Mid-America MHTTC Newsletter
AUGUST 2020
Good afternoon,

Welcome to another Mid-America MHTTC newsletter! As many of you know, August is sure to bring many challenges as students prepare for a school year unlike any other. The good news is that we are here to help: Read on for upcoming school mental health programming brought to you by our team and our Network colleagues.

Our team is also hard at work designing and delivering training in integrated care, serious mental illness and workforce development. Of special interest is our new webinar series Coming Home to Primary Care: Pediatric Integrated Health, which will feature experts in integrated behavioral health and primary care on the last Friday of every month.

Finally, on behalf of the TTC Network, we ask that if you are a behavioral health or substance use disorder provider, please fill out this survey on your experience in telehealth. More information on this research opportunity can be found deeper in the newsletter.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out.

Be well,

The Team at the Mid-America MHTTC
UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAINING
We hope to connect with you through one of our events!
Midwest School Mental Health Virtual Conference
Aug. 6-7 | ONLINE
Creating a Culture of Well-being: Taking Care of Educators Who Take Care of Kids
Aug. 7 | ONLINE
Program Limited to Select Participants
Supporting School Mental Health in the Context of Racial Violence
Session 2: Learning From and With the School Mental Health Workforce
(School Counselors, Psychologists, and Teacher Educators)
12-1:30 p.m. Aug. 7 | ONLINE
Family Peer Support: An Emerging Workforce
12-1 p.m. Aug. 20 | ONLINE
Coming Home to Primary Care: Pediatric Integrated Health
Session 2: The Road to Primary Care: Several Paths to Coming Home
12-1 p.m. Aug. 28 | ONLINE
HOLIDAYS & COMMEMORATIONS
International Overdose Awareness Day - Aug. 31
NEWS & UPDATES
Center launches monthly series on pediatric integrated care
The Mid-America MHTTC's integrated care team on July 31 hosted the first webinar in a new monthly series on topics in pediatric integrated behavioral health and primary care.

The first installation, Starting Down the Integrated Care Road and How the Mid-America MHTTC Can Help, introduced broad concepts in integrated behavioral health and primary care. Joe Evans, PhD, a psychologist based at the Munroe-Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, led the presentation.

Watch the webinar recording using the link below, and visit the series web page for more information. Upcoming sessions are as follows:
 
Friday, Aug. 28, 2020

Friday, Sept. 25, 2020
 
Friday, Oct. 30, 2020
To view the webinar, watch the video embedded above or click here.
Family Peer Support: An Emerging Workforce webinar to air Aug. 20
The Family Peer Support: An Emerging Workforce webinar, airing 12-1 p.m. Aug. 20, will introduce family peer support as a profession, explore its roles and functions, and highlight specific training needs.

The webinar will feature the following representatives and special guests from the Mid-America MHTTC and Community Alliance:
Dr. Lilchandra Jai Sookram has been in the mental health field for over 40 years. At the Nebraska State Hospital, he provided psychological services to persons with serious mental illness and to their family members, and he directed clinical services including psychology, nursing, social work, therapeutic recreation, education and return-to-work programs. He is the former director of mental health services in Kansas and clinical director of a juvenile correctional facility. Currently he is manager of family and peer services at Community Alliance.
Bill Baerentzen, Ph.D., CRC, LMHP, is serious mental illness program director for the Mid-America MHTTC. Much of his outreach involves promoting evidence-based practices to help people with serious mental illness (SMI) live meaningful inclusive lives. Dr. Baerentzen has worked as director of a 250-bed emergency overnight shelter; supervisor of therapists in a treatment program for persons with co-occurring disorders; and as faculty in a rehabilitation counseling program.
Cecilia Losee is a financial planner who specializes in working with special needs families. Her own disability and that of her adult daughter give her a unique perspective into what it takes to plan for the future. With over 10 years in the industry she uses many different tools, such as special needs trusts, to ensure the protection of government benefits while maximizing the amount left to take care of your loved ones.
Rich Kalal is a parent of a loved one with serious mental illness. A retiree of IBM, Kalal works as a volunteer at Community Alliance, in particular on family education programs along with Dr. Jai Sookram. On many occasions, Kalal has spoken to University of Nebraska Medical Center residents of psychiatry and family medicine and medical students about being a family member of a person with a serious mental illness.
Register now to attend the webinar. The recording of the webinar as well as additional resources will be posted on the web page
Training-of-trainer modules offer National School Mental Health Curriculum walk-through
The Mid-America MHTTC in collaboration with the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH) has released a series of online modules on the National School Mental Health Curriculum.

