Rural families concerned about their children's developmental milestones often wait years for access to behavioral specialists and developmental pediatricians. Maintaining relationships with specialists is also difficult, particularly for military-connected youth and their families, who are often highly mobile.
Pediatric specialists from the University of Minnesota’s TeleOutreach Hub are helping fill the gap by providing free training modules geared toward providers, caregivers, and educators working with children and families with mental, emotional, developmental, and behavioral health needs. The self-paced modules, Provider Training to Support Families of Children with Behavioral and Mental Health Needs , cover topics including autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, medical issues in behavioral health, ADHD, and supporting youth who exhibit challenging behaviors.
Dr. Gail A. Bernstein, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at MIDB and a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, leads the module on OCD. It covers risk factors, common co-occurring conditions, assessment measures, cognitive-behavior therapy, and medication options. The content includes a downloadable summary and supplemental tips for parents and other caregivers.
On March 19, she will lead a group viewing of a presentation, Pharmacotherapy for OCD & Tic Disorders , followed by a listening session at a Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain satellite site in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The presentation, also available online , is geared to social workers, health care providers, school nurses, educators, and mental health practitioners. The listening session will include a group discussion about local challenges in accessing care in rural northern Minnesota, and networking among subject-matter experts from MIDB and local professionals.
“We’ll be discussing the first-line medication choices for OCD and tic disorders and the research studies behind them, then covering dosing and monitoring, along with potential side effects,” Bernstein said. “We’ll also look at when medication alone is recommended and when it is used in combination with behavioral interventions.”
For non-clinical professionals, questions on when to refer a child for possible medication for OCD, along with the risks, will be discussed.
“Understanding both the benefits and potential risks is really important to know and share with families, in order to facilitate appropriate referrals,” Bernstein said.
The self-paced modules and the live events are part of a larger training effort known as the Military Child & Family Collaboratory , formerly the Department of Defense Child Collaboration Study. The TeleOutreach Hub, itself a collaboration between the University’s Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB) and the Institute on Community Integration, is among 125 teams working on the project to increase access to behavioral health and developmental resources for families and providers. The team’s live events include a series in rural Minnesota and in North and South Dakota called Project Echo®: Telehealth to Support Families of Children with Behavioral Health and Mental Health Needs .
For rural professionals working in child welfare, case management, education, and similar roles, the project is already making a difference, participants said.
Mindy Kuhl, who works in children’s mental health case management for St. Louis County, has attended a few live and self-paced training events. Being able to talk directly with University of Minnesota specialists about specific medication issues she has encountered among the youth she works with has been particularly helpful, she said.
Building community connections is another critical outcome of the work, participants said.
“Any resources and tools that can make navigation easier for families is welcome,” said Leah Wilson, children’s disability services program manager for the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families. “I participated so I could meet some case managers and others providing services in rural parts of our state to learn the landscape and the problem areas so I can be a connector.”
Led by ICI’s Jessica Simacek, principal investigator, the work aims to bring earlier intervention to families with waitlisted children with autism and related developmental disabilities.
“These self-paced modules and community events will improve provider capacity in rural Minnesota and beyond,” Simacek said. “Combining clinical and academic expertise with cultural and practical experience among professionals working directly with children and families will speed access to interventions that are sorely needed now.”
View Original Article: https://ici.umn.edu/news/teleoutreach-connects-rural-military-families
