Category: Mental Health

Question, Persuade, and Refer: Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention

Course Objective

  • Define the scope and scale of suicide as a public health issue in the US
  • Describe the warning signs common to someone experiencing thoughts of suicide
  • List practical steps they can take if they have encountered someone experiencing current thoughts of suicide

Date: November 1st, 2022

Presenter:
Garra Lloyd-Lester
Coordinator of Community and Coalition Initiatives
Suicide Prevention Center of New York


In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Garra Lloyd-Lester presents on training for suicide prevention. He begins by describing the scope and scale of suicide in the US. He then explains sensitive and trauma-informed language, how to invite people to talk about suicide, and suicide clues and warning signs. Finally, Lloyd-Lester explains the Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) method for suicide prevention.

Participants will learn about the following:

  1. Define the scope and scale of suicide as a public health issue in the US
  2. Describe the warning signs common to someone experiencing thoughts of suicide
  3. List practical steps they can take if they have encountered someone experiencing current thoughts of suicide
School of Hard Knocks: The Impact of the Pandemic on School Children and Their Families

Course Objective

  • Identify forces currently at play which are impacting child well-being
  • Explain how workforce pressures factor into access to mental health services
  • Describe what can be done to help support schools, children, and families

Date: December 7th, 2021

Presenter:
Donna M. Bradbury & Bonnie Catlin
NYS Office of Mental Health
Office of Prevention & Health Initiatives


In this month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, Donna M. Bradbury, MA, LMHC, and Bonnie Catlin, LCSW, discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted school-aged children, their families, and how the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) has mounted a response. They begin by providing epidemiological context to the current mental health crisis, including risk factors and changes in prevalence, as well as the OMH’s response to address the disportionate impact on underserved populations. They summarize the strengths and limitations of OMH’s shift to telehealth, such as barriers to access, caregiver involvement, provider responsiveness, and privacy concerns. With new federal resources to expand access, they go over response efforts, such as Project Hope and a 56% increase in number of OMH clinic satellites, as well as prevention programs, such as Healthy Steps, Project TEACH, the NYS trauma-informed network, and restorative practices. They wrap up by presenting the systems of care framework and answering questions from webinar attendees.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Identify forces currently at play which are impacting child well-being
  2. Explain how workforce pressures factor into access to mental health services
  3. Describe what can be done to help support schools, children, and families
Redefining Resilience in the Post-COVID Era

Course Objective

  • Discuss how COVID 19 has exacerbated disparities within health departments.
  • Describe how to utilize trauma informed principles to shift internal policies and procedures to support resiliency amongst staff.
  • Identify the stages of trauma resilience and implementation into policies.
  • Explain the importance of viewing staff as whole people within an equity and resilience framework.

Date: August 3rd, 2021

Presenter:
Mateo Belen, MSW
Trainer and Principle Consultant
A Mateo Consulting


In this month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, Mateo Belen, MSW, discusses how organizations can shift internal policies and procedures to support resilience amongst staff in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. He begins by introducing us to basic trauma informed principles and explains the need to consider impacts based on race and gender. Belen highlights the need to acknowledge racism as a public health crisis and the importance of recognizing its effects amongst our employees in addition to the communities we serve. He then spends time talking about how resilience can be seen as a coping mechanism and how it can be fostered by organizations. He shares effective strategies that can be incorporated into work structures in order to support resilience and provide adequate backing to employees in times of crisis.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Discuss how COVID 19 has exacerbated disparities within health departments.
  2. Describe how to utilize trauma informed principles to shift internal policies and procedures to support resiliency amongst staff.
  3. Identify the stages of trauma resilience and implementation into policies.
  4. Explain the importance of viewing staff as whole people within an equity and resilience framework.
Understanding Depression Differences through a Dynamic Framework of Gender
Therapy Session

Course Objective

  • To define the “gender gap” in depression
  • To identify the hypothesized biological reasons for the “gender gap” in depression
  • To identify the hypothesized social and environmental reasons for the “gender gap” in depression
  • To explain the differences in how depression manifests in males vs. females
  • To describe the research that refutes common objections to the “gender gap” in depression
  • To describe the dynamic perspectives of gender

Date: July 11, 2017

Presenter:
Jonathan Platt, MPH, MPhil
Psychiatric Epidemiology Fellow
Columbia University Department of Epidemiology


Currently, the literature indicates that women are much more likely than men to be diagnosed with depression. While there have been some who try to attribute this difference to various research flaws, there is good evidence to refute these rebuttals and there do in fact appear to be gender differences in mental health. In this webinar, Jonathan Platt, MPH, MPhil, discusses the epidemiology of depression and the various hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the “gender gap.” These include issues of genes and hormones, social stress, epigenetics, and others. He describes the dynamic perspectives of gender and the importance of intersectionality in research design and program planning.

