Access Our TTA Services  

 

We offer no-cost (or low-cost) trainings, consultations, distance learning, resources, and more for the mental health field in the Pacific Southwest states and islands. Download our Menu of Services to learn more.

 

Want to access TTA on these and other topics? Let us know what learning opportunities interest you by contacting our team.

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on these or other mental health topics!  

New! Package of Resources for: Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating the Integration of Cultural and Linguistic Competence into Mental Health Service Delivery

Access the Resource Package  

 

This package of resources was developed to support Pacific Southwest mental health organizations as they work to provide culturally and linguistically competent mental health services for their diverse populations. It is easy to use and addresses the needs and realities of the Pacific Southwest region. This resource package is organized into six goal areas: 

• Governance and Leadership
• Workforce Development
• Community Engagement and Partnership
• Adaptation of Services and Supports
• Communication and Language Supports
• Continuous Quality and Accountability

Assessing Workforce Diversity: A Tool for Mental Health Organizations on the Path to Health Equity Access the Self-Assessment      Workforce diversity improves access to health and health care for communities of color. This self-assessment is designed to help mental health organizations explore their implementation of workforce diversity strategies.     Use this tool along with the new resource compendium to assess + build your organization's approach to culturally competent mental health services!

State and Organizational Policy for Workforce Diversity and Inclusion in the Pacific Southwest Region

Access the Policy Tool  

 

The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) serve as the guiding framework for this workforce diversity and inclusion policy assessment. 

This assessment identifies efforts to advance and sustain organizational governance and leadership that promotes CLAS and health equity. It includes a scan of CLAS-related policies in the Pacific Southwest, recommendations to improve CLAS implementation at the state and island level, and national and state resources.

Community-Defined Evidence: A Culturally-Appropriate Approach to Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Diverse Populations

Watch the Session   

 

This pre-recorded webinar session celebrates culture and communities, and explores community programs and practices that work. The session explores how we collectively approach the concept of evidence, effectiveness of practices, and the role of communities in achieving positive outcomes for individuals experiencing mental health conditions.

 

New! Student Mental Health Leadership: Voices in a Video

This short video was scripted, conceptualized, and facilitated by youth from Long Beach, CA. In it, students and educators describe why school mental health championship is vital to student mental health. In their own words, they discuss challenges and success factors for adults showing up as allies to student mental health champions. Produced by Youth Leadership Institute.

New! Family Navigator Model: A Practice Guide For Schools 

Access the Tool  

 

The family navigator model is a peer-based, flexible approach to supporting families in which a child has a health or developmental challenge or disability. This guide is designed to support education agencies and school leaders interested in building or enhancing a family navigator program. Family-driven, youth-guided, culturally responsive support is a guiding principle of this document. It includes:  

• Overview of the model
• Special considerations for schools
• Guiding principles and best practices
• Practical tools for developing a program
• Links to more than 30 national and Pacific Southwest-specific resources

This guide was developed by the Pacific Southwest MHTTC in partnership with Millie Sweeney, MS, from the Family-Run Executive Director Leadership Association (FREDLA).  

HIPAA and FERPA Laws: A School Mental Health Navigation Tool for Pacific Southwest States (Part 1) 

Access the Tool  

 

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) are crucial in protecting student and family health information when building school mental health referral pathways, integrated support systems, and student mental health structures. Part 1 of this two-part tool helps individuals in Hawaii, California, Nevada, and Arizona quickly access information about state-specific HIPAA and FERPA policies. Stay tuned for Part 2, which will cover HIPAA and FERPA in Pacific Islands. 

 

All sessions offered at 6-7 p.m. ET /  3-4 p.m. PT / 1-2 p.m. HT / 9-10 a.m. ChT.

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March 1-2 - Las Vegas, Nevada

 

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May 9-10 - Redondo Beach, California  

 

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SAMHSA in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability, Rehabilitation and Research (NIDRR) funds two Rehabilitation, Research, and Training Centers (RRTCs) focused on Transition-age Youth with Serious Mental Health Challenges. The co-funded Centers address specific public health system needs that promote a positive pathway to adulthood and recovery to help improve outcomes for transition-age youth and young adults (ages 14-30) with serious mental health challenges.  

