parents in burn out. The training will also teach skills on how to identify root issues that are happening and how to support the parent in supporting the child. It will also teach tools to identify differences of parents in crisis or burn out compared to parents who may have substance abuse or mental health symptoms.    HELD - Session 3 - February 18, 2022 Connecting With Children and Teens in These Uncertain Times    93% of school-aged children reported some type of virtual learning during COVID-19. Students didn't just lose academic learning quality time during the pandemic. Some of them lost family members, while others had caregivers who lost their jobs and sources of income. Almost all students experienced social isolation. This training will provide options to engage with young people both in person and virtually. We will discuss ways to talk, engage, and inspire students to participate again. Resources will be provided on how to build and maintain social skills during both in-person and virtual learning.    Session 4 - February 25, 2022 Creating a Sense of Community and Finding Resources in Your Area   Rural areas constitute 97% of America's land mass, accounting for a large portion of the country's vital natural resources. Moreover, rural areas are crucial sources of water, food, energy, and recreation for all Americans. While being vital to us, rural areas have challenges such as scarcity of primary care providers and specialists, lack of access to mental health and other behavioral health services, emergency medical services, and other essential services. This training is intended to identify children and teens who are facing challenges such as bullying, having body image concerns, being from a different culture, identifying as LGBTQIA, feeling targeted, or feeling isolated. This training will give providers tools that can be used to create and maintain safe spaces, as well as offer other resources to use and share. The training will also review HIPAA laws, confidentiality requirements, and handling matters appropriately with children and teens.  Trainer Tina Boteilho, LMFT                                 Tina Boteilho is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist. Tina was born and raised on Maui. Tina lived in California for several years but couldn’t resist the invitation to go back to Maui after college. Over the past 20 years Tina has worked for several non-profit agencies and the state of Hawaii with children 0-18 years old, children with special health needs/disabilities and their families, individuals reintegrating back into their communities and families after several years of incarceration, emergency responders, military families, individuals needing crisis interventions, and individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. Tina currently runs her own private practice, contracts with several non-profits as a qualified mental health practitioner, has created several trainings for children, adolescents, couples, families, and individuals, and volunteers with several local non-profits. Tina has been invited to several trainings and conferences as a guest speaker to talk about best practices with people experiencing trauma and crisis, grief and loss, working in isolated rural areas, community resource building, pandemic relief, blending families, coparenting, LGBTQIA issues, and cultural sensitivity. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family hiking, going to the beach, landscaping, ranching, and farming.  

Leading and supervising people draws on many skills, including the ability to make wise, critical decisions which can empower individuals, shed light on outdated policies, improve workplace culture, and facilitate societal change. We may have to think on our feet and choose what seems best when deadlines are looming, but is it also possible to make quick and crucial choices which come from a solid sense of awareness and confidence? Wisdom to Know the Difference views our decision-making processes through a trauma-informed lens, inviting us to view our own personal history and psycho-neuro patterns, revealing new paths to problem solving to build an even more dependable foundation of clarity and heart.  Learning Objectives: Apply a trauma-informed lens for recognizing origins of personal decision-making patterns Cultivate and adopt critical self-evaluation skills while in supervisory roles Define and apply broader perspectives to leadership for more effective and inclusive outcomes   This session of Wisdom to Know the Difference is intended for supervisors and leaders (non-supervisory staff may attend a separate session targeting their role on February 23). RESOURCES Anchored by Deb Dana Widen the Window by Elizabeth Stanley The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van der Kolk Activate Your Vagus Nerve by Navaz Habib   FACILITATOR Rebekah Demirel, L.Ac MPCC Rebekah Demirel L.Ac. MPCC, is the founder and director of Trauma Integration Programs, with more than a decade as an ambulance paramedic, twenty-two years as a paramedic trainer, eighteen years of mental health counseling experience, specializing in traumatic stress, and she is a licensed East Asian medicine practitioner and acupuncturist. Rebekah’s unique skill set and experience are informed by her own traumatic childhood and teen years spent on the street and in the foster care system, giving her a special familiarity and empathy for trauma and loss.

