The Center for Innovative Practices (CIP), part of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, has developed a podcast initiative entitled, Innovative Conversations, exploring topics pertaining to the CIP mission of identifying promising practices and evidence-based interventions for youth dealing with mental health, substance use, trauma, and judicial justice challenges. Hosted by first CIP director Patrick Kanary, the series also examines how Wraparound Systems of Care can better facilitate how integrated treatment can help yield optimal outcomes with youth recovery.
Session 1 | Evolution of the Systems of Care Approach
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Beth Stroul provides an overview and history of Systems of Care, a spectrum of effective, community-based services and supports for children and youth with or at risk for behavioral health or other challenges and their families, that is organized into a coordinated network, builds meaningful partnerships with families and youth, and addresses their cultural and linguistic needs, in order to help them to function better at home, in school, in the community, and throughout life.
Session 2 | Trauma and Trauma Informed Care in a System of Care Approach
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Trauma can range from things that make you feel like you’re going to die – very dangerous and serious aggressive behaviors, assault and all sorts of abuse – to what we will call traumatic stress, ongoing pressure, unrelenting and woven into their lives that include poverty, discrimination and bullying. Trauma-Informed Care is applying knowledge of trauma to your field, practice, or organization..
Session 3 | The Impact of Generational Trauma and Promising Practices in Multiple Systems of Care
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The FITT Model recognizes and aims to address the impact of traumatic events and contextual stressors on every member of the family, on family relationships, and on the family as a whole. The FITT Model, anchored in family and trauma-informed principles and practices, provides the framework for an ecological family systems approach that strengthens families’ efforts to attain safety and stability as they plot a course to address their unique needs. The FITT model infuses a trauma-specific family systems approach to assessment, intervention and treatment.
Session 4 | Systems of Care, Behavioral Health, and Juvenile Justice: Multiple Perspectives
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According to recent data, about 75% of youth involved in the juvenile justice system have experienced traumatic victimization, a significant factor that Ohio’s systems are just beginning to grapple with in new ways in terms of both policy and practice. This podcast provides insight and information related to youth with behavioral health conditions and their involvement in the juvenile justice system and what areas of improvement are needed. The discussion addresses this issue from multiple perspectives.
Session 5 | Solution Focused Family Therapy for IHBT
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Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is an evidenced-based psychotherapy approach that was developed beginning in the late 1970’s in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the name suggests, SFBT is future-focused, goal-directed, and focuses on solutions, rather than on the problems that brought clients to seek therapy. The entire solution-focused approach was developed inductively in an inner city outpatient mental health service setting in which clients were accepted without previous screening.
Session 6 | A National Perspective on the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA)
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Guest Sheila Pires, Managing Partner, Human Service Collaborative Core Partner, National TA Network for Children’s Behavioral Health, presents a national perspective discussing the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFSPA). It is the first installment of a two-part discussion, the second of which explores Family First from a state-wide perspective with specialists from Ohio. This session involves the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) and what it means to states funding in-home treatment.
Session 7 | A State of Ohio Perspective on the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFSPA)
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Guests Crystal Ward Allen, MSW, LSW, Senior Director and Strategic Consulting with Casey Family Programs, Carla Carpenter, Deputy Director of the Office of Families and Children (OFC) at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, and Angela Sausser, Executive Director at the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, present an Ohio overview of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFSPA) and its impact on the state and its communities.
Session 8 | An Overview of Integrated Co-occurring Treatment (ICT)
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Guest Mike Fox, CIP Consultant, Trainer, and ICT Specialist, provides an overview of Integrated Co-occurring Treatment (ICT), an intensive home-based method of service delivery offering a core set of services to youth with co-occurring disorders of substance use and serious emotional disability, as well as providing services to the families caring for them.
Session 9 | An Overview of Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
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Guest Maureen Kisha, MST Expert and Developer with the Center for Innovative Practices (CIP), has worked for the last 17 years within the field of Multisystemic Therapy (MST). MST is an intensive family and community-based treatment program addressing the multiple determinants of serious anti-social behaviors in juvenile offenders. The approach views individuals as being nested within a complex network of interconnected systems that encompass individual, family and extra-familial factors such as peer groups, schools, the community, and the courts and other service systems.
Session 10 | Multi-System Youth Action Plan Ending Child Relinquishment
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Guest Sarah LaTourette, newly-appointed Executive Director of Ohio’s Family and Children First Council (FCFC) discusses the unified effort to end Child Relinquishment wherein families have had to give up legal custody of their children in order to qualify for Medicaid assistance for mental health, addiction, and juvenile justice services in Ohio. This fiscal year, ending June 30, 2020, there has been $8 million allotted for which counties can apply on behalf of youth and families in their community. For fiscal year 2020-21, there has been budgeted $12 million.
Session 11 | Treatment at a Distance and Intensive Home-Based Treatment during a Pandemic
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Guests Bobbi Beale, PsyD and Maurie Long, PhD, discuss ‘treatment at a distance’-type services, becoming more widely accepted in behavioral healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic, and which may thrive even post pandemic. They also explore Intensive Home-Based Treatment (IHBT), an intervention designed to address extremely challenging behaviors of youth within a home setting, often seen as a preferable alternative to removing a youth from their home.
Session 12 | A National Overview of the Mobile Response Stabilization Services (MRSS)
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Over the course of this year’s Covid-19 pandemic, Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS) have come to the forefront in helping connect clinicians and caregivers with clients and their families, especially in times of acute need. This session takes a national look at the MRSS initiative and how its working in Connecticut, Maryland, and Nevada via the experiences and perspectives, respectively, of Jeffrey Vanderploeg, Elizabeth Manley, and Christopher Morano.
Session 13 | Equity and Inclusion: Core Values for Our System of Care
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New CIP SOC Equity & Inclusion Coordinator, Kynetta Sugar McFarlane, PsyD, and current CIP Co-Director, Bobbi Beale, PsyD discuss the new CIP Equity and Inclusion training series, the various levels of cultural awareness addressed, the long-lasting healing of youth and families that can result. In addition to creating and facilitating a monthy Equity & Inclusion Learning Community, Dr. McFarlane has also presented training series on: Understanding the Culture of Poverty; Trauma-Informed Family Engagement: Understanding Implicit Bias & Structural Racism; Affirmative Care to Genderqueer Youth.
Session 14 | Child, Youth and Family Behavioral Health: Workforce Challenges
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This session discusses recent articles involving the crisis in child mental health staffing throughout the United States and examines key findings from our guests’ respective recent reports. It also places local concerns within the national perspective and unpacks recent findings about, not only the crisis in child mental health care staffing, but also the challenges of retention of care givers in the current climate of need and burnout. Guests are Teresa Lampl, Executive Director of the Ohio Council of Behavioral Health and Family Service Providers and Mark Mecum, Executive Director of the Ohio Children’s Alliance.
