The 2017 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Virtual Behavioral Health Workforce Development Conference, “Lessons from the Field: Innovations in Behavioral Health Workforce Education, Training, and Development,” will be held online from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday.
Joe Evans, Ph.D., clinical director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN), and Holly Roberts, Ph.D., of the Munroe Meyer Institute (MMI), were selected from over 250 grantee applicants to present MMI’s Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care program.
“We are probably one of the initial pioneers of integrated behavioral health in the rural areas of the country, and we now have 42 clinics in the program,” said Dr. Evans. “Providing a behavioral health professional onsite in a primary care clinic can help reduce stigma and improve outcomes of care. In our rural clinics, families can receive all of their care under one roof and no longer have to drive in some cases hundreds of miles for mental health care.”
In collaboration with BHECN, Dr. Evans and Dr. Roberts have coordinated 45 student trainees this year to provide care across the state. Students are completing supervised training in counseling, psychology, social work, and marriage and family therapy.
Registration is still open for the free conference, which is geared to practitioners, students or trainees interested in behavioral health workforce education, and training.