The Behavioral Health Education, Retention, and Expansion Network of Nevada (BeHERE NV) is a new workforce development initiative to increase the number of providers of behavioral health care in Nevada. In 2023, the Nevada Legislature unanimously passed Assembly Bill 37 to create a statewide behavioral health workforce development center within the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). In September 2023, the NSHE Board of Regents designated the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) to serve as the administrative hub for BeHERE NV and to build connections across the state. | |  | |
01 | Best Wishes!
02 | Special Feature: A summary of our June summer camp series
03 | BeHERE in Action
We have so much to share! Be sure to click on "View Entire Message" to see all of this month's content.
| | In June, BeHERE NV's Senior Grants Manager, Ruby Kelly, left our program for an exciting career opportunity to expand her talents and conquer new challenges. Ruby joined BeHERE in March 2024. She was instrumental in the implementation of our ARPA Nevada Health Workforce Pipeline Grant, supporting scholarships and mentorship for behavioral health students at UNLV and UNR. Always a team player with endless enthusiasm, we are sad to see her go but excited for her next chapter! | | BeHERE NV Goes to Camp ... Again! | | by: Jill Manit, Ph.D., MSW (aka "Camp Coordinator") | |
Behavioral Health Workforce Expansion Learning Lab (BeWELL)
Summer 2026 was a busy one for BeHERE NV!
Over the course of just a few weeks in June, BeHERE NV participated in five summer camp experiences designed to introduce young people to behavioral health, helping professions, and future career pathways.
From elementary students designing their own “Caring Communities” to returning high school participants pitching ideas to address real needs in their communities, our summer programming looked a little different at every stop. One thing remained consistent: young people are curious about behavioral health and excited to learn how they might make a difference.
See below for a few highlights from our summer!
| | Workshops within Partner-Hosted Camps | | |
June 2 | 20 Participants
We kicked off our summer by joining UNLV Early Outreach's Career Ready Rebels Day Camp: Exploring Your Future in Mental Health. Drs. Sara Hunt & Jill Manit facilitated an interactive Who Am I? workshop. We had 3 former BeWELL camp participants help with the workshop!
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June 4 | 60 Participants
The day after our elementary camp, Drs. Roberta Miranda-Alfonzo (pictured "in action") & Jill Manit joined the
GEAR UP/ETS University Summer Program, organized by the UNLV Center for Academic Enrichment & Outreach.
Along with support from our Graduate Assistant, Yuhan Bi, and a former BeWELL camp participant, we facilitated a workshop for all camp participants to introduce them to to behavioral health careers and education pathways.
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BeHERE, BeWELL Caring Communities
A one-day camp introducing elementary age participants to
wellness, community, and future careers in behavioral health.
June 3 | 13 Participants
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Using BeHERE NV's mascot, Winnie the Elephant, and her friends, participants explored wellness, helping skills, and behavioral health careers through stories and hands-on activities designed especially for younger learners. Click here to view our Winnie’s Big Helping Adventure: Every Herd Needs Helpers, an interactive storybook.
A highlight of the day was a field trip to The Stable Arena, where participants experienced an equine-assisted mental health program and learned how horses and behavioral health professionals work together to help people. We are incredibly grateful to The Stable Arena for welcoming our participants and creating such a meaningful, hands-on experience. Their team helped our youngest learners see behavioral health in action and experience firsthand the special role horses can play in supporting people.
| | | The day culminated in the Caring Communities Project. Working in small groups, participants designed their own communities, adding schools, hospitals, parks, libraries, calm spaces, and other places that help people thrive. They then identified where behavioral health professionals might work and shared their communities with other participants and their families. | | | | A very special thank you to UNLV Early Outreach and the Nevada Office of Workforce Innovation for their fiscal and technical support, making it possible to expand our camp content to elementary age participants. | | |
BeHERE, BeWELL High School Camp Heads North
June 14-17 | 20 Participants
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Foundation Camp Snapshot:
- Mental Health Literacy
- Maslow's Hierarchy
- Ecosystems Theory
- Indigenous Perspectives
- Career Exploration
- Overdose Prevention
- Career Research
Advanced Camp Snapshot:
- Professional Development
- Motivational Interviewing
- Innovation & Leadership
- QPR Certification
- Project Proposals
Joint Activities:
- Equine Therapy Fieldtrip
- Wellness Electives
- Junk Journaling
- Campus Tours
- Swimming!
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For four days, high school participants joined us at the University of Nevada, Reno for the 2026 BeHERE, BeWELL High School Camp! This year, BeWELL expanded to include two learning tracks.
