The advancement of high quality, evidence-based treatments is central to UCEBT’s mission. We are committed to helping agencies find creative solutions for the delivery of these interventions in complex, healthcare settings. UCEBT Program Directors offer clinical and organizational consultation, development of staff and administrator trainings, as well as invited talks.

To request a speaker, training, or consultation, please complete this form.

UCEBT has provided consultation and professional training for:

• Huntsman Mental Health Institute (formerly UNI)
• Huntsman Cancer Institute
• Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital
• International Rescue Committee
• Jordan School District
• Salt Lake City Public Library
• Thumbtack
• University of Utah Hospital
• Utah Department of Child and Family Services
• Utah Psychological Association
• Utah Women in Law Enforcement
• Veterans Health Administration

Consultation and training has included the following topics:

• DBT: Skills For Reducing Suicidal Distress
• Dissociation With Trauma, Now What?
• Crisis Intervention Training for Police Officers: Recognizing Mental Health Conditions
• The Science of Resilience
• Critical Issues 2018 - Understanding and Managing Self-Harm Behaviors
• Breaking Through Burnout: The How and Why
• Understanding self-harm and suicide: Practical approaches to risk reduction
• PTSD and the Police Officer
• Help, I'm raising a teenager: Strategies from calm to crisis.
• An Evidence Based Approach to Treatment Risky and Self-Injurious Behaviors
• Trauma, Forgiveness and Moral Injury

We also regularly present Continuing Education events for mental health professionals.

Many of our events offer CEU credit for as little as $10. For events prior to 2022, we offer CEU credit for free. 
All of our events are available to view for free. Simply register to receive the recording and presentation slides.

Click here to check out our most recent Continuing Education opportunities.

Assessment and Testing Consultation

Assessment and Testing consultation can be a valuable resource for psychologists and mental health providers in the community. You may benefit from consultation if:  

• You are a psychologist who is starting to implement a testing service or looking to diversity their practice to include testing, and you want support in best practices for test administration, case conceptualization, and report-writing.  
• You are a therapist or prescriber and believe your client may benefit from a psychological evaluation for diagnostic clarification, and you want to discuss how assessment and testing can support your treatment.  

Common topics of consultation include: 

• Appropriateness of fit for testing 
• Developing a targeted testing battery for the referral question 
• Interpreting complex data 
• Integrating testing data to provide comprehensive case conceptualization 
• Writing thorough, yet accessible reports for varying audiences 
• Providing targeted recommendations for individual client needs 
• Accuracy of diagnosis 

For media inquiries, we are happy to provide our expertise.

For media inquiries or any other questions, please contact our Marketing and Outreach Coordinator by emailing  

Growing up in rural Nevada on a cattle ranch, I am familiar with the benefits and downsides of rural living. I credit many of my core values as an adult to being raised in this environment. As I went through the process of becoming a psychologist, I began to realize the disconnect between the services available in urban areas, where I trained, and the services available to the community in which I was raised. The values I was taught as a child of equity and compassion have made it hard for me to see the disparities in what is available and what is actually accessible in mental health care.

Access to mental health services is limited across our country. Those living in rural areas have an even harder time accessing health services. While rates of mental health concerns are similar in urban and rural areas (McCall-Hosenfeld, Mukherjee, & Lehman, 2014), the availability of mental health services in rural areas is significantly less. There are 39 psychologists for every 100,000 residents in urban areas, while only 16 for the same amount of residents in rural areas (Bolin, Bellamy, Ferdinand, Kash, & Helduser, 2015). Additional barriers are present for rural residents to seek mental health care. For example, they have further to travel, it takes more time/money/work leave to attend appointments, and it is more difficult to maintain confidentiality. For example, if your truck is parked in front of a building that says “Psychological Services” in a small town, your community may know that you are receiving services. 

There are outreach efforts to increase awareness of identification and treatment options for mental health concerns, however, these efforts are not reaching the far corners of our country equally. This leaves rural residents with less information about signs of mental health concerns and available treatments. You know that healthy eating and physical activity are core components of weight loss. Do you know what to do if you have persistent fear or sadness? People in urban areas are more likely to know the answer than those in rural areas. If you have a physical health concern that you do not know how to address, you go to a doctor to get clarification and treatment. The same goes for mental health. However, the same values that make rural cultures beautiful and strong, can keep rural residents from reaching out for help when needed – independence, self-reliance, strong work ethic, putting others first, and close connections to the community.

 Solutions have been proposed to address these concerns. These include integrating mental health providers into already established rural medical clinics, allowing patients to see both medical and mental health providers in the same location. Training rural teachers, religious leaders, bartenders, volunteer emergency staff, and other community members in the signs of mental health concerns and the how to respond appropriately and get community members connected with appropriate care. Incentives are offered for mental health providers that work in areas that are designated as mental health professional shortage areas as another way to increase access to care in rural areas.

One growing area is the provision of services through video-conferencing, or telemental health. This allows residents in rural areas to connect with providers that are geographically distant. Telemental health allows patients to meet with their provider from established medical and mental health clinics, their home, a library, their work, and parked in their car! As long as the patient is located in a private area, there are many options to connect with specialists in mental health care.

