WICHE applied for and received CMHS funding for the development of a “virtual” Grand Rounds series, conducted via electronic web casts, to provide rural and frontier mental health professionals with access to training on key topics emergent in mental health practice today. The web cast format not only provides for real-time and asynchronous training opportunities for rural/frontier staff, but creates over time an archive of training material for the field. Participation will also qualify for the provision of CME and CEU hours. (Please note: CME/CEU hours are available up to 1 year after the web cast is broadcast.)

The WICHE Mental Health Program uses the Elluminate Live! java application for delivering web casts. Elluminate is a leading provider of live web conferencing and eLearning. This format ensures the best user experience through superior quality communications that are in-sync regardless of connection speed, broad cross-platform support, and advanced yet easy-to-use moderator tools. Elluminate’s design creates a rich, collaborative environment for live remote training. ALL participants have the same experience—including people with disabilities and those in remote, rural areas.

Over the first three years of the series, the WICHE Mental Health Program developed 22 mental health training sessions on key topics identified by CMHS and the WICHE mental health program. At the end of year three, the WICHE Mental Health Program submitted a Promising Practices Report that identified promising rural practices -- including mental health promotion, prevention of mental illness and substance abuse, and treatment practices, across the lifespan. The report included a description of the practice, the target population, challenges to implementation, strategies for meeting those challenges, and lessons learned.

All presentations are approximately 90 minutes in length, and archived on the WICHE web site enabling those unable to view the live broadcast to view the training sessions at any time afterward. There will be no cost to the training consumer for viewing the web cast live or asynchronously, and minimal costs for those wishing to obtain CD formats.

Screening for Depression and Suicide: What Rural Health and Behavioral Health Practioners Need to Know

by Dr. Christa Smith Psy.D
Thursday, October 2nd
12:00 noon (Mountain Time); 11:00 a.m. (Pacific); 1:00 p.m. (Central); 2:00 p.m. (Eastern)

The webcast will begin with a discussion of the rational behind screening for depression and suicide.  This will be followed by key background information on depression and suicide.  The presenter will talk about who should be screened, how to conduct screening (including some screening tool options), and treatment options for those who screen positive.  There will be a list of resources at the end of the talk and (hopefully) time for questions.

Objectives:
1) Participants will know who to screen for depression and suicide.
2) Participants will know how to screen for depression and suicide.
3) Participants will increase their knowledge about depression and suicide as well as treatment options for patients who screen positive.

Powerpoint presentation.

Click here to take the survey after viewing this web cast live or asynchronously.

Dr. Smith is a health psychologist and post-doctoral fellow at the WICHE Mental Health Program.  At WICHE she has been focusing on rural physician education and rural suicide prevention.  She has spent the past five years practicing clinical health psychology in both inpatient and outpatient settings, with an emphasis on primary care.  She has served as an educator and consultant to physicians and multidisciplinary medical staff and has provided psychotherapy for people with a wide range of acute and chronic medical issues.  Her special interests include the study of well-being and happiness, mindfulness meditation, and stress management.  She attended the University of Denver Graduate School of Professional Psychology and completed her internship at the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center, receiving her doctorate in August of 2007.   

In her spare time she loves to hike and backpack, especially in the Utah desert.  Her other love is food, cooking, eating, reading about food, talking about food, etc., which happens to go well with loving exercise.

PLEASE NOTE, YOU WILL NEED A JAVA APPLICATION to view this web cast live or asynchronously. It is highly recommended you go through the downloads prior to the start of the session.

Download this application ahead of time, at http://www.elluminate.com/support, click on "Get the Latest Software" link, and then follow the instructions for this specific web cast below.

After you have downloaded the java application you can click on the following link (or cut and paste into your browser)https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=203&password=M.F9653B8EA42B00606E0D88B5C0849D to join the web cast approximately 10-20 minutes before the scheduled time. (enter your name when prompted for username.) Please note, there is a 50-seat limit for the live web cast.

To add this Elluminate Live! session to your calendar, please click the following link: https://sas.elluminate.com/mvc?sid=203&miuid=55F47CB82E88C99D1856A46F1D463785

If you are having problems downloading this software, you can go to Elluminate Live!`s FAQ site http://www.elluminate.com/support/faqs/, or the troubleshooting wizard on their support page at http://www.elluminate.com/support/

ARCHIVED RURAL MENTAL HEALTH GRAND ROUNDS WEBCASTS

If you are interested in obtaining one or more web casts on CD format, please email Jenny Shaw (jshaw@wiche.edu).