Recent Webinars

A SAMHSA Sponsored Webinar: “Serving our Communities: How People with Lived Experience Make Mental Health Crisis Services More Effective” (May 13, 2024)

On May 13, 2024, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law hosted its webinar titled, Serving our Communities: How People with Lived Experience Make Mental Health Crisis Services More Effective. This webinar was part 1 of a 2-webinar Learning Community hosted by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) that focused on strengthening the behavioral health workforce and enhancing access to suicide prevention and mental health services by working with people with lived experience who can provide peer supports.

 By the end of this workshop, participants were able to: 1. Understand what makes peer-provided crisis services effective along the service continuum for people with serious mental illness (SMI) or serious emotional disturbance (SED); 2. Learn from multiple real-world successful examples of peer-led programs; 3. Identify how to leverage federal, state, and local funding to pay for peer-involved crisis services; and 4. Actively engage with presenters and other participants to address any questions about bringing peer-led programs to your community.

Presenters:

  • Monica Porter Gilbert, Policy & Legal Advocacy Attorney, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
  • Nemu HJ, Education & Communications Manager, #SafeHotlines campaign, Trans Lifeline
  • Jahmil Roberts, Hotline Operations & Care Manager, Trans Lifeline
  • Dushoun Almond, Program Manager, Brownsville in Violence Out
  • Steve Miccio, Chief Executive Officer, People USA

Watch the recording.

Access the PowerPoint slides (PDF).

 

A SAMHSA Sponsored Webinar: Advancing an Alternative: Peer-led, Community-Based Services that Promote Equity and Safety for All (April 28, 2023)

On April 28th, 2023, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) hosted this part 2 of a 2-webinar Learning Community that addresses SAMHSA’s priorities of crisis stabilization, mobile crisis, and children. The learning community focused on leveraging federal funding & policy to increase best practice community-based services that are voluntary, evidence-based, and trauma-informed.

By the end of this workshop, participants were able to: 1. Understand the disproportionate negative impacts of traditional crisis response systems on over reliance on the police to respond to crises involving communities and people with disabilities, including people with serious mental illness (SMI) or emotional disturbance (SED), and how solutions must be responsive to these disparities. 2. Learn how peer-led, community-based services and supports improve wellness, support communities, and protect civil rights, drawing from real-world examples of programs that have been successfully implemented. 3. Examine current trends in state and federal policy, including challenges and opportunities to advance peer-led, community-based services for people with SMI or SED.

Presenters:

  • Vesper Moore: Chief Operating Officer, Kiva Centers (they/elle)
  • Kristina Roth: Senior Policy Associate, Legal Defense Fund (she/her)
  • Ashley Sproul: Peer Facilitator Coordinator, Kiva Centers (she/her)
  • Monica Porter: Policy & Legal Advocacy Attorney, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (she/her)

Watch the recording here.

Access the powerpoint slides (PDF) here.

A SAMHSA Sponsored Webinar: “Crisis Services and Diversion: How State and Local Partnerships Can Make a Difference” (March 17,2022)

On March 17, the Bazelon Center presented the SAMHSA-sponsored webinar “Crisis Services and Diversion: How State and Local Partnerships Can Make a Difference”. This webinar explored how states can collaborate with countries to expand availability of community services and housing, including crisis services, needed to reduce incarceration and to comply with the ADA’s integration mandate. On March 28, we presented part two of the webinar allowing for a “deeper dive” into issues of interest to participants in the first session, with a focus on emerging trends and lessons learned from behavioral health mobile response services programs.

