Three national experts with advanced skills in diagnosing and treating children’s behavioral health problems, will conduct a free, three-day workshop April 8-10 in Kearney.
The workshop received an overwhelming response. Thirty-four primary care health professionals, including family medicine physicians, pediatricians, and nurse practitioners from 14 counties, signed up. The training, funded by the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN), is sponsored in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Resource for Advancing Children’s Health (REACH) Institute of New York.
BHECN was established in 2009 by LB 603 to support the recruitment, retention and increased education and training of the behavioral health workforce in Nebraska, as well as provide statewide access to behavioral health providers.
The experts at the Kearney workshop include: Christopher Kratochvil, M.D., UNMC professor of psychiatry and assistant vice chancellor for clinical research; Peter Jensen, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Mayo Clinic and director of the REACH Institute; and Danielle Laraque, M.D., chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
They will provide expertise in assessing and treating depression and other behavioral health problems in children and adolescents. The training also will include six months of periodic clinical case phone conferences.
“We are excited about the overwhelming interest in this workshop,” said Susan Boust, M.D., medical director for BHECN and associate professor in the UNMC Department of Psychiatry. “All but three counties in Nebraska have critical shortages of behavioral health professionals. Primary care providers are the front line of behavioral health care and are seeking more training so they can help Nebraska families and increase the number of highly skilled behavioral health professionals in the state.”
Though the workshop has reached registration capacity, more workshops will be offered in the future.
For more information about BHECN, go to: www.unmc.edu/BHECN.
Through world-class research and patient care, UNMC generates breakthroughs that make life better for people throughout Nebraska and beyond. Its education programs train more health professionals than any other institution in the state. Learn more at unmc.edu.