Behavioral Health

First-of-its-Kind Interprofessional Behavioral Health Clinic Opens at the Population Health Center

John Brandon Cantrell — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 12:47:58 +0000

First-of-its-Kind Interprofessional Behavioral Health Clinic Opens at the Population Health Center John Brandon C… Wed, 03/30/2022 - 08:47

PMHNP students treat patients supervised by licensed practitioners at the only teaching clinic in the country for psychiatric medication management service that is affordable for all.

More than 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In a given year, 20% will experience a mental illness. The ongoing pandemic has increased this by at least 10% percent, according to a CDC survey. Now nearly two years in, more people are seeking mental health support, however, finding a psychiatrist who is accepting new patients can be difficult and not always affordable.

Patients at Mason’s Center for Psychological Services (CPS) now have a new option— the Population Health Center’s behavioral health clinical services. Assistant Professor of Nursing Melanie Yousefi and the School of Nursing saw a need they could fill in the community plus a great way to train new psychiatric nurse practitioners and created this new program.

The College of Health and Human Services is sponsoring this new clinic which is the first-of-its-kind interprofessional clinic where Clinical Psychology doctoral students and Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) students are delivering services in collaboration with each other and licensed faculty.

Training the Next Generation of Mental Health Professionals

With referrals from clinical psychology and counseling students at CPS, PMHNP students in the behavioral health clinic treat patients supervised by licensed practitioners on the College faculty. It is the only clinic in the country for psychiatric medication management service that is affordable for all and serves as an experiential learning environment for students.

“The clinic is providing hands-on psychological education for our PMHNP students,” said Yousefi, who is a certified PMHNP. “Most students can’t get this clinical experience anywhere else in the area until after they are certified. Because the clinic is part of an academic setting, there is more flexibility and our students get more real-world experience with real patients while still learning from the support of faculty members. They are able to receive feedback in real time to improve their practice and help the patient.”

PMHNP are licensed to diagnose mental health issues and to prescribe medicine as part of the treatment plan. All student clinical care is provided under direct supervision of Mason faculty who are experienced, practicing PMHNPs. Working with patients and PMHNPs, students learn by doing.

“I have had the experience of meeting clients from their initial evaluation, building rapport with them, and collaborating with them in such an important aspect of their health and overall wellbeing. It brings me great joy to join clients in attaining their mental health goals,” said Hiba Masood, a certified nurse practitioner and Mason PMHNP student. "I am honored to collaborate with the interprofessional team at the Center for Psychological Services, learning and growing with them and our mutual clients."

Students working in the clinic are experienced, licensed registered nurses enrolled in their clinical practicum and in the process of becoming a PMHNP and completing either their doctoral degree or post-master’s graduate certificate (if they are already an advanced practice nurse). Prior to their time at the Population Health Center, as with all Mason PMHNP students beginning their clinical practicum, nursing graduate students have already completed a wide range of mental health coursework including diagnostic training, psychotherapy, advanced pharmacotherapeutics, advanced physical health assessments, and psychopharmacology.

“Being a part of the teaching program with PHC has given me valuable clinical experience and helped to build my confidence and skills in providing quality care for clients," said Masood.

Interprofessional Collaboration for Well-Rounded Care and Education

“Mental health and physical health often coincide, and we are able to collaborate with CPS to provide the broad spectrum of mental health services to provide the best care for our patients,” said Yousefi. CPS provides evidence-based therapy and testing for clients of all ages in the community on a sliding scale, but it needed additional help with medication and pharmacology. Since fall 2021, CPS and the behavioral health clinic have worked together to provide complete patient mental health care.

CPS is a training clinic for doctoral students in clinical psychology that serves the Northern Virginia community on a sliding scale pay structure. Under the direction of Dr. Robyn Mehlenbeck, CPS has helped organizations and community members receive top-notch, evidence-based mental health care. CPS patients come from community referrals, including CPS’s emotional support phone line and Mason’s student services. However, the Center cannot provide medication or medication management, which is where the behavioral health clinic steps into patient care.

Behavioral health clinic patients, who are all referred from CPS, can see a PMHNP and receive prescriptions if needed. Previously, patients would have to go to outside community partners for this, and there was never any guarantee there were openings. Additionally, the two Mason clinics hold interprofessional meetings to discuss the best treatment for each patient. Students in both clinics are learning the scope of practice as students before they become licensed practitioners.

