This 12-week learning collaborative focuses on training the clinician to use the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and the Role Functioning Scale (RFS) as structured assessment tools to improve the quality of care for patients with serious mental illness. Clinicians will gain the expertise needed to administer the BPRS to assess symptoms by rating actual BPRS patient interviews and discussing their ratings in comparison to the “gold standard” consensus ratings. Participants will learn to use the RFS to assess daily functioning and use both symptom ratings and assessments of functioning as part of an evidence-based treatment approach for improving patient outcomes. Special attention will be placed on how to conduct these assessments remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this course will help clinicians to develop and implement a Measurement-Based Care (MBC) model that can be incorporated into an agency’s clinical flow through the use of a data tracking system, be useful to multiple clinical disciplines, and help improve short-term and long-term patient outcomes. Course content will be provided that addresses the importance of equity and diversity in conducting symptom and functional assessments and in the delivery of MBC. Research will be presented regarding racial disparities in symptom severity, assessment of functioning, and treatment outcomes. By the end of this course, enrolled clinicians will have learned how to use two structured assessments in treatment planning and how to address barriers to the routine use of these objective measurements in a MBC approach to improve mental health care decisions.

Speaker: Joseph Ventura, PhD

The goal of this course is to develop a step–by–step plan for bringing peer support into an existing behavioral health agency or practice, in a manner that enhances services.  This 12-week learning collaborative is intended to help you develop a step-by-step plan for bringing peer support into an existing behavioral health agency or practice, in a manner that enhances services.  

Speakers: Patrick Hendry; Dawniell Zavala; Andrea Cook

This 12-week learning collaborative will serve as a virtual community for participants to gain knowledge of evidence-based models of care and receive support and feedback on how to implement those models to effectively improve physical outcomes in patients with Serious Mental Illnesses (SMI).    

Speaker: Ben Druss, MD

This 12-week learning collaborative will serve as a virtual community for participants to gain knowledge of evidence-based monitoring parameters for efficacy and side effects for patients with serious mental illness (SMI) prescribed clozapine. 

Speakers: Rob Cotes, MD; Joseph Ventura, PhD

This 12-week virtual learning collaborative will introduce participants to telehealth with a focus on starting out, especially around the context of how to continue use assuming face-to-face visits may soon be more feasible.

Speakers: John Torous, MD; Sherin Khan, LCSW

This 12-week virtual learning collaborative will focus on increasing use of LAIs to serve the needs of patients with serious mental illness.  LAIs are associated with decreased risks of relapse, improvements in symptoms, functioning, and patient satisfaction.   

Speaker: Rob Cotes, MD

Addresses how to measure and maintain quality in peer services through the development and implementation of quality improvement standards. Each participant will design a behavioral health project using peer support services and develop fidelity and outcome measures for the peer support component.   

Speakers: Patrick Hendry; Lisa-Sun Gresham; Eric Henriquez

To increase appropriate use of clozapine, this 12-week virtual learning collaborative will focus on increasing use of clozapine to serve the needs of patients with serious mental illness. Clozapine can be very rewarding to prescribe, since about half of patients with prior poor treatment response get substantially better with clozapine. This medication can result in major improvements in patients’ functioning and quality of life.  

Speaker: Rob Cotes, MD

This 12-week virtual learning collaborative is designed to give participants advanced skills and knowledge to develop and implement comprehensive psychiatric mental health nursing assessments in a variety of health care and community settings.  Content will include a review of psychiatric diagnoses and symptoms along with comorbid medical conditions and complications of patients with serious mental illnesses. Discussion of assessment and monitoring strategies for medical and psychiatric diagnoses will enhance the understanding and skills of participants.  The applied skills and knowledge obtained in this course will provide a basis for establishing effective care that will identify and address a variety of health care problems and risks encountered in patients with serious mental illnesses and support patients in recovery.  

Speaker: Donna Rolin, PhD, APRN

This 12-week learning collaborative will help SMI clinicians use telehealth in more safely and efficiently and improve care outcomes through offering new aspects of remote monitoring and interventions. 

Speaker: John Torous, MD; Sherin Khan, LCSW

Approximately 37% of the U.S. population and 42% of veterans own a firearm. With recent mass shootings at schools and workplaces, important questions have been raised about how to curb these seemingly senseless shootings. In contrast to beliefs that persons with SMI play a significant role in gun violence, individuals with SMI account for less than 5% of all violence in the United States and only very small proportion of violence committed with a firearm. Persons with SMI are more likely to commit suicide with a gun as opposed to committing a homicide. In this webinar, the instructors review the relevant literature on firearms and mental illness as well as how to appropriately screen persons with SMI for a potential firearm-related risk of harm to them self or someone else. Important elements of care related to gun risk assessments in persons with SMI are highlighted. Specific information is provided about risk-based gun removal laws and in requests by patients to have their right to have firearms returned once removed.

Presenters: Deb Pinals, MD; Charles Scott, MD

For complete details visit: https://education.smiadviser.org/diweb/catalog/item?id=6510045

Depression is common among the elderly but is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. At the same time, there is an inappropriate use of antidepressants within the same elderly population. Inappropriate prescribing of antidepressants can increase the risk for poor outcomes offsetting any benefit to their use. Unfortunately, clinical trials of the use of antidepressants in the elderly are underrepresented with confusing outcomes on the long-term effects. The emergence and/or treatment of dementia associated with elders’ antidepressant treatment is central to providing care. This program examines the myths, traditional practices, and evidence on the use of all antidepressants prescribed to the elderly. This program reviews the evidence drawn from systematic reviews and the evidence-based practice standards. Included is a review of dosing, adverse events, and preventative best practices on the use of all antidepressants being given to those over age 65.

Presenter: Michael Rice, PhD, APRN, FAAN

For complete details visit: https://education.smiadviser.org/diweb/catalog/item?id=6513209

This webinar will explore the early psychosis literature, lived experience, and professional observation of the diversity of hallucinatory experiences in early psychosis work. We will look at qualities to hallucinations as they relate to non-psychotic and psychotic experiences and ultimately diagnostic labels with treatment recommendations.

Presenter: Ryan Melton, PhD

For complete details visit: https://med.stanford.edu/peppnet/education/upcoming-webinars.html

The APNA Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute (CPI) delivers psychopharmacology updates to professionals looking to provide the best possible care to their patients. CPI prioritizes the integration of psychopharmacology and neuroscience into clinical practice. It offers the scientific base for treatment decisions and addresses the context of care within the nurse/consumer/family relationship.

Join NASW for another year of exceptional virtual education. More than 2,000 social workers, like-minded professionals, and social work thought leaders attend the NASW National Conference for unparalleled opportunities in professional development, continuing education, networking, and thought-provoking conversations tackling the most pressing issues facing the social work profession across the world.

For complete details visit: https://naswvirtual.socialworkers.org/nasw-national2021

NAMI is pleased to present NAMICon 2021, our annual national convention, virtually July 27-28, 2021. Anyone interested in and impacted by mental health should attend this event dedicated to uplifting, empowering and informing communities with resources, research, support and programming.

For complete details visit: https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Attend-the-NAMI-National-Convention