Mid-America MHTTC Newsletter
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Good afternoon,
Another month has come and gone. We have a lot of events coming up in March, so pay extra close attention to the calendar for networking and professional development opportunities!
Warm wishes,
The Team at Mid-America MHTTC
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAINING
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We hope to connect with you at one of our events! If you see us, give us a shout-out by using the hashtag
#mhttctravels
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Western Nebraska School Mental Health Conference
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. | March 10 | Chadron, NE
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Mid-America MHTTC Family Support Conference
9 a.m. - 4 p.m. | March 14 | Omaha, NE
Program Limited to Selected Participants
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Evidence-Based Interventions for Substance Use Disorders
8:30 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. | March 18 | Omaha, NE
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Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference
March 19-21 | Dallas, TX
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Mid-America School Mental Health Learning Community:
Virtual Learning Session No. 3
1-2 p.m. | March 24 | ONLINE
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Managing Chronic Pain in the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Webinar Series - No. 3 of 3
12-1 p.m. | March 26 | ONLINE
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Building the Foundation for Youth Mental Health:
The Buena Vista University School of Education Conference
March 27-28 | Storm Lake, IA
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HOLIDAYS & COMMEMORATIONS
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Women's History Month
- March 1-31
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Problem Gambling Awareness Month
- March 1-31
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National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
- March 10
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Brain Awareness Week
- March 16-22
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St. Patrick's Day
- March 17
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American Diabetes Association Diabetes Alert Day
- March 24
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National Youth Violence Prevention Week
- March 30-April 3
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Free online courses in integrated care on the way
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This fall, the Mid-America MHTTC will debut the first in a series of free online educational modules in the field of integrated care.
Ultimately, three courses consisting of several topic-specific modules will be available for anyone practicing or wanting to practice in the primary care setting, including primary care physicians, behavioral health providers and students. These modules aim to sharpen skills in identifying and treating behavioral health conditions in integrated primary care in addition to providing foundational knowledge about the practice of integrating behavioral health into primary care. The courses are:
- Basics of Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care
- Evidence-based Treatment Practices for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Conditions
- Evidence-based Treatment Practices for Adult Behavioral Health Conditions
The courses will be accessible via the online learning portal
HealtheKnowledge.org. Continuing education credits will be available to certain participants at a low cost.
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MHTTC Network Coordinating Office releases mental health literacy for educators resource
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Permanent supportive housing training held in Iowa
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Dr. Bill Baerentzen, serious mental illness program lead for the Mid-America MHTTC, spent Jan. 29-30 training 18 Iowa professionals to become Permanent Supportive Housing Fidelity Assessors.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) publishes an evidence-based practice (EBP) called Permanent Supportive Housing. This practice is designed to help persons with serious mental illness and extensive homelessness find and keep housing.
Programs that are well-implemented have much better outcomes than programs with poor implementation. SAMHSA provides a
Permanent Supportive Housing Fidelity Assessment that measures adherence to the practice. Programs with high fidelity to the model have much better outcomes than programs with low fidelity.
The two-day training in Des Moines is part of a multi-year initiative in which our Center is committed to providing training and consultation to prepare the Iowa workforce and mental health systems implement Permanent Supportive Housing, reach fidelity to the model and build statewide capacity to maintain high-fidelity housing services across the state. The newly trained Permanent Supportive Housing Fidelity Assessors will assess adherence to the model in existing programs, and the findings will serve as foundation for ongoing training and technical assistance.
The initiative came as the result of discussions between the Mid-America MHTTC and the Quality Service, Delivery and Assessment (QSDA) Committee of the Iowa Mental Health and Disability Services (MHDS) Committee.
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AREA OF FOCUS SPOTLIGHT
School Mental Health
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Dr. Brandy Clarke, our Center's project director, holds court during the second installation of our regional Learning Community.
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The MPS training feeds into a unique model of a multi-tiered system of supports that the district, comprising 35 schools and more than 24,000 students, is in the process of implementing. By the end of the training, the school counselors, psychologists, social workers and other mental health professionals who make up the team of behavior coaches will be equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to provide mental health care to youths in their respective schools across the district.
Faculty trainers Brenda Bassingthwaite, Ph.D., and Mindy Chadwell, Ph.D., led the third of four training sessions on Feb. 5. The focus was on providing coaching to behavior teams in how to use multi-tiered data to make decisions. The final training is in April.
The second virtual session for our Regional School Mental Health Learning Community met on Feb. 25, drawing nearly 50 professionals from across nine schools, districts and service areas in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. After working with the teams to establish online profiles on the
School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE) System in January, the teams gathered in February about how to use the quality improvement data for strategic planning regarding building comprehensive school mental health programming.
The next Learning Community training is March 24. Over the summer, our experts will meet with each of the teams for more targeted training to support the implementation of their strategic plans.
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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.
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STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Christian Klepper, Psy.D., LP
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Dr. Christian Klepper
is a licensed psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She received her Psy.D. in clinical psychology from Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, and completed her internship and post-doctoral training at the Munroe-Meyer Institute. Dr. Klepper is the project coordinator for the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program and serves as a faculty trainer for the Mid-America MHTTC. Her clinical time is spent providing behavioral health services at Children’s Physicians, Creighton University Medical Center, in Omaha.
Dr. Klepper knew she wanted to work with children and their families before she knew she wanted to be a psychologist. After taking a psychology class in high school, she decided that psychology was the path she was meant to take, and upon starting grad school, she knew she wanted to work in a medical setting where she could provide brief interventions to children and families.
"As soon as I learned about integrated primary care, I was sold," Dr. Klepper said. "I'm excited that integrated primary care is becoming much more prevalent and that we're increasing access to and reducing stigma associated with receiving behavioral health services."
In her free time, she likes taking her puppy to the park, spending time with friends, and re-watching
The Office
on Netflix.
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Each newsletter we shed light on an exceptional contributor to Mid-America MHTTC's mission. If you would like to nominate someone to be featured, please reply to this email.
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You have reached the conclusion of this issue. Thank you for reading!
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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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