“This collaboration helps our students understand the complete process of psychopharmacology and psychotherapy treatment,” said Yousefi. “And the patient is receiving an overall wellness plan.” Mason is the only provider combining these two types of clinics and services to patients of any income.

Like CPS, Mason’s behavioral health clinic is a sliding scale model, which means the cost is income-based and affordable for those who have limited resources. No other training clinic in the country has a sliding scale for psychiatric medication management service, that Mason is aware of.

“It is wonderful to have the behavioral health services clinic as an on-campus partner,” said Mehlenbeck. “My trainee’s client started meds with Melanie’s team and reported he feels so much better. Accessible medication management is almost impossible to obtain, and yet, was exactly what this client needed. Working as an interprofessional team provides the best care to patients, the best training to our students and making this care accessible for our community is key.”

Next Steps for Growing the Clinic

“Melanie’s vision for this clinic is trailblazing for the College and the community. Two great teams are coming together to make health visible,” said interim Director of the School of Nursing Cheryl Oetjen. “We are grateful for the College’s support of this initiative, which has made it a reality.”

The behavioral health team is currently staffed to manage a limited caseload and hopes to be able to expand with additional funding. For every patient, only two students can assist one licensed practitioner so there are a limited number of appointments available. Since it is a training clinic, each visit takes twice as long as a standard doctor’s visit so that the students have time to understand what they are learning.

“Having more clinicians would allow for more availability to oversee care and student training, which in turn would allow for more referrals,” said Oetjen of the future of the clinic. When the clinic can support additional patients, Yousefi hopes to develop a referral process from the Mason and Partner (MAP) clinics too.

To further prepare students to serve in the clinic, Yousefi and Oetjen aim to work with the College’s Virtual Reality and Simulation Lab to do additional training with students before they start seeing patients in person. Mason will continue to prepare excellent mental health nurse practitioners to follow their passion for helping others.

“I enjoy being a great asset to the community,” said Masood. “It has been a privilege to be a part of launching this vital program for our community."

Topics

Psychiatric Mental Health

Nurse Practitioner

In the George

population health center

Fairfax County Times: PJ Maddox and Mark R. Ginsberg discuss Mason Center for the Health Workforce.

eander6 — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 17:27:40 +0000

Fairfax County Times: PJ Maddox and Mark R. Ginsberg discuss Mason Center for the Health Workforce. eander6 Fri, 02/18/2022 - 12:27

In This Story

PJ Maddox, EdD, MSN, RN

GMU establishes Mason Center for the Health Workforce.

Topics

College of Health and Human Services

College of Health and Human Services School of Nursing

Mason Researchers Create Digital Health Solution for Students Experiencing Academic, Mental Health Concerns

John Brandon Cantrell — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 14:33:33 +0000

Mason Researchers Create Digital Health Solution for Students Experiencing Academic, Mental Health Concerns John Brandon C… Wed, 01/05/2022 - 09:33

Topics

Center for Health Equity

In This Story

Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD

Hong Xue, PhD

The intervention tool uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to detect a decline in undergraduate students' mental health and academic performance.

Students continue to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created additional barriers to their academic success and mental well-being. A team of researchers in the College of Health and Human Services is working to address these concerns with an early intervention tool specifically designed for students from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds.

The research team includes Lawrence Cheskin, Hong Xue, Erika Kennedy, Xiaolu Cheng, and Shuo-yu Lin.

The team has created a predictive mobile app that integrates machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to detect when students are encountering academic and mental health challenges. The app connects students who are exhibiting risk factors to appropriate resources, such as Mason’s Counseling and Psychological Services and students’ academic advisors.

Data suggests that minority and low-income students have a greater risk for developing a mental illness and a higher need for COVID-19 related interventions.

The research team leveraged data from the ongoing Health Starts Here research project to refine the machine learning analytics. The Health Starts Here cohort study collected information on 155 diverse undergraduate students’ mental health challenges caused by the pandemic. The team will compare that data with a new cohort of 582 Mason undergraduate students using the app throughout the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters.

"Offering earlier assistance through the app will increase retention rates of vulnerable populations, improve mental well-being, and provide new insight into the daily lived experiences of these groups," says Erika Kennedy, a Master of Public Health student and the user interface design editor for the app.

Lawrence Cheskin, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, and Hong Xue, associate professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy, serve as co-principal investigators for the research project. The research team also includes Mason alumna and former postdoctoral researcher Xiaolu Cheng and PhD candidate Shuo-yu Lin.