The modules, based upon a training-of-trainers event held in Iowa in summer 2019, feature interactive quizzes and instruction from national leaders in school mental health. The module topics are:

  1. Foundations of Comprehensive School Mental Health
  2. Teaming
  3. Needs Assessment and Resource Mapping
  4. Screening
  5. Mental Health Promotion for All (Tier 1)
  6. Early Intervention and Treatment (Tiers 2/3)
  7. Funding and Sustainability
  8. Impact

To learn more about the series, visit the web page or download the flyer.
Attention Behavioral Health and/or Substance Use Disorder Providers:

The Mid-America Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) and Mid-America Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) are conducting a study on the use of virtual behavioral health services during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask that you complete this survey on behalf of the TTC Network because we wish to hear your perspectives on this issue.

If you choose to participate in this voluntary study, please fill out the following survey developed by the Great Lakes ATTC/MHTTC to gain a better understanding of a) how telehealth is being used during the evolving pandemic, b) its benefits, c) its problems, and d) projected use after the pandemic.

Link to survey (you may need to cut and paste into your browser):

To receive a copy of the survey results for your state, please provide your email at the end of the survey. Survey results will also be available at the following websites:


Please contact Todd Molfenter at todd.molfenter@wisc.edu if you have any questions.
AREA OF FOCUS SPOTLIGHT
School Mental Health
As students prepare for a year unlike any other, the Mid-America MHTTC is working on a host of programming intended to help ease the transition. For one, the Center is working with the MHTTC Network on the two-part Supporting School Mental Health in the Context of Racial Violence learning forum, the second episode airing at 12 p.m. CT Friday, Aug. 7. Locally, the Center's school mental health team is preparing to field applications for two brand new learning communities:

Mid-America MHTTC PLC: Supporting School Mental Health During a Pandemic
This will be a collaboration between the Mid-America MHTTC team and the National Center for School Mental Health. The targeted audience for this learning community is administrators at the state, district, and building level. This learning community will be a year-long learning group with specific topics focused on providing SMH supports during the pandemic. The goal is to provide an opportunity to help teams problem-solve around specific challenges they are encountering.

Mid-America MHTTC PLC: Supporting School Mental Health as a Community Provider
The targeted audience for this learning community would be community mental health providers who work in school-based mental health settings. This learning community will be a year-long learning group with content focused on navigating mental health service provision in the school setting. Learning will include integrating into multi-tiered school systems and best practices for school-based mental health practices.

Stay tuned for further information about the application process. To learn about last year's learning community, visit the web page.
Each newsletter we highlight our work in one of our core training areas: school mental health, integrated behavioral health in primary care, serious mental illness and behavioral health workforce development.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Marley Doyle, MD
Marley Doyle, MD, a dedicated medical educator and expert in reproductive psychiatry practices, is the Mid-America MHTTC's director of workforce development. In addition to practicing adult psychiatry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. Doyle exercises her leadership capabilities as — among other appointments — director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, or BHECN.

Clinically, Dr. Doyle completed a fellowship in women's mental health and is an expert in the treatment of mood disorders in times of hormonal transition. She has a joint appointment with the UNMC OB/GYN Department and provides consultation to the Olson Center for Women’s Health. Dr. Doyle is a recognized leader in the field of gender equality in academic psychiatry and continues to pursue this as a research interest. She has won numerous teaching awards and is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

As workforce development director for the Mid-America MHTTC, Dr. Doyle's primary goal is to make workforce development part of routine discussions about behavioral health. "No access initiatives, stigma reduction, or direct patient care can be accomplished without a workforce, so I want the field to start thinking about how we can care for our current providers as well as recruit students into behavioral health careers," she says.

Collaboration across the MHTTC Network on workforce development projects is of extreme importance to Dr. Doyle, as she recognizes the importance of working together to develop and establish best practices. In the Mid-America region, she says she is looking forward to continuing to focus on rural and urban underserved areas.

Dr. Doyle says she engages in many activities that help her unwind, including running and listening to audiobooks. "In the context of the current pandemic and Zoom meetings, I've also taken up knitting and bread-baking," she says. "Both are great activities that are teaching me patience!"
Each newsletter we shed light on an exceptional contributor to Mid-America MHTTC's mission.
You have reached the conclusion of this issue. Thank you for reading!
Mid-America MHTTC | 402.552.7697 | MHTTCnetwork.org/midamerica
The Mid-America Mental Health Technology Transfer Center is a SAMHSA-funded program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The Mid-America MHTTC provides training in evidence-based practices to the four-state area of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. 
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