Fall 2023 Executive Director Mental Health Academy

Join your CAC Executive Director (ED) colleagues for this exciting training opportunity. CAC EDs lead the charge for positioning CACs to meet NCA’s Mental Health Accreditation Standards. Many ED’s do not have a mental health background which can create challenges. NCA is excited to announce this training opportunity for EDs to learn about developing and sustaining high quality mental health programs at your CACs. 

About The Project

A total of 50 Executive Directors from CACs will be accepted into this training. Not only will you learn about mental health, but you will also be able to help shape future iterations of the training through feedback to the trainers. In 2021, NCA convened a Mental Health Standard Revision Committee of 20 individuals from Regional CACs, CACs, and subject-matter experts to make recommendations for the new Mental Health standard that went into effect in January 2023 to support the expanded NCA mission of healing for all children seen at CACs. This training will support CAC Executive Directors in the successful implementation of the 2023 NCA Mental Health standard.

The training will be delivered in five – 2 hour live interactive webinars delivered every other week over a 10- week period. During the weeks in between webinars, there will be outside work to prepare for the next webinar. It is anticipated that there will be 1-2 hours of work in between each webinar. It is important that you complete the work between webinars to be an effective participant with your colleagues during the interactive portion of the webinars. 

Training dates:

Five – 2 hour live interactive webinars to be held the following dates from 1:00-3:00PM EST.

  • October 3, 2023
  • October 17, 2023
  • October 31, 2023
  • November 14, 2023
  • December 5, 2023

By December 31, 2023, complete overall Course Evaluation.

1:1 post-training call with trainers to discuss questions/implementation plan is optional. 

What You’ll Learn
Through this training, EDs will learn:

• NCA’s 2023 Mental Health Accreditation Standard and strategies for successful implementation at your CAC.

• Mental Health Roadmap to meeting the Accreditation Standard and providing quality mental health services for children and families served.

• Evidence-Based Treatments (EBTs) recognized by NCA and training requirements.

• Conducting a community-based mental health gap analysis to determine areas of concern in your CAC’s mental health response and what EBT is needed to add to your community/CAC’s menu of services.

• The importance of collecting and documenting of accurate data and how that data can be used to inform service delivery and to seek funding for mental health services.

• The MDT’s role in mental health service delivery.

• The role of the Victim Advocate in engaging children and families in care.

• Mental health collaborations to increase the number of linkage agreements.

• The importance of collaboration between VAs and MH providers in the delivery of mental health services.

• Opportunities to collaborate with other EDs from CACs across the country and to learn about strategies that other CACs are using to successfully meet the NCA MH Accreditation Standard 


Executive Director Project Requirements

This project is designed for Executive Directors at CAC who are interested in furthering their knowledge about the NCA Mental Health Accreditation Standard, evidence-based practices and planning and sustaining high quality mental health programs. Executive Directors are defined as having a leadership role including responsibility for the outcome of services to children and families served by the CAC. This professional possesses the administrative responsibility within the organization with authority to make systematic changes (policies, procedures, budgeting). NOTE: Senior Leaders will be considered when they possess the administrative responsibility within the CAC with authority to make system changes (policies, procedures, budgeting).  

Complete Pre-Work:

• The CAC Directors Mental Health Guide as pre-workhttps://www.nctsn.org/resource...  The information in this guide will provide a foundation for this training and can serve as a resource to reinforce learning and the implementation of learning.

• There will be additional resources provided to support learning as well as the implementation of that learning within your CAC and MDT.

Additional Training Requirements:

•  Attend five 2-hour live interactive webinars from October – December 2023.

• Complete tasks between webinars to prepare yourself for the next training.

• Complete training surveys to contribute to strengthening future ED training.

Attendance and interactive participation are necessary to the success of your learning and to support other participants as they seek to learn from each other.

The trainers will be available to answer any questions you might have via email both before and during the training.