Key Resources

 

The Publications page highlights Transitions ACR publications and products. Some examples include:

 

For Providers and States:
Innovative Practices to Support Careers of Young Adults with Mental Health Conditions summarizes results from a survey of providers delivering innovative practices to meet the employment and education needs of young adults.	Blueprint for Building Inter-Agency Collaboration Through Strategic Planning provides guidance to states on how to develop a strategic plan to bridge disconnected agencies to support youth and young adults with mental health conditions.	This two-part tip sheet series, Tips and Tricks to Starting a Young Adult Council, guides organizations on how to develop and sustain young adult mental health councils.
For Youth & Young Adults:
Comeback TV is a show made by young adults, for young adults, to help them on their path to successful independent lives, with many focusing on education and employment.	Do I Tell My Boss? Disclosing My Mental Health Condition at Work provides guidance to young adults living with a mental health condition on how to and whether to disclose their condition during and after hiring.	Outside-the-Box College Accommodations: Real Support for Real Students helps youth and young adults get the accommodations that help them with their unique struggles in school.

Transitions ACR Research Articles 

 

Peer-reviewed articles are also compiled on the website, including the following recent examples:  

• Adapting Supported Employment for Emerging Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions (link)
• Appealing Features of Vocational Support Services for Hispanic and non-Hispanic Transition Age Youth and Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions (link)
• Reducing Recidivism and Symptoms in Emerging Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions and Justice System Involvement (link)

General ACR Resources  

• The Transitions ACR hosts quarterly webinars to share research findings and highlight important topics relating to youth and young adult mental health, employment and education.
• Technical Assistance activities are an extension of the research and training activities of the Transitions ACR. TA services can range from simple resource referrals to on-site development of a formal TA plan.
• The bi-monthly e-newsletter includes details on the latest new Transitions ACR publications, upcoming webinars, and developments of interest to the field.
• Helping Youth on the Path to Employment (HYPE) is an innovative model that aims to assist young adults to explore, pursue, and achieve education and employment goals that will lead to a desired careers and financial self-sufficiency.

 

We encourage you to share mental health-related events with us!  

Please email if you know of a regional event we should promote.

 

Findings from CPEHN's New Report: How Immigrants in California Struggle to Get Needed Care

Tuesday, March 5

2-3 p.m. ET / 11 a.m.-12 p.m. PT / 9-10 a.m. HT / 5-6 a.m. ChT 

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Over the past year, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN) interviewed fifteen California county behavioral health leaders in order to evaluate the barriers that immigrant communities face when accessing mental health care. Join the CPEHN webinar to learn about findings from the report. Access the report.

Exploring the Crossroads Between Obstetrics and Mental Health in Perinatal Care

Friday, May 3

3-4 p.m. ET / 12-1 p.m. PT / 10-11 a.m. HT / 6-7 a.m. ChT 

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This webinar is the second session in the 2019 webinar series from Maternal Mental Health Now. This webinar will explore the risks of untreated mood disorders in pregnancy, including the association between Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders and adverse perinatal outcomes. They will discuss options for psychotropic medications in pregnancy as well as barriers to treatment.

Trauma Resource Institute Trainings 

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The Trauma Resource Institute is offering upcoming Trauma Resiliency Model Trainings and Community Resiliency Model Teacher Trainings (can be easily adapted to non-school settings) in California.  

• TRM Level 1: February 22-24, Los Angeles, California
• TRM Level 2: May 2-4, Claremont, California

March 3-6 - Tampa, Florida    

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March 8, 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy (CABHP) 

Phoenix, Arizona

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CABHP at Arizona State University has several upcoming professional development workshops. Continuing education hours available.

