Numerous local, state, and national organizations offer ongoing educational opportunities throughout the year focused on a variety of topics and issues related to mental health. The following organizations provide free teleconferences or webinars that may be helpful to you.

2009 Ticket to Work Mental Health Summit Materials

In November 2009, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Employment Support Programs (OESP), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) hosted the first-ever 2009 Ticket to Work Mental Health Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Summit provided an excellent venue for 300 diverse mental and behavioral health decision makers to engage in enlightening presentations, networking experiences, and the unprecedented opportunity to learn how the Ticket to Work program can help people with a severe mental illness with recovery through work.

The archived Summit website holds presentation materials and Power Point slides, speaker biographies, links to archived keynote speaker Webcasts, and other helpful resources. Click here to access the archived materials.

The Role of Braided Funding in Mental Health Programs Archived Teleconference

On February 18, 2010, a Ticket to Work Teleconference was held for mental health organizations currently participating in the Ticket to Work program as well as those interested in learning more about the role of braided funding in successful program implementation. CMS addressed concerns about “double dipping” and clarified the relationship between Ticket and Medicaid Funding and David Bucciferro and Steven Reeder provided participants with examples of successful braided funding strategies currently at work in New York and Maryland, respectively.

Click here to access the archived teleconference audio file and transcript.

Service Use by At-Risk Youth After School-Based Suicide Screening

Columbia University Professor and youth suicide expert Dr. Madelyn Gould reviews the latest research on teen mental health screenings and answers questions on suicide prevention, how stigma affects willingness to get care, and perceptions of parents and teens about mental health treatment.

To listen to the Webinar and view or download the Webinar slides, please visit http://www.teenscreen.org/webinar-service-use-after-screening.

23rd Annual Children’s Mental Health Research and Policy Conference

The session presentation handouts from the 23rd Annual Children’s Mental Health Research & Policy Conference are now available online. Click here to access the agenda and presentations.

Shared Decision Making in Mental Health

An archive of the January 21, 2010 Webinar, Shared Decision Making in Mental Health: Panel on Consumer Perspectives and Experiences, is now available on the SAMHSA Shared Decision Making website at http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/consumersurvivor/shared.asp.

Shared decision-making is an interactive and collaborative process between individuals and their heath care providers that is used to make health care decisions pertinent to an individual’s personal recovery. This approach is consistent with the values of choice, self-determination, and empowerment and provides a means of enhancing consumer involvement in mental health care which has recognized benefits for positive treatment outcomes.

Podcasts Available on Mental Health Self-Determination

The SAMHSA and NIDRR-funded UIC National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability have posted a series of podcasts and slides from their 2009 Summit on Self-Determination: The Fierce Urgency of Now. A range of leading national experts present on topics such as: self-directed care, eliminating disparities, microenterprises, asset building, WRAP, peer specialists, and many more.

Click here to listen or download this series.

National Institute of Health Care Management Foundation Webinars

The National Institute of Health Care Management Foundation offers various webinars throughout the year focused on a variety of topics.

Their most recent presentations are titled “Improving Early Identification and Treatment of Adolescent Depression: Considerations and Strategies for Health Plans” and “Pediatric Mental Health Care: Strategies to Integrate Early Identification and Treatment into Primary Care”.

Click here to access these and other education webinars sponsored by NIHCM Foundation.

SAMHSA’s Resource Center to Promote Acceptance, Dignity, and Social Inclusion Associated with Mental Health (ADS Center)

Each year, the SAMHSA ADS Center conducts approximately six training teleconferences that are free of charge and open to the general public. These educational events are designed to help participants enhance mental health consumer independence and community participation by relating the most up-to-date research and information about stigma and stigma-reduction programs within the United States and beyond.

In addition to featuring two or more formal presentations on stigma and stigma-related topics, each teleconference includes a thirty-minute open forum. The open forum period offers an opportunity for all participants to ask questions and share their experiences and expertise on efforts to counteract discrimination and stigma associated with mental illness.

All SAMHSA ADS Center training teleconferences are conducted via telephone. Accompanying presentation materials are made available through the SAMHSA ADS Center website.

National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health

The National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health provides monthly conference calls addressing topics including:

• New Directions: Implementing A Public Health Approach to Mental Health
• Providing Early Childhood Mental Health Services that Meet the Needs of Young Children and Their Caregivers: Building the Evidence Base
• Cultural and Linguistic Competence Primer
• The Validation of Family Involvement at the Policy, Planning, and Service Levels
• A Public Health Approach to Intervention: A New Framework for Strengthening Children’ Mental Health and Well-Being
• Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Child Serving Systems
• Partnership Based Leadership: Anchoring Challenges in the Common Vision

Visit their website for additional call information or to download playback of previous calls.

Webinar on Systems Advocacy

In a presentation entitled “Systems Advocacy: What It Is and How to Do It,” Joseph Rogers, Executive Director of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse, discusses grassroots organizing tactics and provides information about goal-setting, creating an advocacy plan, negotiation skills, and strategy development, including “do’s and don’ts.” The presentation also offers nuts-and-bolts information about effective advocacy letter-writing, phone calls to policy makers and their staffs, and how to handle face-to-face meetings.

Because the basis of systems advocacy is self-advocacy, a co-presenter who has been trained in self-advocacy skills offers information about how she has put these skills into practice in her own work and life.

Click here to access an archived copy of the webinar.

Preventing Youth Suicide in Rural America: Recommendations to States

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), in partnership with the State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association (STIPDA), recently released a report entitled Preventing Youth Suicide in Rural America: Recommendations to States. This webinar highlights recommendations from the report that approach youth suicide prevention through the lens of America’s rural communities and details the strengths and limitations of rural settings that should be considered when designing and implementing more effective prevention strategies. Featured presenters include:

• Anara Guard, Deputy Director, Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC);
• Dennis Mohatt, Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program; and
• Mark LoMurray, Project Director, North Dakota Adolescent Suicide Prevention Project

Click here to access a recording of the presentation.