Fifteen Foundation participants were attending BeWELL for the first time. They explored behavioral health careers, foundational theories and skills, college readiness, and wellness.
Our five Advanced participants were all returning to BeWELL and all five traveled from Las Vegas to Reno! Advanced participants took a deeper dive into behavioral health knowledge and skill development while also beginning to think about how they could use what they were learning to create change in their own communities.
Our participants were mostly from Washoe and Clark counties with 2 participants joining from rural counties (Lyon and Nye).
Participants lived in the residence halls, ate in the dining hall, explored the UNR campus (tour of library, gym, and campus buildings). After visiting an equine-assisted mental health program, participants cooled off at Bowers Pool. They enjoyed time together in the dorm lounge building connections with one another.
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Tribal Students LEAD + BeWELL
June 15 | 15 Participants
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On the first full day of the BeWELL camp, participants from the Reno-Sparks Tribal Students LEAD Camp joined our BeWELL participants for a special day of behavioral health career exploration through a partnership with the UNR Office of Indigenous Relations.
The groups spent the first half of the day together exploring behavioral health and behavioral health careers. During the second half, LEAD participants took a deeper dive into behavioral health with special attention to tribal youth experiences, culture, and community.
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Our Advanced BeWELL participants were also invited to join Joseph Cano, Project Director for Native Connections at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, and the Tribal Students LEAD participants for QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) suicide prevention training. The experience gave participants practical skills for recognizing warning signs, starting important conversations, and helping connect someone to support.
A very special kudos to Dr. Sarah Hartzell from BeHERE NV and Joseph Cano for their leadership and collaboration in creating such a meaningful experience—and for making space for our Advanced participants to deepen their suicide prevention knowledge and skills.
| | Final Event | Foundation Participants, Career Fair Simulation | | | | Working with partners, our Foundation participants researched specific behavioral health careers and created display boards highlighting education requirements, credentials, job responsibilities, and the role of each profession. During our final event, participants presented their displays and spoke with guests as if they were professionals in the field, demonstrating their in-depth knowledge of their specific career. | | Final Event | Advanced Participants, Project Proposals | | Both Foundation and Advanced Participants worked on their posters in the dorm lounge each evening. | | |
Our returning participants were ready for a new challenge! Throughout camp, Advanced participants identified issues that mattered to them and developed Community Action Project proposals designed to promote wellness and respond to real-world concerns. Their projects explored a wide range of topics, including:
- preventing bullying and violence by building empathy through animal-assisted interventions;
- addressing eco-anxiety through urban vegetation interventions;
- developing an empowerment-based athletic and nutrition brand to promote wellness;
- using nutrition-based and positive body image interventions to support well-being; and
- examining the misrepresentation of women in media and gaming.
| | Participants developed their ideas, considered how their projects could be implemented, and prepared professional pitches. At our final event, each Advanced participant presented their proposal to guests and community stakeholders. These participants didn't just explore behavioral health careers, they practiced identifying complex community needs, developing creative solutions, and communicating their ideas as emerging professionals and leaders. | |
We did not do this on our own:
Special "Shout Outs"
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Exploring Treatment, Prevention & Overdose Response
The Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) for introducing our participants to careers in substance use treatment and prevention.
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Foundation participants received overdose prevention and naloxone (Narcan) training, while Advanced participants explored the complexities of supporting individuals following a life-saving overdose intervention. We are grateful to the CASAT team for sharing their expertise and creating meaningful learning experiences for both groups!
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Meet the Behavioral Health Professionals Panel
Dr. Gregory Giron and Dr. Michelle Tatum from Renown Health, and Shannon Lepe joined our participants for a behavioral health career panel. Their career journeys highlighted the many pathways available within behavioral health and gave participants the opportunity to hear directly from professionals in the field.
Dr. Giron's honesty and emphasis on self-care resonated with participants, encouraging them to consider the importance of caring for themselves while supporting others. Shannon Lepe expanded participants' understanding of behavioral health careers through her work in policy and advocacy, demonstrating how systems-level work can create meaningful community change. Dr. Tatum's encouragement to remain curious throughout their career journeys made a lasting impression and continued to come up during group reflections.
| | | We are incredibly grateful to all three panelists for sharing their time, expertise, and passion—and for helping our participants envision the many ways they can make a difference in behavioral health. | | | |
EMS + Mental Health: A Rural Nevada Perspective
Amanda Brown from the UNR Office of Statewide Initiatives and CJ Safford, EMS professional from Battle Mountain, brought an important rural perspective to BeWELL!