“Users are asked some pre-screen questions about their age, employment, how many credits they are taking, and so on,” says Cheng, who developed the app. “Upon completing the pre-screen, users access a survey about mental health within the app once per week.”

The app is programmed to detect inconsistencies in participants' survey responses, allowing for intervention if the app recognizes a student exhibits behavioral, emotional, and academic risk factors that will need addressing. All information that the app collects will be securely stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

“We chose to use the secure AWS environment to process, maintain, and store protected health information,” Cheng said.

The group of researchers examines the data to determine if the app is effective on undergraduate student success and mental well-being throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The team is also analyzing demographic differences, such as race, in student success when accessing the digital health solution.

"Now that the app has been developed, the next step is focusing on [sharing] the tool so that other universities and students nationwide can access and benefit from it," says Kennedy.

��AV Department of Social Work Receives $1.9 Million Training Grant to Expand Integrated Behavioral Health Workforce

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:39:52 +0000

��AV Department of Social Work Receives $1.9 Million Training Grant to Expand Integrated Behavioral Health Workforce Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/26/2021 - 09:39

In This Story

Emily Ihara, PhD, MSW, FGSA

Denise Hines, PhD

Carol Cleaveland, PhD

Vicki Kirsch, PhD, MSW, MA

Evelyn Tomaszewski, MSW, ACSW

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded the ��AV Department of Social Work a $1.9 million four-year Behavioral Health Workforce and Training (BHWET) grant to help improve access to behavioral health services for under-served and rural populations. With grant funding, Mason’s Department of Social Work will launch the Mason Community-Academic Partnerships in Behavioral Health (CAP-BH) program to increase access to quality behavioral health services in high-demand and high-need populations by developing community-based partnerships and training students in a transdisciplinary team-based care model. Each year, the CAP-BH program will provide financial assistance, in the form of stipends, for 29 MSW students in their specialization year who will develop a deeper understanding of the effects of violence and trauma in addition to the foundational knowledge provided in the Master of Social Work curriculum, which focuses on the social determinants of health and a holistic model of care delivery.

The Department of Social Work will leverage and expand on its existing partnership with the Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinics, where students and faculty serve uninsured and refugee communities in a team-based model that delivers primary care, mental health care, and connects patients with necessary services to address holistic social determinants of health. The CAP-BH program also seeks to increase the number of experiential training sites where students can develop competencies in primary and integrated care settings and promote technology integration into care delivery and training programs.

“There is a growing and urgent demand for social work professionals who can address behavioral health needs in a holistic, transdisciplinary way,” says Emily Ihara, PhD, MSW, FGSA, professor and chair of the Department of Social Work at Mason’s College of Health and Human Services. “The negative effects of violence and traumatic experiences on children, adolescents, and transitional-aged youth are exacerbated by a fragmented system of care, especially for marginalized and underserved groups. The CAP-BH program will allow us to prepare cohorts of Master of Social Work students in a trauma-informed system approach where they will learn and practice trauma-specific evidence-based interventions that address the complexity of violence and trauma during key developmental periods.”

The Mason Department of Social Work offers a prime location in Northern Virginia, a diverse study body, a robust curriculum in cultural competencies, a strong network of community partners—particularly in hard-to-reach populations—and extensive collaborations with existing practicum sites.

Associate Professor Denise Hines, PhD, will be the program evaluator and will co-direct the project with Associate Professor and Department Chair Emily Ihara. The project team will include Associate Professor Carol Cleaveland, PhD, LSW, as the scholar training lead; Associate Professor Victoria Kirsch, MSW, MA, PhD, as the community practitioner training lead; Assistant Professor Evelyn Tomaszewski, MSW, ACSW, as the recruitment lead; and Assistant Professor Kanako Okuda, DSW, LCSW, as the field education training lead.

Topics

College of Health and Human Services Department of Social Work

College of Health and Human Services

Behavioral Health

faculty spotlight

CHHS News

Examining Virginia’s Behavioral Health Care Transformation – A Layered Approach

mthomp7 — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 19:28:16 +0000

Examining Virginia’s Behavioral Health Care Transformation – A Layered Approach mthomp7 Fri, 04/02/2021 - 15:28

In This Story

Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD, MBA

In a column on state policy, Alison Cuellar and William Hazel examined the transformation of behavioral health care in Virginia.

Cuellar and Hazel examine how Virginia transformed the state’s behavioral health and substance use treatment landscape over the past five years.