These four 75-minute sessions are part of our Vitality for Behavioral Health Care Supervisors and Leadership live learning community for Region 10 with Dr. Kira Mauseth. Region 10 supervisors/leaders were notified of this opportunity via a digital mailing.  ABOUT THE LEARNING COMMUNITY This learning community will take us through a conversation with each other about the ways in which we can reclaim our connection to the work we love so much as the pandemic enters its third year. It has become necessary to shift our focus from disaster management to recovery, reengagement and finding a sense of vitality. Starting with a discussion about what we need as individuals to recover from the collective losses we have been through, we will also explore such topics as acknowledging and processing through compassion fatigue, personal symptom management and active behavioral health supports we can engage and identifying motivators and a renewed sense of purpose as our work continues.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES Develop awareness of the influences of collective grief and loss on our experiences as providers. Recognize the signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue and engage supports as needed. Reliably apply evidence-based simple active coping techniques. Re-orient towards a renewed sense of purpose through the identification of personal influences on vitality.   ELIGIBILITY Supervisors/leaders in behavioral health working in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, or Washington state (HHS Region 10).   EXPECTATIONS & COMMITMENT Plan to attend all 4 sessions as learning builds and spots are limited. Sessions are 75 minutes each, THURSDAYS, 1:00-2:15pm PT. Discussions will be in whole group and breakout sessions, please be on camera and able to talk during sessions. Sessions will be recorded solely for quality review purposes and will not be published.   ABOUT THE SESSIONS These interactive sessions feature discussions with the whole group and in breakout sessions, please be on camera and able to talk during sessions. Please plan to attend all sessions as learning builds and space is limited. Processing Collective and Personal Grief and Loss | February 24, 1:00-2:15 pm Compassion Fatigue and Secondary Traumatic Stress: Active Management | March 3, 1:00-2:15 pm Active Behavioral Health Supports: Ideas for Coping and Symptom Reduction | March 10, 1:00-2:15 pm Reconnecting with Purpose and Vitality in a Leadership Role | March 17, 1:00-2:15 pm   RESOURCES FROM THE SESSIONS Relevant Recorded 75-minute webinar by Dr. Mauseth:"Grief, Exhaustion, and Finding Vitality in Behavioral Health Care For Supervisors & Leadership" Processing Collective and Personal Grief and Loss | February 24, 2022 Coping with Grief and Loss, Washington State Department of Health Slides Padlet results: "What we have Lost, What we have Found:  Finding vitality while working through loss"   Compassion Fatigue and Secondary Traumatic Stress: Active Management | March 3, 2022 Slides Psychological Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (PsySTART), Oregon Health Authority. Contact [email protected] for the PsySTART training schedule.    Active Behavioral Health Supports: Ideas for Coping and Symptom Reduction | March 10, 2022 Slides   Reconnecting with Purpose and Vitality in a Leadership Role | March 17, 2022 Slides   SUGGESTED RESOURCES FROM PARTICIPANTS Radiolab podcast:   "The Loneliness of the Goalkeeper" Book:  "What Do We Tell The Children," by Joseph M. Primo. Helps in general with grief. FACILITATOR Kira Mauseth, PhD Dr. Kira  Mauseth is a practicing clinical psychologist who splits her professional time between seeing patients at Snohomish Psychology Associates, teaching as a Senior Instructor at Seattle University and serving as a co-lead for the Behavioral Health Strike Team for the WA State Department of Health. She also serves on the state’s Disaster Medical Advisory Committee (DMAC). Her work and research interests focus on resilience and recovery from trauma as well as well as disaster behavioral health. She has worked abroad extensively in disaster response and with first responders and health care workers throughout United States. Dr. Mauseth also conducts trainings and provides presentations to organizations and educational groups about disaster preparedness and resilience building within local communities.          

The School Mental Health Supplement of Northwest MHTTC was requested by SAMHSA to provide technical assistance (TA) during our Year 4 (August 15, 2021 - August 14, 2022) to the Project AWARE grantees from the 2018-2021 cohorts. This event is for state-level Project Aware Grantee staff in Region 10 only

The Great Lakes MHTTC, in partnership with People Incorporated Training Institute, offers this training for behavioral health professionals 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.     DESCRIPTION Helpers are often deeply affected by their work, especially critical incidents that can cause unusually strong emotional reactions. It is very common for staff to experience emotional aftershocks when they have experienced a difficult event. Sometimes the emotional aftershocks (or stress reactions) appear immediately after the traumatic event, and sometimes they may appear a few hours or days later. The signs and symptoms of a stress reaction may last a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or longer, depending on the severity of the incident. This class helps to normalize and understand this reaction and improves a person’s ability to manage it and know if/when to reach out for more help. We walk through the steps of a critical incident debriefing as endorsed by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation.     LEARNING OBJECTIVES Defining a critical incident Examining typical stress reactions and their effects How and when to conduct a debriefing How and when to conduct a defusing     CONTINUING EDUCATION Participants are eligible to receive 2 CEUs from the Minnesota Board of Social Work.     SPEAKER INFO 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.  