References & Resources: 

ruralhealthinfo.org 

Bolin JN, Bellamy G, Ferdinand AO, KashBA, HelduserJW. (Eds.) (2015). Rural Healthy People 2020.Vol. 1. College Station, Texas: The Texas A&M University School of Public Health, Southwest Rural Health Research Center. ISBN#978-1-4951-5242-9

 McCall-Hosenfeld, J. S., Mukherjee, S., & Lehman, E. B. (2014). The prevalence and correlates of lifetime psychiatric disorders and trauma exposures in urban and rural settings: Results from the national comorbidity survey replication (NCS-R). PLoSONE,9(11).
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112416

Zero Suicide Summit 7/19/2019

Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Skills For Reducing Suicidal Distress
By Sheila Crowell

Click here for slides

What is first aid? Red Cross describes it as 'care for people in crisis as they wait for medical professionals to arrive'. Normally we associate this with emergencies involving bodily harm, however first aid is just as vital for psychological trauma. Mental health first aid is identifying, understanding and responding to signs of a person developing a mental health problem, experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. This type of care is especially important in vulnerable and underserved populations. Migration due to war, terror, and disastrous conditions in one's native country is often a traumatic experience and warrants immediate psychological care to mitigate further suffering. In the video below, Essam Doad addresses the global refugee crisis and describes how early intervention and memory re-framing decreases future development of PTSD symptoms.  Such a mental health crisis has implications not only for migratory populations, but societal culture as a whole as we integrate. Awareness is the first stepping stone toward making a difference.

International Rescue Committee, an organization dedicated to serving displaced communities, offers numerous volunteer opportunies for those who want to get involved. 
Click here to view their volunteer page 

UCEBT is collecting donations for a local women's domestic violence shelter. Your donations are essential for keeping shelters in full operation. Any given night there are more than 200 women and children who have found safety there and your generosity can provide needed aid to the women and children served. Items can be dropped off with our front desk or placed in the items basket in our waiting room. We thank you for your contribution! 

Items the shelter is looking for include the following:

• Size 5 & 6 diapers
• Socks of all sizes for toddlers and children (NEW only)
• Size 2 T – 16 girls and boys shorts (NEW only)
• Size 2 T – 16 girls and boys tops (NEW only)
• Strollers (NEW only)
• Infant car carriers with handles (NEW only)
• Backpack purses for women & teens (NEW only)
• Sandals all sizes for women, teens & children (NEW only)
• Athletic Shoes for women, teens & children (all sizes NEW only)
• Short sleeve and sleeveless women’s tops & blouses (all sizes NEW only)
• Women’s shorts & capris (all sizes NEW only)
• Bath towels & bath mat sets (NEW only)
• Women’s pajamas (NEW only)
• Pots & pans set (NEW only)
• Women’s athletic shoes (NEW only)
• Children’s athletic shoes (NEW only)
• Suit cases (NEW only or very gently used, all sizes)
• Twin & full sized sheets and comforter sets (NEW only)
• Twin & full sized pillows (NEW only)
• Alarm clocks (NEW only)
• Vacuums (NEW only)
• Cell phone chargers (both android and iPhone)
• Movie gift cards
• Gift cards to Target, Walmart, and Smith’s
• Maternity clothing (NEW only)
• Underwear (all sizes toddler through adult, NEW only)
• Reusable grocery tote bags
• Lice treatment kits (NEW only)
• Baby Bottles & Baby Bottle Products (NEW only)
• Household goods (NEW only)
• Toiletries and personal care items (NEW only - toothbrushes, toothpaste, beauty products, deoderant, etc.)

Dissociation from Trauma - Presentation by Ashley Greenwell at Generations 2019

Slides 

Resources:

Developmental Trauma Questionnaire

Introduction to Suds

Commuting alone has the potential to eat up a large chunk of your time and your wallet. Throw in some variables like traffic accidents, road construction and unexpected inclement weather and suddenly you’re late, creating a domino effect. Maybe your daycare or doctor charges late fees. Perhaps your doctor is booked out, so your missed appointment pushes you out another two weeks before you can re-schedule. Enter Telehealth. This new-fangled treatment modality can be a godsend for long commuters and bridges the gap between patient’s access to care.

 So, what is telehealth anyway? Telehealth in a nutshell is distribution of medical services and interventions using communication via phone or video conferencing. In a behavioral health setting, telehealth (or teletherapy) happens exactly the way it would in a therapy office except virtually! You go through the same informed consent, sign your intake forms, and connect with your provider from the comfort of your home using a laptop or even your smart phone. This type of therapy offers numerous advantages not only for folks who can’t make the drive, but also for those who are bound by their work schedules or have limited physical mobility. With more businesses turning toward remote work, the environment may enjoy some benefits as well with reduced CO2 emissions. 

 If you feel that therapy is just out of your reach, consider telehealth as an option. UCEBT assesses fitness for telepsychology and offers virtual sessions with licensed providers for the same cost as in-office appointments. Visit our new client page here to get started.

Jeff Thompson, a research scientist at New York State Psychiatric Institute and 15 year veteran detective, explains why police officers are at greater risk for suicide and how loved ones and colleagues can offer support for indidivuals in this line of work. Read his article here.

A recent spotlight on Senior Patrol Officer Scott Nielsen depicts the added stress and mental health burden that weighs on Law Enforcement. In the article, Nielsen describes a traumatic situation he faced on the job which was followed by significant mental turmoil that he has not yet sought professional help for. Such occurrences are not uncommon in the field. Many barriers such as negative stigma, perceived weakness and lack of funding have prevented officers from seeking the care they need to address ongoing stress responses. Our own Trauma expert, Ashley Greenwell, has provided commentary in this article and highlights the importance of recognizing signs of struggle as well as utilizing stress management programs.

Click here to read the article

Crisis Intervention Training for Police Officers: Recognizing Mental Health Conditions
Ashley Greenwell and Rachel Hopkins
Jan 28th 2019 at 9:00 am
Click here to view slides