In a column on state policy, Dr. Alison Cuellar, professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy at ��AV and Dr. William Hazel, former Virginia secretary of health and human resources, examined the transformation of behavioral health care in Virginia resulting from a “layered approach” that included policy changes in procedures, outreach, eligibility and coverage, workforce, and payment. Changes resulted in an increase in the number of substance use providers and in the number of patients treated and laid a foundation to address social determinants of health and disparities.

The article published in Psychiatric Services, examined the ways in which Virginia transformed the state’s behavioral health and substance use treatment landscape over the past five years through policy mechanisms to shift funding, the workforce, and delivery of care and to enhance access.

Virginia’s efforts to increase access to behavioral health and substance use services were driven by the high cost of institutional care which was often shifted from the community to the state level, inadequate jail and crisis services, and the opioid epidemic. Cuellar and Hazel cite a layered approach to key areas of policy change that made expanding access to care possible: procedure, outreach and coordination, eligibility and coverage, workforce, and payment.

The article detailed Virginia’s policy changes of note, such as a federal Medicaid waiver to expand coverage for outpatient primary care visits, specialty behavioral health care, medication for uninsured individuals with severe mental illness who were treated by local community service boards as well as for those at incomes 60% of the federal poverty level. The state also emphasized fostering outpatient, office-based treatment and focused on recruiting providers to deliver medication-assisted therapy, particularly with multidisciplinary teams.

Workforce policy changes included expanding nurse practitioners’ (NP) scope of practice and increasing the number of licensed NPs. NPs now represent 25% of the buprenorphine-waived providers. The state has increased its waivered provider rate faster than the national average and increased the number of licensed mental health professionals per capita by 30% in rural counties – faster than the national average of 22% for rural counties.

“The collective impact of the changes Virginia has implemented over the past five years has laid the foundation for the transformation of behavioral health care,” says Cuellar. “This approach may inform other states’ approach to addressing the opioid epidemic and meeting the growing demand for behavioral health services.”

About ��AV

��AV is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. For more information, visit https://www2.gmu.edu/.

About the College of Health and Human Services

��AV's College of Health and Human Services prepares students to become leaders and shape the public's health through academic excellence, research of consequence, community outreach, and interprofessional clinical practice. George Mason is the fastest-growing Research I institution in the country. The College enrolls more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,370 graduate students in its nationally-recognized offerings, including: 5 undergraduate degrees, 13 graduate degrees, and 7 certificate programs. The college is transitioning to a college of public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/.

Topics

Psychiatry Online: Dr. Alison Cuellar and former Mason official William A. Hazel, Jr. write a piece about transforming behavioral health.

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 16:07:58 +0000

Psychiatry Online: Dr. Alison Cuellar and former Mason official William A. Hazel, Jr. write a piece about transforming behavioral health. Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/26/2021 - 12:07

In This Story

Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD, MBA

Transforming Behavioral Health Care in Virginia

Topics

CHHS in the Media

Behavioral Health

College of Health and Human Services Department of Health Administration and Policy

College of Health and Human Services

Behavioral Health

First-of-its-Kind Interprofessional Behavioral Health Clinic Opens at the Population Health Center

PMHNP students treat patients supervised by licensed practitioners at the only teaching clinic in the country for psychiatric medication management service that is affordable for all.

Training the Next Generation of Mental Health Professionals

Interprofessional Collaboration for Well-Rounded Care and Education

Next Steps for Growing the Clinic

Topics

Fairfax County Times: PJ Maddox and Mark R. Ginsberg discuss Mason Center for the Health Workforce.

In This Story

Topics

Mason Researchers Create Digital Health Solution for Students Experiencing Academic, Mental Health Concerns

Topics

In This Story

The intervention tool uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to detect a decline in undergraduate students' mental health and academic performance.

����AV Department of Social Work Receives $1.9 Million Training Grant to Expand Integrated Behavioral Health Workforce

In This Story

Topics

Examining Virginia’s Behavioral Health Care Transformation – A Layered Approach

In This Story

Cuellar and Hazel examine how Virginia transformed the state’s behavioral health and substance use treatment landscape over the past five years.

Topics

Psychiatry Online: Dr. Alison Cuellar and former Mason official William A. Hazel, Jr. write a piece about transforming behavioral health.

In This Story

Topics

��AV Department of Social Work Receives $1.9 Million Training Grant to Expand Integrated Behavioral Health Workforce