About the Event:  Evidence-based practices have become the goal for supporting recovery for people with severe mental illness. But, we are not all working in environments that have the capacity to achieve full fidelity to these models.  This 6-part series will review the core aspects of several evidence-based psychiatric rehabilitation practices, focusing on practical strategies and skills that participants can do now to make a difference. Part 3 of this 6-part series (Thursday, February 24th | 12:00 PM ET) focuses on tools for addressing housing and basic needs: Lessons from ACT and Supported Housing. ACT and Supportive Housing are both important evidence-based practices to support the recovery of persons with serious mental illness and co-occurring diagnoses. This webinar will provide participants with an overview of both models and speak to the power of "housing as healthcare", especially when coupled with intensive, person-centered, supportive community-based services.  To learn more or register for other sessions in this series, please visit our Keeping It Practical: Core Skills for Evidence-Based Practices page or click here.  About the Presenter: Lia Hicks, Senior Program Manager, CSH Indiana Program. Ms. Hicks is a team player with 30 years of experience providing services, leadership, training, and technical assistance in the areas of mental health, substance use, dual diagnosis, and supportive housing evidence-based practices. Ms. Hicks enjoys working across multiple sectors to create solutions that meet the needs of marginalized populations. Currently the Senior Program Manager in CSH’s Indiana office, Lia is responsible for coordinating the annual Supportive Housing Institute, which results in the development of hundreds of new units of high-quality supportive housing and services each year. Additionally, she provides technical assistance across Indiana and at the national level on supportive housing and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). She works with stakeholders to increase funding and resources to ensure additional high-quality supportive housing and services are developed. Prior to joining CSH, Lia worked for Adult & Child Health for 26 years providing implementation, leadership, and quality oversite of multiple evidence-based programs. Lia has also worked as a private consultant providing training and technical assistance, with her expertise focused on the implementation of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). 

Join us for Youth Peer Support Group Coaching! These no-cost, virtual meetings offer trained Peer Supporters working with young people an opportunity to have regular coaching sessions.  The goal is to provide a space for facilitator led-discussions on topics pertinent to providing youth peer support.  This is also a chance to share resources and network while growing your professional skillset. Future Dates: March 31, 2022 April 28, 2022 May 26, 2022 June 30, 2022 July 28, 2022

Closed Training event for New Mexico Peer Supporters. Participants will be trained on the Training Point Curriculum, with Amy Shanahan and Billie Jo Smith as their trainers.

About the Institute This two day institute is for those supporting individuals (general mental health and school mental health populations) experiencing grief and loss through COVID 19 and beyond. Note: Both days of the institute will run from 9:00 am-2:45 pm PT  * 10:00 am-3:45 pm MT  * 11:00 am-4:45 pm CT  * 12:00-5:45 pm ET. Full program with session lineups coming soon!  Session Themes and Speaker Lineup for Day 2           Additional Information For each day of the Institute, each session is hosted by one single zoom link; by registering you have access to any and all sessions. You can attend either day and any session no matter your role to support your interests and learning. The populations you serve may be discussed across each Institute day, settings and sessions. A recording of the learning institutes will be made available in the MHTTC Products and Resource Catalog. Certificates of completion (issued for each day of the Institute) are available for participants who attend of 50% or more of either day. CEUs are not available for these sessions. Visit our website to access additional MHTTC grief training and resources here. Questions? Contact us at [email protected]

The Northeast and Caribbean Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) at Rutgers University will provide monthly webinars to support you in developing your school-based mental health services and supports. During these sessions, the MHTTC in collaboration with school mental health experts and New Jersey district exemplars will focus on the following core features of effective school mental health: Developing your Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Needs Assessment and Resource Mapping Establishing Universal Prevention Establishing Tiered Supports (Tier 2 & Tier 3) System Partners Risk Assessment Funding Comprehensive School-based Mental Health Staff Self-Care Intended Audience: The webinars are intended to help support school/district mental health teams that will develop and influence school mental health programming. This includes, but is not limited to: Administrators (school principals/vice-principals) School mental health professionals (e.g., school counselors, social workers, etc.) District Mental Health Director or Student Services Coordinator Community Behavioral Health Agencies

This month we’ll have an introductory conversation about harm reduction- what it is, why it’s important, and how to operationalize it. Harm reduction strategies and tools should be accessible to everyone, regardless of location, time, and experience. We’ll have discussions around proven interventions and how to implement them in your work and identify other tools you need to support the young people you work with.     These monthly forums are an opportunity to connect with others who share concern and passion for developmentally appropriate and appealing systems and supports for youth and young adults. Maybe you're a peer support provider or a new professional with lived experience working in mental health advocacy. Whatever your role, if you are a young adult professional seeking to make peer-to-peer connections and develop your professional capacity, this learning community offers a space to acquire and build skills with other mental health workforce professionals.   We hope you will join us in collective skill-building, engaging conversations, and young professional networking.   Intended Audience The target audience for this learning community is young professionals working with youth and young adults of transition age.  

