BHECN Southwest

The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) has launched its Southwest Site in North Platte.

The Southwest Site will allow BHECN to build on its existing partnerships in the region – particularly with Great Plains Health – and create new collaborations to address key regional workforce issues, said Marley Doyle, MD, Director of BHECN.

“BHECN and Great Plains Health have worked together over the past decade to offer training and educational opportunities and behavioral health,” Dr. Doyle said. “We are excited to formalize this partnership and expand these opportunities throughout the region.”

Because the region has no four-year higher education institutions, BHECN Southwest Co-Director Jody Tomanek, PhD, said a key area of emphasis for the new site will be to create and strengthen pipelines for high school and community college students into behavioral health programs at Nebraska colleges and universities.

“Like most of the state, our region faces a significant shortage of behavioral health providers,” said Dr. Tomanek, who also is Vice President of Academic Affairs at Mid-Plains Community College. “Our ultimate goal will be to have these students return to southwest Nebraska to practice to help alleviate our workforce shortage.”

A key part of this effort will be working with high school and community college students in the area to help “paint a picture of what pathway toward a career in mental health would look like for them,” said Natalia Acosta Canchila, PhD, Co-Director of BHECN Southwest, who also treats patients at Great Plains Health.

Another key focus for BHECN Southwest will be to grow relationships with providers in the region to see what needs they have and how BHECN can help address them, Dr. Acosta Canchila said.

The Southwest Site is BHECN’s fifth site, joining:

• BHECN Central, which launched at the University of Nebraska Kearney in 2015;
• BHECN Panhandle, which started at Chadron State College in 2019;
• BHECN Northeast, which launched at Wayne State College in 2023; and
• BHECN East, which started at the University of Nebraska Omaha earlier this year.

The BHECN Southwest site is currently operational. A formal opening event will be held Thursday, Dec. 5 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. MDT at Great Plains Health in North Platte.

BHECN plans to open one additional site in southeast Nebraska soon, Dr. Doyle said, which will give BHECN representation in all six of the state’s behavioral health regions.

“We live in a diverse state and the behavioral health workforce needs vary depending on where you are,” Dr. Doyle said. “BHECN Southwest and our other sites are powerful resources that help ensure we meet real needs throughout all of Nebraska.”