Provider Update 2.12.2021

Building Hope is looking for ideas from our therapist community on topics that we may want to cover in online zoom Community Conversations over the next 6-12 months. What are topics that are rising to the top with your clients or support groups that you feel would be a beneficial conversation with the larger community? These can be specific to teens, parents, other groups, or they can be general for the greater community. If you have suggestions on topics, presenters, resources, or if you yourself are interested in participating in a Community Conversation on a particular topic please reach out to Carol Craig at Building Hope.

Envision:You provides no-cost virtual telehealth services to support LGBTQ+ individuals with mental health, emotional and substance use issues, and interpersonal relationship concerns that have arisen due to COVID-19.

Additionally, they also provide competency and sensitivity training to therapists: There is a clear need to provide tailored, culturally appropriate, and affirmative interventions to LGBTQ+ individuals. Our Behavioral Health Provider Training program will advance this important objective.

You can view the presentation on YouTube here. This 2-hour presentation focuses on risk management considerations related to the loss of a patient in a mental health practice.  We will discuss general risk management strategies for working with patients at all levels of risk as well as specific strategies for dealing with suicidal patients. Issues of documentation, confidentiality, records requests, and provider self-care in the aftermath of a patient loss will be addressed.

Substance Use Disorder Benefit Expansion
Effective Jan. 1, 2021, Health First Colorado covers residential treatment, inpatient treatment and medical withdrawal management services for substance use disorder (SUD). With these additions, the full continuum of SUD care is covered for Health First Colorado members. For more information about this benefit expansion, including an FAQ and SUD Provider Manual, visit the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing’s SUD Benefits webpage, or email questions to hcpf_sudbenefits@state.co.us.

Please see attached flyer for a MBSR course starting 2/15 to 4/12. This is an 8 week course that meets weekly for 2 hours each week. The course is held virtually and also has a silent retreat component. MBSR is an empirically supported treatment/intervention/practice that has been shown to help people suffering from physical ailments, chronic pain, psychosocial distress, clinical mental health disorders, and various other problems in living. It is appropriate as a primary prevention initiative as well as a secondary and tertiary intervention. MBSR is an excellent adjunct to individual therapy and is also excellent for healthcare providers and those in service professions.

Please see attached flyer for additional details.

RECORDING: Hear NIMH Director’s Innovation Speaker, Dr. Michael Ungar, Discusses Resilience in Children and Adolescents

Using examples from his research and clinical practice, Dr. Ungar explored the nature of young people’s patterns of resilience in contexts where children and adolescents are affected by social marginalization, migration, violence, and mental disorders. In this lecture, Dr. Ungar showed that resilience results from both individual abilities to overcome adversity and the capacity of social and physical ecologies, including mental health providers, to help young people navigate and negotiate their way to the resources they need to build and sustain well-being.

Watch the recording of Dr. Ungar’s presentation or learn more here.