Key:

Complete
Failed
Available
Locked
Pre-Knowledge Test
25 Questions  |  1 attempt  |  0/25 points to pass
25 Questions  |  1 attempt  |  0/25 points to pass Participants will complete a Pre- and Post-Knowledge test on topics relevant to this training. The Post-Knowledge test will only be available to you once the Pre-Knowledge Test and webinars are all completed.
Live Webinar 1: Executive Director Mental Health Academy
10/03/2023 at 1:00 PM (EDT)  |  120 minutes
10/03/2023 at 1:00 PM (EDT)  |  120 minutes
Live Webinar 2: Executive Director Mental Health Academy
10/17/2023 at 1:00 PM (EDT)  |  120 minutes
10/17/2023 at 1:00 PM (EDT)  |  120 minutes
Live Webinar 3: Executive Director Mental Health Academy
10/31/2023 at 1:00 PM (EDT)  |  120 minutes
10/31/2023 at 1:00 PM (EDT)  |  120 minutes
Live Webinar 4: Executive Director Mental Health Academy
11/14/2023 at 1:00 PM (EST)  |  120 minutes
11/14/2023 at 1:00 PM (EST)  |  120 minutes
Live Webinar 5: Executive Director Mental Health Academy
12/05/2023 at 1:00 PM (EST)  |  120 minutes
12/05/2023 at 1:00 PM (EST)  |  120 minutes
Post-Knowledge Test
25 Questions  |  1 attempt  |  0/25 points to pass
25 Questions  |  1 attempt  |  0/25 points to pass Participants will complete a Pre- and Post-Knowledge test on topics relevant to this training. The Post-Knowledge Test is only available once the Pre-Knowledge Test and webinars are all completed.
CAC Executive Director Mental Health Academy Evaluation
9 Questions
Certificate
10.00 Credit Hour credits  |  Certificate available
10.00 Credit Hour credits  |  Certificate available

Libby Ralston, PhD

Founding Director of the Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center, Inc (DNLCC)

Libby Ralston, PhD was the founding director of the Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center, Inc (DNLCC) an accredited Children’s Advocacy Center located in Charleston, SC and now serves as the Director Emeritus. Dr. Ralston is on the clinical faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Medical University of South Carolina. She served on the NCA Board of Directors, on the NCA mental health standard revision committee and participated in the partnership between NCA and NCTSN to develop the CAC Director’s Guide to Mental Health services. Since 2007 Dr. Ralston has served as the co-director of Project BEST, a Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy dissemination and since 2013 has served as Co-Director of the South Carolina Trauma Practice Initiative, a collaboration between the South Carolina Department of Social Services, the SC Department of Mental Health and Project BEST. Both initiative have been funded by The Duke Endowment.

Michelle Miller

Director, NCA Institute for Better Mental Health Outcomes

National Children's Alliance

Michelle Miller, PhD, LCSW, LCPC, is the Director of NCA’s Institute for Better Mental Health Outcomes.  In addition to her 8 years at NCA, she nearly 3 decades of experience working in the child welfare field and over 20 years’ experience as a mental health provider. Dr. Miller spent 15 years as the founding director of NCA’s first accredited CAC in Montana and was the founding board chair for the Montana State Chapter of NCA. Michelle has over 20 years’ experience providing training and supervision to mental health practitioners. Since joining the NCA team in 2016, Michelle has worked with the Yale Child Study Center on the implementation of Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention in CACs. Michelle also works with Baylor University on training clinicians in evidenced-based assessment.  Michelle worked with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center as a co-developer of a curriculum for victim advocates on engaging families in mental health care and provides national trainings on the topic. Michelle is the co-developer of a training curriculum for CAC executive directors on mental health. Michelle is the co-author of a chapter on Evidence-Based Mental Health Services for Child Victims of Maltreatment in the book Child Sexual Abuse: Practical Approaches to Prevention and Intervention that will be published by the Child Welfare League of America in April 2023.