CJ spoke with participants about the intersection of EMS and mental health, sharing real-world examples and highlighting the unique realities of providing emergency care in rural Nevada.
| | The session helped participants see that behavioral health needs show up across many professions and that behavioral health knowledge and skills are essential well beyond traditional mental health settings. This special experience was supported through funding from Molina Healthcare. | |
Learning with Lead with Horses
A special thank you to Lead with Horses for welcoming our BeWELL participants for an unforgettable equine-assisted mental health experience! Participants learned directly from an equine specialist and behavioral health professional about the many ways horses can support mental health and well-being. The hands-on experience sparked curiosity, encouraged thoughtful questions, and quickly became a camp favorite. We are incredibly grateful to the Lead with Horses team for sharing their horses, expertise, and passion with us!
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College Readiness & Finding Community at UNR
The UNR Multicultural Center for welcomed our participants into their space! The team provided a tour, shared college readiness tips, and gave participants an opportunity to learn more about the resources and communities available to students at UNR. We especially appreciated the chance to simply spend time in such a warm and welcoming space which was a great reminder that preparing for college is also about finding the people and places where you feel connected and supported.
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Exploring Wellness in Nature
A special thank you to the UNR Arboretum for volunteering to lead participants on an informative nature walk through campus as one of our wellness elective options! Participants had the opportunity to explore the campus environment, learn along the way, and experience firsthand how time outdoors and connection with nature can support well-being.
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Our generous sponsors helped to support snacks and hosting our final event. Your support helped us celebrate our participants and create a welcoming final event for our guests! | | | | We used multiple evaluation strategies throughout our 2026 summer programming, including participant reflections, pre- and post-program measures, and structured observation. We are still analyzing our findings, and we look forward to sharing what we learned about participants' behavioral health career awareness, professional identity development, skill development, and experiences across our summer programs. | | The BeHERE Team Goes to Camp! | | | | It turns out behavioral health workforce development sometimes means teaching a workshop, collecting data, organizing a mountain of supplies, tracking down snacks, waking up participants, and sleeping in a residence hall! | | | |
Dr. Jill Manit served as Camp Coordinator, managing the many moving pieces of the BeWELL camp experiences—and also served as a dorm chaperone.
Dr. Sara Hunt provided overall leadership and support throughout the program and even joined us for the full residential camp experience by staying overnight in the dorm.
Dr. Roberta Miranda-Alfonzo led in-depth behavioral health skill and knowledge sessions with our Advanced participants and served as a dorm chaperone.
Dr. Sarah Hartzell designed and facilitated our special Tribal Youth session, secured financial support, snack donations and supported general camp coordination.
Dr. Allie Lovitt led our structured observation approach and supported qualitative data collection and program evaluation.
Chris Rocket helped organize and manage camp materials, supported creative design, and provided general support across our summer camp efforts.
Yuhan Bi supported content creation and helped bring our Las Vegas-based camp experiences to life.
| | A very special shout-out to our returning BeWELL High School participants, who came back as volunteers across our summer camp experiences! Their willingness to jump in, support younger participants, and share their own experiences demonstrated an exciting next step in their growth as emerging leaders. Thank you to the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) for introducing our participants to careers in substance use treatment and prevention. | |
UNR Students Jumped In Everywhere!
UNR undergraduate and graduate students volunteered throughout the BeWELL High School Camp. When we say throughout, we mean it! Student volunteers helped wake participants up in the morning, joined them for meals, supported activities and evening project work, provided informal mentorship, and jumped in wherever they were needed.
They also played an important role in our program evaluation. Using a structured observation approach, student volunteers helped collect qualitative data by documenting participant engagement, interactions, questions, and responses throughout camp activities. From morning wake-up knocks to qualitative data collection, our UNR student volunteers were an essential part of the BeWELL team!
| | Children’s Mental Health Action Coalition met at Las Vegas City Hall this month for their in-person convening to explore policy initiatives for the upcoming legislative session. | | Alyssa Glasgow and Jenny Fay of Olivecrest with BeHEREs Dr. Ashley Noel Pruitt during the Interim Health & Human Services meeting of the Nevada Legislature. | | Stay up-to-date on our latest news by subscribing to our newsletter! Please share it with your network. We'll be posting monthly progress updates and more about BeHERE NV. You can also find past editions in the BeHERE NV newsletter section of our website. | | | | Funding for BeHERE NV was made possible by Assembly Bill 37 (2023, 82nd Nevada Legislative Session) and the Nevada System of Higher Education | | | | |
