New England MHTTC

Join us to learn about person-centered, family-driven partnerships to support the recovery journey for individuals with mental health and/or substance use challenges and their families—the focus of a new, free, online course module, Partnering with Families in Behavioral Health, developed by the National Family Support Technical Assistance Center and the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University. The course's focus is to present an approach that teaches the behavioral health workforce how to partner with families.   The 6 lessons present strategies to put evidence-based partnership principles into action using the “FAMILY” approach: Facing Personal and Professional Attitudes; Acknowledging Family Identities and Expertise; Making Meaningful Partnerships; Identifying Solutions to Conflict; “Letting Go” to Support; and Yielding to Outside Resources.   The presentation will provide opportunities for participants to engage in reflection exercises, as well as opportunities to ask questions of the course developers, so that they can increase their understanding of the strategies involved in family partnerships.   Presenters: Gail Cormier, MS, brings over 25 years of experience providing national and statewide technical assistance and expertise working with families, youth, and young adults. She is a proven national family leader with both professional and family-lived experience. Cormier’s knowledge is demonstrated by her work at several levels. At the national level, she partners in the development of federal programs that serve at-risk and vulnerable individuals, families, and their children-of-any age. Dana Asby, MA, MEd, is a developmental and educational psychology researcher and author, as well as a mental health and transformational leadership educator. She has a passion for helping all members of the family use their strengths to find person-centered solutions to challenges. Dana applies her lived experience as a family member to those with mental health challenges, her own recovery from traumatic experiences, and a decade as a teacher in preschool to junior high school classrooms to her current work in behavioral health.   If you would like accommodations to participate in any of our events, please contact us at [email protected] ahead of the event date. For example, if you would like an ASL interpreter, please let us know 3 weeks ahead of the event date so we have sufficient time to secure the services.  

United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. and New England MHTTC would like to invite you and your staff to attend "Reclaiming Native Psychological Brilliance: Wise Practices," a Tribal Behavioral Health ECHO webinar series. Native Psychological Brilliance refers to the intelligence, strengths, balance, innate resources, and resilience of Native people. This no-cost telehealth series will be held on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 11:00 am Pacific/12:00 pm Mountain/1:00 pm Central/2:00 pm Eastern. Each session will be one hour in length and will provide an opportunity for participants to:   Gain skills on strength-based approaches in partnership with Native People to enhance Native behavioral health Discuss ways that Native brilliance is demonstrated and supports behavioral health Learn about Native brilliance examples to share with behavioral health and other health care staff, as well as with local Tribal Nation citizens   May's topic will be a discussion on "National Bridge Overview: Bridging Emergency Care and Community Health."   The concept of Native psychological brilliance will be celebrated through Native music video and Native spoken word performances as part of each session. Who should attend? Tribal health directors, clinic staff, counselors, social workers, physicians, nurses, Tribal Epidemiology Center staff, and anyone supporting Tribal communities through the health or behavioral health sector are welcome to join. Continuing education credits will be provided.   If you would like accommodations to participate in any of our events, please contact us at [email protected] ahead of the event date. For example, if you would like an ASL interpreter, please let us know 3 weeks ahead of the event date so we have sufficient time to secure the services.  

Learning Objectives: Summarize the clinical significance of new information regarding increasing diversity, equity and access within the early psychosis workforce. Assess factors that have led to structural inequities and lack of access to care. Apply new developments in providing youth-led outreach and community education about early psychosis.   Presenters: S. Kwame Dance PSYD, M. Friedman-Yakoobian Ph.D., TaKaya McFarland , & Vera Muñiz-Suarré This webinar will be presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Mental Health Center GrandRounds series. If you would like accommodations to participate in any of our events, please contact us at [email protected] ahead of the event date. For example, if you would like an ASL interpreter, please let us know 3 weeks ahead of the event date so we have sufficient time to secure the services.

The Person-Centered Recovery Planning (PCRP) Consultation Corner is a 6-month learning series featuring a monthly webinar on the “FAQs” of PCRP; offering practical tools and resources to support quality PCRP at the level of both individual service delivery and organizational systems change; and providing follow-up “office hours” through smaller-group technical assistance for webinar participants who wish to take a “deeper dive” on a given topic. The topic of webinar session 3 was "Peer Specialist Roles in PCRP-Aligning with Peer Ethics & Values." We know that in person-centered recovery planning (PCRP), the person receiving services makes decisions and takes ownership of their plan for recovery. This can be a new and uncomfortable role for people initially, for a variety of reasons. Peer supporters join with individuals to discover and advocate for what they want and need. This does not mean that the peer provider will always agree with people’s choices — however, it’s ALWAYS their ethical responsibility to support individuals in their unique recovery journey as that individual defines it. This 90-min webinar highlighted the mutually beneficial relationship between PCRP and peer support, as well as how staff at clinical provider organizations can intentionally enhance this connection. Participants were invited to explore tensions that arise when peer professionals work to maintain their never-directive, non-clinical stance while immersed in an environment that is heavily defined by clinical professionals, processes and services.   At the end of the session, participants were able to: Describe a “must do” and a “must not do” related to the role of peer support in PCRP, Name one way that professional peer support ethics supports a person-centered approach, and Identify two resources to support and promote peer provider role clarity in PCRP.   Presenters: Janis Tondora, Amy Pierce, and Amanda Bowman Janis Tondora, Psy.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.  Her work involves supporting the implementation of person-centered practices that help people with behavioral health concerns and other disabilities to get more control over decisions about their services so they can live a good life as they define it. She has provided training and consultation to over 25 states seeking to implement Person-Centered Recovery Planning and has shared her work with the field in dozens of publications, including her 2014 book, Partnering for Recovery in Mental Health: A Practical Guide to Person-Centered Planning. Janis’ consultation and publications have been widely used by both public and private service systems to advance the implementation of recovery-oriented practices in the U.S. and abroad. She is a life-long resident of Connecticut where she lives with her husband and beloved labradoodles after recently becoming an empty-nester with two children in college.   Amy Pierce (she/her) is an international trainer and consultant has been working in the Peer Movement in the State of Texas for over two decades. She currently serves as Recovery Institute Associate Director at Via Hope by serving as a subject matter expert on the implementation of peer services and other recovery-oriented practices. She has extensive experience in the peer support sector, having started the first peer support program in the state hospitals in Texas, working as a peer support worker in a community mental health agency, and working as the Program Coordinator for a transitional peer residential housing project.   This series is co-sponsored by the New England and South Southwest MHTTCs.  

The Massachusetts Psychosis Network for Early Treatment (MAPNET) and the New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) host a virtual monthly “Early Psychosis Prescriber Consultation Series” led by Dr. Matcheri Keshavan on prescribing practices for early psychosis, including a review of a selected monthly topic. Our May topic was “Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics (LAIs)." ​​Dr. Keshavan is Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, as well as Academic Head of the department. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Schizophrenia Research (Elsevier) and serves on the editorial board for journals such as Early Intervention in Psychiatry and Asian Journal of Psychiatry. His main areas of research include the neurodevelopmental basis of schizophrenia, neuroimaging, and early intervention. He has an active clinical practice.

Springfield College MSW students hosted a virtual discussion about Social Emotional Learning (SEL.) There was also an opportunity for Q&A.   Presenter: Dr. Jean Conway is a graduate of Northeastern University (BS in Psychology), Boston College (MSW), and Concordia University (MS Ed). Jean brings over three decades of dedicated service as a social worker within the Worcester Public School system, demonstrating her strong commitment to supporting student social and emotional well-being.   This event was co-sponsored by Springfield College.