• Suicide Prevention & Intervention: March 14
• Compassion Fatigue & Self-Care: March 14
• Ethics in the Workplace & Cultural Intelligence Trainings: March 19
• Mental Health First Aid: March 27

Call for Presenters: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) 

Learn More  

 

NOSORH hosts five regional partnership meetings and one national meeting of the SORH each year, aimed at enhancing the ability of SORH to deliver technical assistance to rural communities in their state. While all proposals are encouraged, they are particularly looking for submissions that are future-focused and encourage cross-sector collaboration. Upcoming meetings: 

• Region A: Massachusetts, TBD
• Region B: Georgia, August 28-29
• Region C: Missouri, July 30-31
• Region D: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, June 5-6
• Region E: Oregon, September 4-5
• Annual Meeting: New Mexico, October 16-17

US Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced $39.6 million in Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grants to 128 projects focused on educational and healthcare needs, including:

• Imperial County Behavioral Services, based in California, will be getting $127,500 to expand a telemedicine program for opioid abuse and treatment across 25 community clinics, affecting almost 11,500 youths and adults.
• The California Telehealth Network will receive $196,221 to purchase telehealth equipment for its Opioid and Chronic Pain Telemedicine Project, a partnership between the CTN and several rural clinics in the northern part of the state serving highly vulnerable populations.
• The Landon Pediatric Foundation is receiving $453,280 to expand telemedicine services to 10 mobile health clinics in the Northern Mariana Islands, where residents typically have to fly to the Philippines, Hawaii, or the mainland US to receive advanced care. The virtual care services will link the clinics to healthcare centers and provide opioid abuse treatment and other services to a population of about 55,000.
• The Hawaii Health Systems Corporation will receive $215,093 to create a specialty care telemedicine platform to provide access to treatment in pulmonology, oncology, cardiology, telestroke care, opioid misuse, among others. The two-hub, 10-spoke network will integrate with remote clinics and other patient care locations to reach an estimated 27,885 residents and offer in-service training for healthcare professionals.
• The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation is getting $143,853 to establish telepharmacy services on the islands of Tinian and Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands. The project is expected to benefit some 5,600 residents who have no pharmacy services.
• Renown Health in Nevada is getting $439,312 to create a two-hub, 11-spoke telemedicine network offering specialty care, substance abuse treatment and other service to more than 45,500 Nevada residents.

Arizona lawmakers are moving forward with proposed legislation that would expand coverage for connected care technologies, such as telemedicine, to expand access to care and improve outcomes in underserved populations. SB 1089 redefines telemedicine to include asynchronous and remote patient monitoring platforms as well as other healthcare services. It prevents restriction of virtual care coverage based on the type of service offered or a patient's location.

There has been a flurry of health-related bills introduced during the first weeks of Hawaii's 2019 legislative session:   

 

HB 1597 would establish a new long-term care facility to treat non-forensic mental health patients. Currently, the Hawaii State hospital in Kaneohe has an overload of forensic patients (individuals receiving treatment mandated by criminal court), leaving no options for non-forensic patients. The bill would require that homeless patients receive priority admission to the facility.

 

HB 234 addresses Hawaii's gap in services for individuals who are both homeless and have severe mental illness. This bill would require the Department of Human Services to issue request for proposals "to contract for services and housing for homeless individuals with severe mental illness who are discharged from acute care and require further medical treatment and other supportive services."

 

HB 1089: This bill aims to address Hawaii's physician workforce shortage. Rather than adding faculty or expanding facilities to train additional medical students in Hawaii, sponsors of the bill want to study the impact of financially assisting Hawaii residents in attending medical school in the Philippines, in exchange for a commitment to practice medicine in Hawaii after they graduate.

Nevada's behavioral health policy leaders are looking to improve crisis intervention and gather data in the 2019 legislative session. The four regional behavioral health policy boards, created in 2017, each submitted bills through the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services aimed at addressing aspects of mental health care in a state where access to it is ranked among the worst nationwide. The areas of proposed legislation include data collection (AB 76), destigmatizing crisis care, training first responders (AB 47), and crisis stabilization (AB 66).

