Rural Mental Health and Substance Use Recovery Through the Lens of Small Communities
Rural Mental Health and Substance Use Recovery Through the Lens of Small Communities
Issues facing rural communities and the push for services that help with recovery.
Date: June 1, 2023
Time: 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM (AKDT) 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM (MDT)
Location: Zoom Web Conferencing Meeting
Continuing Education Units
Six (6) contact hours may apply towards substance abuse hours or as general continuing education hours.
Welcome and Moderators
Dr. Jo Ann Bartley
Assistant Professor, Psychology, Southern Utah University
Dr. Jean Boreen
Dean, Humanities & Social Science, SUU
Dr. Debbie Craig
Dean, College of Health, UAA
Dr. Andre B. Rosay
Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, College of Health UAA
Opportunities and Challenges for Telepsychiatry Collaboration in Rural Mental
Joshua Sonkiss
Exploring models of integrative telepsychiatry and the regulatory, financial, or practical obstacles to implementing collaborative care in rural settings.
Learning objectives:
- Describe three models of integrative telepsychiatry.
- Explain three regulatory, financial, or practical obstacles to implementing collaborative care in rural settings.
- Identify three characteristics of persons most likely to benefit from telepsychiatry collaboration.
Joshua Sonkiss
Joshua is board-certified in adult, adolescent, and forensic psychiatry as well as addiction medicine. He completed undergraduate degrees at the University of Alaska Anchorage, attended medical school at McGill University, and completed residency at the University of Utah. After forensic training at the University of Rochester, he returned to Alaska where he has practiced psychiatry and addiction medicine in rural and urban settings from Utqiagvik to Juneau. As a licensed professional counselor supervisor and consultant to family practice physicians, he has been involved in interdisciplinary collaboration for many years. He is president of Sonkiss Medical Consulting, LLC and currently resides in Arizona.
The Inside Drug Ring
Paula Colescott
Understanding the challenges posed by drug circulation in prison populations and the difficulties of preventing overdoses in correctional settings.
Learning objectives:
- To understand the access that drug dealers have to a prison population.
- To learn how drugs circulate among the inmates,
- To appreciate the challenges in preventing overdoses in the correctional setting.
Paula Colescott
Paula holds board-certifications in internal and preventive Medicine with sub- specialization
in addiction medicine and is a co-facilitator of the Alaska Health Physician Program.
Dr. Colescott completed her internal medicine residency in the United States Air Force
Wilford Hall Medical Center, following service at the Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs. She has subsequently practiced inpatient, outpatient, and emergency medicine
for over twenty years in Colorado, Bush Alaska, and Hawaii. After completing her Fellowship
in Addiction Medicine at the John A Burns Medical School in Honolulu, Queens Hospital,
she returned to Anchorage and served as the medical director of The Salvation Army
Clitheroe Center (a detox/residential facility).
She became the Associate Medical Director of Providence Breakthrough (providing Partial hospitalization, IOP, OP services addressing chemical dependency), and provided services in a methadone maintenance program in the Anchorage Bowl. In these venues, she provided didactic and onsite training of family medicine residents. She served as a medical consultant for UAA Department of Human Services and as a conference speaker and for the Complex Trauma and Addiction Conferences. She currently lectures for inmates in the Alaska Correctional Facility as well as the New Hope House (a recovery home for women) on issues germaine to recovery from substance use.
Building, Training, and Diversifying the SUD Workforce
Kasey Shakespear and Murren Voss
Addressing community behavioral health needs such as Substance Use Disorder (SUD) requires adequate staffing, which can be a challenge in rural and under-represented areas. Twelve of Utah’s 13 local health districts are Health Professional Shortage Areas for mental health services, with many designated as high need by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Providers are facing ever-changing regulations around SUD treatment, including significant recent changes to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD). To find success, providers must rely on support staff such as nurses. These nurses are often underutilized in SUD treatment and could serve a much larger role in treatment that would reduce barriers to forming effective and sustainable SUD programs. Successful approaches must also include Certified Peer Support Specialists (CPSS) which are individuals with lived experience who provide non-clinical, strength-based support to individuals experiencing similar challenges and are “experientially credentialed” by their recovery journey. Several approaches to workforce development are being pushed as national initiatives, and we will be discussing some of those initiatives and their potential impact on Utah.
Learning objectives:
- Learn about recent regulation changes and how they impact the provider's role in SUD
- Discuss the current role of nurses in SUD treatment and how that could expand
- Discuss the critical role of peer support and include people with lived experience.
Kasey Shakespear
Kasey is a rural Utah kid from Tropic, Utah. He holds dual master’s degrees in healthcare administration and public health from the University of Utah. He also completed a third master’s degree in English and creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University online. Kasey’s passion is working to improve the health and lives of those who call rural Utah home. Over the past several years, Kasey has had the opportunity to lead the Utah Center of Rural Health on a number of grant projects around substance use disorder, mental health and wellness, and health equity.
Maren Wright Voss
Dr. Voss' career has focused on methods of maximizing public health in a variety of domains including education, clinical arenas, public communications, and research. She has completed master’s degrees in clinical psychology and communications and a doctoral degree in the health sciences. She has scholarly publication and professional presentation experience and has taught and collaborated at academic and community-level institutions.
Larry Garrett
Dr. Garrett is an assistant clinical professor at the University of Utah's College of Nursing. He is a registered nurse and holds a Master's in Public Health from the University of Utah and a Doctor of Philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Dr. Garrett is well-versed in implementing programs, processes, initiatives, and strategies focused on growth and development. He has proven leadership, multitasking, coordination, relationship-building, prioritization, and problem-solving capabilities.
Access and Barriers to Mental Health Services in Rural and Remote Communities
Vanessa Meade
Examining beliefs about rural and remote mental health practices, barriers and strengths to mental health services in rural and remote settings and applying an understanding of strengths and barriers to mental health practice.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will be able to identify three strengths and three barriers to mental health services in rural and remote communities
- Participants will be able to describe their understanding of the barriers and strengths and apply them to their area of practice
- Participants will examine their beliefs about rural and remote mental health practices and identify areas for further reflection and education
Vanessa Meade
Vanessa Meade, PsyD, LCSW, is an assistant professor at the University of Alaska-Anchorage in the School of Social Work. She is also a U.S. Army/Gulf War Veteran and a former Alaska State Trooper.
As a licensed social worker and licensed psychologist in Alaska, Dr. Meade and has worked as a clinician/therapist in rural community mental health agencies and juvenile justice. A focus of her research is women Veteran's issues and mindfulness-based interventions.
She is a certified mindfulness teacher and facilitates mindfulness-based programs at UAA with students, faculty, and staff and with military Veterans online and in person throughout the United States.
Dr. Meade also focuses on issues of equity and social justice in her work, including within the LGBTQ+ community.
Substance Use and American Communities: Issues for Treatment Professionals
David Moxley
Substance use treatment challenges facing rural communities. Factors that increase vulnerability, and strategies for advancing resilience in American communities toward the prevention of substance use.
Learning objectives:
- Identify factors involved in making communities vulnerable to substance use.
- Identify strategies for advancing the resilience of American communities in the prevention of substance use.
David Moxley
David P. Moxley, Ph.D., Professor, Assistant Dean of Behavioral Health, is highly involved in the education and professional development of human services, health, and social work professionals. His areas of work include psychiatric rehabilitation, recovery, and community building for prevention.
David received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University, his DPA from Western Michigan University and NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan.
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