Public Health and Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Webinar Series, Part IV: Transformation of New York Mental Health System to A Medicaid Managed Care Model
Paper Cut Out

Course Objective

  • Describe the role of managed care and behavioral health integration for addressing the needs of individuals with mental health challenges.
  • Identify critical elements for health plan engagement with mental health services in Managed Care.
  • Explain Health and Recovery Plans (HARP Services) in Medicaid Managed Care and how community work force can work to integrate HARP Services into health care.

Date: September 22, 2016

Presenter:
Glenn Liebman
CEO
Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.


In this webinar, Glenn Liebman of the Mental Health Association in New York State discusses the transformation of the New York State mental health system into a Medicaid managed care model. Mr. Liebman provides a historical context for the reform, describes the changes that will occur to funding streams as a result of the reform, and implications of these changes.

Public Health and Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Webinar Series, Part III: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Research and Implications, an Interview
Young Girl Holding Stuffed Animal

Course Objective

  • Discuss the research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
  • Explain possible consequences of ACEs and implications for policies, programs, and treatment.
  • Describe examples of ACE Response collaboratives.

Date: August 4, 2016

Presenter:
Deborah Faust
Director of Family Wellness & Suicide Prevention, Co-Director of Building Connections
Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.

Heather Larkin, PhD
Associate Professor
School of Social Welfare, University of Albany (SUNY)


Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are experiences while growing up that deeply impact a young person and profoundly affect emotional and physical health later in life. This webinar discusses what ACE research can yield in terms of breaking intergenerational cycles and how findings can be used as advocacy tools. Dr. Larkin discusses the ACE study, a groundbreaking research program that explored connections between specifically defined ACEs and the later development of health-risk behaviors, and her own current research and findings related to ACE. ACEs are implicated in the ten leading causes of death in the United States so understanding their mechanisms of action is essential in prevention and health promotion.

Public Health and Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Webinar Series, Part II: Family Engagement Tools to Help Support Individuals with Behavioral Health Needs
Family Smiling

Course Objective

  • Describe the foundation for successfully engaging the individual’s family or identified supporters and arming them with accurate information on mental health and illness.
  • Outline barriers that so many individuals and their families face in accessing services and why those barriers contribute to police involvement, hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
  • Examine wellness tools and resources for individuals and their identified supporters for achieving and maintaining wellness with the understanding that mental health education is the foundation for illness recognition and engaging treatment options.

Date: May 11, 2016

Presenter:
Deborah Faust
Director of Family Wellness & Suicide Prevention, Co-Director of Building Connections
Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.


Family engagement is a family-centered and strengths-based approach to partnering with families in making decisions, setting goals, and achieving desired outcomes. This webinar discusses family engagement during mental health challenges in order to explore how providers and health professionals can partner with patients and their families to find solutions and treatment plans. Specifically, it looks at how educating families on mental health and illness can be preventative, barriers that can impeded individuals and families from engaging with help and support, and defines whole family health as vital for supporting patient’s efforts to obtain and maintain well-being. This webinar also reviews several education strategies and tools that can be used to increase family engagement and patient wellness.

Public Health and Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Webinar Series, Part I: Public Health Approaches to Mental Health Literacy
Man and Woman Talking

Course Objective

  • Describe a public health approach to address the primary barriers (such as lack of knowledge and stigma) to mental health and treatment for individuals who experience mental health challenges or illness.
  • List resources and tools to increase mental health literacy.

Date: April 20, 2016

Presenter:
John Richter, MPA
Public Policy Director
Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.


Mental illness, including emotional and behavioral disorders, presents us with an enormous challenge in our present day. In particular, the impact of untreated mental illness can have deleterious effects on those individuals, their families, and communities. This webinar presents the current problem of mental illness and the delay and failure to get treatment or maintain recovery, the resulting damage this can cause, the barriers people experience to getting help, how public health can address these issues, and ways to foster mental health literacy. The webinar provides an overview on several trainings including: Mental Health First Aid, a first-responder style training that can provide public health professionals with the skills and knowledge to navigate mental health emergency contexts, and safeTALK, a suicide prevention training that teaches people how to become a suicide-alert helper. It also reviews educational curriculum that can be implemented to improve mental health among students.

Region 2 Public Health Training Center