Black Mental Health Resources for #BlackHistoryMonth

Access the Resources 

 

Issue Brief: Youth Transition to Employment: Creating and Using a Community of Practice to Generate New Knowledge

Access the Brief 

 

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Youth Recipient and Employment Transition Formative Research project used a Community of Practice to identify research and policy options related to helping youth in SSI find and keep jobs. This group included 70 of the nation's leading experts in youth transition, employment, and disability programs. This issue brief describes successful strategies to solicit perspectives from a Community of Practice that can be used by others.

Study: Screening for Suicide Risk May Reduce Deaths Among Incarcerated Youth

Learn More - Access the Study

 

A nationally representative sample of all suicides by boys and young men aged 10-24 found that jailed youth were most likely to die by suicide within the first seven days of incarceration. Study findings highlight the need for early suicide risk detection and developmentally relevant interventions tailored for youth in correctional settings.

New! Grants for Expansion and Sustainability of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances  

Short Title: System of Care (SOC) Expansion and Sustainability Grants 

Apply by April 19  

 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The purpose of this program is to improve the mental health outcomes for children and youth, birth through age 21, with serious emotional disturbance (SED), and their families. This program will support the implementation, expansion, and integration of the SOC approach by creating sustainable infrastructure and services that are required as part of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program (also known as the Children's Mental Health Initiative or CMHI).

 

This program will promote behavioral health integration into pediatric primary care by supporting pediatric mental health care telehealth access programs. State or regional networks of pediatric mental health care teams will provide tele-consultation, training, technical assistance, and care coordination for providers. This grant will support the provision of mental health and related recovery support services to children and youth with SED and those with early signs and symptoms of serious mental illness (SMI), including first episode psychosis (FEP). The intent is to build upon progress made in developing comprehensive SOC by focusing on sustainable financing, cross-agency collaboration, the creation of policy and infrastructure, and the development and implementation of evidence-based and evidence-informed services and supports.

 

Award: 6-24 awards of $1-3 million per year, for up to four years, for a total of $24,565,000; at least five awards will be made to tribes or tribal organizations. Eligibility limited to state governments, territories, governmental units within political subdivisions of states (e.g., city, county), and federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native tribal organizations. 

New! Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children's Health Grant Program

Short Title: Project LAUNCH 

Apply by April 19  

 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The purpose of this program is to promote the wellness of young children, from birth to 8 years of age, by addressing the social, emotional, cognitive, physical and behavioral aspects of their development. It is expected that this program will provide local communities or tribes the opportunity to disseminate effective and innovative early childhood mental health practices and services, ultimately leading to better outcomes for young children and their families..

 

The overall goal of Project LAUNCH is to foster the healthy development and wellness of all young children (birth through age 8), preparing them to thrive in school and beyond. Project LAUNCH grants are designed to build the capacities of adult caregivers of young children to promote healthy social and emotional development; to prevent mental, emotional and behavioral disorders; and to identify and address behavioral concerns before they develop into serious emotional disturbances (SED).

 

Award: Anticipated 15 awards of up to $800,000, up to 5 years, for a total award of $12,347,121; at least three awards will be made to tribes or tribal organizations. Eligibility limited to domestic public and private nonprofit entities. Project LAUNCH grantees funded under SM-17-004 (Indigenous Project LAUNCH) are not eligible.

Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program 

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)  

Apply by March 11  

 

This program will promote behavioral health integration into pediatric primary care by supporting pediatric mental health care telehealth access programs. State or regional networks of pediatric mental health care teams will provide tele-consultation, training, technical assistance, and care coordination for providers.

Garrett Lee Smith State/Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Grant Program 

SAMHSA 

Apply by March 18   

 

The purpose of this program is to support states and tribes with implementing youth suicide prevention and early intervention (PEI) strategies in schools, educational institutions, juvenile justice systems, substance use programs, mental health programs, foster care systems, and other child and youth-serving organizations. The program will make 26 awards of up to $736,000 per year, up to 5 years, to states, Tribes and tribal organizations, and organizations designated by a state to develop or direct the statewide youth suicide PEI strategies.