Join us for our fall conference!

Behavioral Health: Integration, Collaboration, and Advocacy

 September 9 and 10, 2019

Cornhusker Marriott Hotel - Lincoln, NE 

 Register today by following this link to the Registration Form.

 Presenters please fill out this Questionnaire related to your technology needs.

AGENDA FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

8:15 a.m. Welcome

8:30-9:45 a.m. General Session

• Elite Team Dynamics – High Performance Mental Skills
  Dr. Widman, Performance Mountain
  Elite team dynamics-focus is on what great teams-business, sport or otherwise do better than others, and what are the characteristics of high performing teams. The session will also delve into some of the key ingredients of a successful leader of a team.

9:45-10:00 a.m. Break

10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Break-Out Sessions

• How Physical and Emotional Trauma Affects the Brain
  Dr. Matthew Garlinghouse, PhD
  The brain can experience lasting change because of physical and emotional trauma. This trauma impacts brain development, memory, learning, attachment, physical and mental health, and social skills. The presenter will explain the unique needs of individuals with a brain injury and how an injury impacts mental health and substance use disorders.
• Creating an Environment for Change – Motivational Interviewing
  Kate Speck, PhD MAC LADC, Senior Research Manager, UNL Public Policy Center
  This session will support and strengthen the clinical skills of behavioral health practitioners in the use of Motivational Interviewing for clients experiencing mental illness and substance use disorders. The workshop will focus on change talk and responding to sustain talk in behavioral health settings. You will be able to differentiate appropriate strategies to address sustain talk; identify strategic interventions to reduce ambivalence to change; integrate engagement, focusing, evoking, and planning with counseling skills; and identify the efficacy of Motivational Interviewing strategies in working with mental health and substance use disorder clients.
• Useful Tool or Unavoidable Habit – Social Media and Youth Mental Health
  Dr. Beth Doll
  Social Media is an integral part of adolescents’ daily lives. This presentation will look at evidence from the past two decades of social media research to describe the benefits and disadvantages of social media on youth mental health. The session will examine ways that social media can diminish mental health and prompt substance abuse. It will also examine effective strategies for using social media to support SUD and mental health treatment.

12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch and Senator Panel

• Overview of 2019/2020 Sessions
  Senators Kate Bolz, Sue Crawford, Sarah Howard, Adam Morfeld, & Lynn Walz.

1:45-3:15 p.m. Break-Out Sessions

• Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors: Postvention as Prevention
  Dave Miers, PhD, LIPC; Julia Hebenstreit, JD, The KIM Foundation; & Terri Marti, Coordinator, Lincoln/Lancaster County LOSS Team
  Across the US, 1 in 3 suicides involves alcohol, and an adult alcoholic is 120 times more likely to die by suicide. A panel of LOSS Team members along with Dr. Miers will present information about the benefits of LOSS Team members and a Mental Health Professional meeting with families who have experienced the loss of a family member to suicide. You will be able to identify the collective benefits of active postvention for the community and law enforcement and appreciate the emotional benefits of getter help sooner rather than later. Attendees will also understand the process for activating the LOSS Team and the resources deployed to survivors, recognize the role of the Mental Health Professional as part of the LOSS Team in interaction with team members and the family while helping with resource deployment, and become familiar the debriefing process with the clinical director following the call-out and follow up process with the family.
• Ethics in Integrations
  Susan Meyerle, PhD, LMHP, CEAP, CLFE
  The session begins with an overview of licensure portability for counselors and the plans which professional organizations have proposed. A discussion of counselor identity is included, along with a brief discussion of how the counseling professional is similar yet different from other behavioral health professions.  Areas of focus will include the scope of practice for counselors, the art of diagnosing, and the role of behavior analysts. The session will review how a counselor determines their own self-competence.  An area of specific focus is in the growing field of technology, from recommending apps to providing teletherapy.  Counselors will be encouraged to engage in professional networking, mentoring, and supervisory relationships in order to develop, sustain, and enhance their therapeutic skills. There will be a review of client-counselor boundaries particularly including the mandate of no sexual contact with clients. The session will also review the client’s fiscal obligations. Adequate recordkeeping and appropriate billing protocols will be addressed. Moreover, the session will look at the area of the internet and the counselor.  While Codes of Ethics are clear about social media (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and others), professionals continue to find themselves faced with the challenges of Google, Yelp, and Healthgrades, to name a few. The session will conclude with a discussion of the counselor’s ability to bracket their values and a challenge to each counselor to develop a personalized professional ethics plan.
• MAT and Project ECHO
  Dr. John Massey, MD, Bryan Medical Center

3:15-3:30 p.m. Break

3:30 – 4:45 p.m. General Session

• Federal Policy Update
  Tom Hill, The National Council 

5:00 p.m. Reception and Awards Ceremony

AGENDA FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

8:30 a.m. Welcome

8:45 – 10:15 a.m. General Session

• Evaluation of an Integrated Mental Health/Physical Health Program
  Mark Dekraai, Senior Research Director, UNL Policy Research Center
  Individuals with serious mental illness or substance use issues generally have more serious physical health problems than the general population; yet this population has difficulty accessing appropriate medical care through the traditional health care system. Lutheran Family Services and People’s Health Center have developed the Health 360 program, a new integrated approach which provides behavioral health and physical health care in one setting. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has funded an evaluation of this unique program to determine how integration relates to service access, quality of care and outcomes related to behavioral and physical health. This session will discuss the results of the study.

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break

10:30-11:45 p.m. General Session

• Heal the Patient, not the Symptoms
  Dr. Michael Israel, MD, Bluestem Health   
  Through his presentation he will discuss the importance of caring for the entirety of a patient, including the social determinants of health.  It is important to understand the correlation between integrated care and improved health outcomes and the different ways to integrate care. These aspects are especially important when treating those with mental illness and/or substance use disorders.

Many thanks to our sponsors and to Pinnacle Bank!