November 2020
EAP & SUD Provider Network Newsletter
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BPA Health News Updates and Reminders:

  • The Idaho Lives Project Regional Case Management Services program is up and running at BPA Health! This program is in partnership with the Idaho Department of Education and assists in reintegrating Idaho youths who have attempted suicide or have severe suicide ideation. Support activities include intervention, assessment, referral, and follow-up for youths, families, schools, and/or youth serving organizations. Services are free for qualified youth. Referrals accepted from school personnel or hospital discharge planners by calling (208) 947-5155.

  • Please remember to have your clients apply for Medicaid. Many people's circumstances have changed due to COVID, and the Medicaid benefit could give them medical coverage.
 
  • We want to remind Idaho SUD network providers that social detox is now an available service as well as 3.1 low intensity residential.

  • If there is a waitlist for getting into Idaho funded SUD residential treatment, providers should continue to engage the client in a substitute level of care until a bed is available.

Resources/TIPs:

Counseling Assistance for Frontline/Essential Workers (Idaho): Know someone who provides face-to-face services in the community? Grocery workers, transportation workers, mental health or medical professionals, etc.? They may be eligible for five free counseling visits. Click here for details or call (866)536-0239 for a referral today.
 
Idaho Strong COVID Help Now Line (Idaho): 8 am – 8 pm MST/7 days a week. The COVID Help Now Line offers statewide support for Idahoans challenged by the stress associated with this global pandemic. Call or text (986) 867-1073 or toll free (866) 947-5186. You may also now chat with a live representative! Click here for more information. 
 
The Connected Care Pilot Program will provide up to $100 million from the Universal Service Fund (USF) over a three-year period to selected applicants to support the provision of connected care services. The application window closes on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. Read the FAQ or click here for application details. 
 
Statewide Consumer Network Program - The purpose of this program is to improve efforts to address the needs of adults with serious mental illness (SMI) by developing and/or expanding peer support services, peer leadership, and peer engagement strategies statewide. SAMHSA plans to issue 12 awards of up to $95,000 per year for up to 3 years. Application Due: January 4, 2021. Access here.

Statewide Family Network - The purpose of this program is to respond more effectively to the needs of children, youth, and young adults with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families by providing information, referrals, and support; and to create a mechanism for families to participate in state and local mental health services planning and policy development. SAMHSA plans to issue 10 awards of up to $95,000 per year for up to 3 years. Application Due: January 4, 2021. Access here.

Staying In Touch: Using Caring Contacts to Sustain Connection with Your Clients- The Northwest ATTC has developed a new online curriculum designed to help providers reduce client self-harm, increase feelings of self-efficacy, and fill treatment gaps due to health disparities or other challenges. Access here.

Talking to Change: A Motivational Interviewing podcast, hosted by Glenn Hinds and Sebastian Kaplan. The podcast is a series of conversations exploring MI and its influence on supporting individuals and groups as they make positive health and lifestyle changes. Access here.
Training Opportunities:

November 16 – December 13, 2020 (on-demand) Bridging the Gap Virtual Summit. Topics include trauma recovery, culturally sensitive counseling strategies, telehealth, working with transgender youth, veteran advocacy, building resilience, and more. Offered by NBCC Foundation. You decide what to pay to attend, starting at $25 for entire event. Register here

November 20, 2020 1:00 p.m. MT - Multimedia Suicide Prevention in the 2020 Holiday Season: Screening of the “The S Word” – Film Presentation - “The S Word” is a SAMHSA Voice Award-winning film that breaks the silence and undermines the shame of suicide. The critically acclaimed “The S Word” is filmed by a suicide survivor who interviews a diverse group of people across race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation about their experiences of trauma, suicide, survival, and mental health advocacy. Following the film screening, participants will receive multimedia socially-distanced suicide prevention resources, from warm and crisis lines, to self-help mental health apps and virtual support groups, available during the holiday season of 2020.

December 3, 2020 - 11:00 – 12:15 p.m. MT - Strategies to Support Clients with Increased Stress and Substance Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic - The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on all of us, and it presents particular challenges for individuals with co-occurring anxiety and substance use conditions. Join the American Mental Health Counselors Association and the National Council for Behavioral Health's webinar to discover tools for supporting clients that are experiencing increased stress and substance use, as well as techniques for helping them build resilience to face the difficult days ahead.

December 7, 2020 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MT - Virtual Motivational Interviewing Training - Making life changes is hard, but it helps to know why you do what you do. That’s where motivational interviewing (MI) can make a big difference. If you’re new to MI or want a refresher, register today! This virtual training is available for $79 per person and space is limited.

December 15, 2020 at 12:00 – 1:00 MT - Substance Use Interventions for Adolescents and Transitional Age Youth - In this free webinar, participants will learn an approach to conduct proper screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment for young adults (ages 18-25) at risk for substance use disorders. They will then hear about key behavioral and pharmacologic treatments for youth with substance use disorders including motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral therapy, contingency management and medications for alcohol and opioid use disorders. The webinar will conclude with a discussion on the essential role of families and communities in supporting young adults with substance use disorder including a description of the community reinforcement and family training (CRAFT) approach.

December 18, 2020 - 12:30-1:30 p.m. MT - Creating an Evidence-driven Process for Preparing Youth and Families for Transition to Adult Care - Research shows that having a structured process for transitioning to adult care is associated with improvements in health and wellbeing, self-care, skills-building, satisfaction, use of care in adult systems and reductions in hospital use. Explore an innovative transition approach for adaptation in a variety of health care settings, discover new resources and learn how to address the current implementation challenges facing providers.
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Monthly Blog - Mental and Emotional Nutrition
 
by Starr Shepard,
BPA Health Community Programs Manager
 
November is Good Nutrition Month so this blog is dedicated to Good Mental and Emotional Nutrition. We generally think of nutrition as foods that build and strengthen our physical bodies. But our mental and emotional “bodies” need nourishing too, and what we “feed” ourselves on a non-physical level also contributes to our health and well-being.
 
Sure, there are physical nutrients that help or hinder our mental and emotional health. Some things that help are essential fatty acids, B vitamins, and antioxidants. While things that hinder include refined sugars, alcohol, and nitrates.
 
What if good mental and emotional nutrition involved more than just the foods we consume? What if we consumed all negative media, nothing but depressing music, or news that only stokes our fears and anxieties? I know I’ve heard my share of “love songs” that promote codependency, stalking, and even emotional abuse.
 
There does exist media that can inspire, comfort, and restore us. And it’s not to say “negative” media is all-bad. The key is conscious awareness of the underlying messages. This is especially important for youths who may be somewhat indoctrinated by mass media.
 
Being mindful of our media choices is but one way we can increase our mental and emotional nutrition. Another way is the idea of emotional composting. This is the symbolic visualization of returning pain, grief, anger, sadness, etc. to the earth to be recycled into fertile nutrients to enrich the soil of our lives. Similar to physical composting, emotional composting can symbolically revitalize and restore a person’s spirit through visualization and enhance their growth. Emotional composting is a figurative way to describe the transformative process of reframing negative experiences into positive, healing experiences.    
 
What we feed our minds has the power to affect our mental and emotional wellbeing as much as what we feed our bodies, and it is equally important. Good emotional nutrition is basically any action made towards keeping a positive outlook on life. It is a form of self-care that promotes joy in our daily lives.

PC-278-11-19-2020
Provider Relations| BPA Health | 1 (800) 688-4013 | providerrelations@bpahealth.com | bpahealth.com