Presenters:

  • Moderator Brian McGregor, Owner, McGregor Research & Consulting, LLC; Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, Morehouse School of Medicine
  • Colleen Clark-Bernhardt, Manager of the Division of Policy and Practice Innovation; Coordinator for the Dane County Criminal Justice Council
  • Brad Munger, Program and Policy Analyst-Advanced for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services
  • Jennifer Lav, Senior Attorney for the National Health Law Program
  • Dawn Peel, Director of Crisis Coordination, Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
  • Che Steadman, Assistant Chief of Medical Affairs, City of Madison Fire Department
  • Vania Mendoza, Peer Supervisor, Street Crisis Response Team (San Francisco)

Watch Part 1 Recording

Watch Part 2 Recording

See Powerpoint Slides for Part 1

A SAMSHA Sponsored Webinar: “Targeting Housing Resources to Support Reentry of People with Serious Mental Illness” (May 17,2021)

On May 17, the Bazelon Center presented the SAMHSA sponsored called “Targeting Housing Resources to Support Reentry of People with Serious Mental Illness”. In this webinar, we discussed strategies to target housing resources to assist people with serious mental illness in transitioning smoothly from jail or prison to their communities, achieving stability and support, and avoiding re-incarceration.

Presenters:

  •  Martha Knisley, Independent Reviewer in United States v. North Carolina Olmstead settlement and former mental health commissioner of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.
  • Richard Cho, Ph.D., Senior Advisor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary for Housing and Services, focusing on ending homelessness, advancing the community integration of people with disabilities, connecting housing with health, and coordinating HUD’s COVID-19 response efforts.
  • Bill Maroon, Director of Business Development and Innovation for Resources for Human Development

Watch Recording

See Powerpoint Slides

 

A SAMHSA Sponsored Webinar: Developing and Implementing State Olmstead Plans to Increase Access to Community-based services for Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses or Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances (June 22, 2020)

A SAMHSA sponsored webinar, developed under contract by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and presented by The Bazelon Center took place on June 22, 2020 called “Developing and Implementing State Olmstead Plans to Increase Access to Community-based services for Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses or Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances”.

Presenters:

  • Estelle Richmon, Former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
  • Kevin Martone, Executive Director of the Technical Assistance Collaborative
  • Harvey Rosenthal, Executive Director of New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Systems.

Watch Recording

Download PowerPoint Slides

Webinar: Criminal Justice, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and People with Mental Illnesses (February 26, 2018)

The webinar provided a systemic overlook of why people with mental illnesses are over-represented in the criminal justice system, how the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) integration mandate applies, and discussed lessons learned from systematic mental health systems reform. The webinar also discussed how mental health, criminal justice, and correctional programs can work together to meet ADA obligations and ensure an array of services that reduce the likelihood that people with mental illnesses will enter the criminal justice system.

Presenters:

  • Mark Murphy, managing attorney, the Bazelon Center,
  • Elizabeth Jones, expert consultant and court monitor in several Olmstead cases

Webinar: Evidence-Based Behavioral Health Services in Schools: Helping Children with Behavioral Health Conditions, including Serious Emotional Disturbance, Succeed (April 14, 2017)

The webinar discussed the challenges often experienced by children with behavioral health disorders in general education settings, sometimes resulting in placement in alternative settings. The webinar also provided participants with a new perspective on what is possible for children with even the most serious behavioral health conditions, and potential strategies for bringing necessary evidence-based practices to their own schools.

Presenters:

  • Dr. Thomas Hehir, Silvana and Christopher Pascucci Professor of Practice in Learning Differences, Harvard University Graduate School of Education; former director, Office of Special Education Program, U.S. Department of Education
  • Ethan d’Ablemont Burnes, principal of the Manning School in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston
  • Monica Causey, family member and parent advocate from Rutherford County, Tennessee

Moderated by:

  • Lewis Bossing, Senior Staff Attorney, Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

Webinar: Mental Health and the New Home and Community Based Services Regulation (June 18, 2015)

This webinar discusses the new Home and Community Based Setting (HCBS) settings rule and its implications for mental health services provided under Medicaid. States are currently developing transition plans to bring their Medicaid HCBS systems into compliance with the new rule. The webinar will discuss the requirements of the rule and CMS guidance, describe trends in state transition plans (including those that impact mental health services), and elaborate on how the mental health community can become involved in the transition planning process. The discussion will also touch on the implications of the rule for employment.

Presenters:

  • Alison Barkoff, Director of Advocacy, Bazelon Center
  • Elizabeth Priaulx, Senior Disability Legal Specialist, National Disability Rights Network

This webinar was part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) “Addressing Serious Mental Illness” webinar series.