As we strive to improve conversations about race, racism, racial equity, and the importance of advancing cultural humility in this country, the environment in which we’re speaking seems to be constantly shifting. Perhaps this is an indication that these conversations are more important now than ever. But talking about race is complex and multi-layered, and despite significant progress, explicit and implicit racism still exist. Nothing bridges the divide of race and culture like informed dialogue that’s grounded in shared understanding. Get tips on how to structure conversations—with clearly framed goals, space for sharing various perspectives, and an acceptance of discomfort—for thoughtful discussion about racial equity and ways to advance and extend cultural humility.

As we strive to improve conversations about race, racism, racial equity, and the importance of advancing cultural humility in this country, the environment in which we’re speaking seems to be constantly shifting. Perhaps this is an indication that these conversations are more important now than ever. But talking about race is complex and multi-layered, and despite significant progress, explicit and implicit racism still exist. Nothing bridges the divide of race and culture like informed dialogue that’s grounded in shared understanding. Get tips on how to structure conversations—with clearly framed goals, space for sharing various perspectives, and an acceptance of discomfort—for thoughtful discussion about racial equity and ways to advance and extend cultural humility.

As we strive to improve conversations about race, racism, racial equity, and the importance of advancing cultural humility in this country, the environment in which we’re speaking seems to be constantly shifting. Perhaps this is an indication that these conversations are more important now than ever. But talking about race is complex and multi-layered, and despite significant progress, explicit and implicit racism still exist. Nothing bridges the divide of race and culture like informed dialogue that’s grounded in shared understanding. Get tips on how to structure conversations—with clearly framed goals, space for sharing various perspectives, and an acceptance of discomfort—for thoughtful discussion about racial equity and ways to advance and extend cultural humility. Featured Speakers:  Dietra Hawkins, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist and Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Equity by Design Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, BNS, MS, Co-Director, New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center

Hosted by: New England MHTTC, Racial Equity and Advancing Cultural Humility (REACH) for Organizational Change Learning Community As we strive to improve conversations about race, racism, racial equity, and the importance of advancing cultural humility in this country, the environment in which we’re speaking seems to be constantly shifting. Perhaps this is an indication that these conversations are more important now than ever. But talking about race is complex and multi-layered, and despite significant progress, explicit and implicit racism still exist. Nothing bridges the divide of race and culture like informed dialogue that’s grounded in shared understanding. Get tips on how to structure conversations—with clearly framed goals, space for sharing various perspectives, and an acceptance of discomfort—for thoughtful discussion about racial equity and ways to advance and extend cultural humility. Featured Speakers:  Dietra Hawkins, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist and Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Equity by Design Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, BNS, MS, Co-Director, New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center

As we strive to improve conversations about race, racism, racial equity, and the importance of advancing cultural humility in this country, the environment in which we’re speaking seems to be constantly shifting. Perhaps this is an indication that these conversations are more important now than ever. But talking about race is complex and multi-layered, and despite significant progress, explicit and implicit racism still exist. Nothing bridges the divide of race and culture like informed dialogue that’s grounded in shared understanding. Get tips on how to structure conversations—with clearly framed goals, space for sharing various perspectives, and an acceptance of discomfort—for thoughtful discussion about racial equity and ways to advance and extend cultural humility. Presenters: Dietra Hawkins, PsyD & Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, BSN, MS

Life can be complicated, and there may be times we feel overwhelmed by the many choices and decisions we are faced with. Sometimes it’s hard to know what direction to go, and that can just add to our level of stress. In this webinar, the audience is encouraged to view decision-making through a trauma-informed lens and explore one's own personal history, psycho-neuro patterns, and habitual thought processes. Through discovering roots of our thoughts and actions, and by applying nervous system healing techniques, we bring fresh awareness to our everyday life; this makes it possible to build new decision making paths towards a more stable and dependable foundation of clarity and heart.  Learning Objectives: Apply a trauma-informed lens to recognize personal decision-making patterns Cultivate self-evaluation to notice personal decision making styles Define and apply broader perspectives how decisions are made   This session of Wisdom to Know the Difference is intended for non-supervisory staff (supervisors may attend a separate session targeting their role on February 25). RESOURCES General Resources on This Topic Anchored by Deb Dana Widen the Window by Elizabeth Stanley Activate Your Vagus Nerve by Navaz Habib   As Mentioned in the Webinar The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van der Kolk Nothing's for Nothing by Rebekah Demirel Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate The Wisdom of Trauma (video)   FACILITATOR Rebekah Demirel, L.Ac MPCC Rebekah Demirel L.Ac. MPCC, is the founder and director of Trauma Integration Programs, with more than a decade as an ambulance paramedic, twenty-two years as a paramedic trainer, eighteen years of mental health counseling experience, specializing in traumatic stress, and she is a licensed East Asian medicine practitioner and acupuncturist. Rebekah’s unique skill set and experience are informed by her own traumatic childhood and teen years spent on the street and in the foster care system, giving her a special familiarity and empathy for trauma and loss.