0:00-->4:18 Silent except a brief welcome at 3:12 and Contains 3 rotations of 7 CE Slides with the following information:
LOGO in upper left corner: Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work. Continuing Education - The University of Oklahoma

Virtual CE Building Bridges to Improve Mental Health. Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024

Slide 1: Thank you for joining us today.
Slide 2: For Those Seeking CE Credits: instructions to verify attendance
Slide 3: We Want to know your thoughts - online evaluation https://bit.ly/45c35Dc
Slide 4: Online payment now available OUSWK online payment marketplace https://bit.ly/4ePJeyr
Slide 5: Continuing Education Certificates CE Database https://bit.ly/4c9AaSF
Slide 6: Today's Session Will Be Recorded Resource Database: https://bit.ly/3Rf03bL
Slide 7: Links & Information will be provided in an post-event follow-up email.

Presentation slides are shown throughout the video and can be found in the Resource Database.

[Bonni Goodwin]
Hello everyone. Just wanted to welcome you. We've got a couple minutes til we get, we will get started, but just grateful that you're here and, uh, we'll get started in just a minute. Hello and welcome everyone. We are so glad that you are on with us today. Um, and we are so grateful for Mary Wichansky and Michelle Savieo to be here with us from the National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health. Um, Oklahoma is partnering with this excellent, uh, center to, um, do a host of things. Uh, one of those being, having a good discussion of how to build cross systems collaboration, strengthen cross systems collaboration across our state, um, with, uh, additional support and awareness of adoption competent mental health. So, Mary & Michelle, thank you so much for being with us today. Um, we are, I believe you have, uh, capacity to be able to share your screen and, uh, if there's any, any tech issues that come up, just let us know and we'll see how we can support. But I will turn it over to you. 

[Mary Wichansky]
Hey, thanks Bonni, I really appreciate that. And thanks Michelle, for sharing your screen. 

::Slide - Event Title:: 

Um, we hope today we can share some information about the National Center, and we wanna make this, um, a little bit, you know, interactive. So please feel free. Um, you know, we're a small group to ask questions. Um, we'll get through, I'm sure the slides, but we wanna make sure it's meaningful to all participants. So if you have a question, feel free, um, to ask. Okay. 
So as Bonni stated, uh, we are a national center that was funded to improve mental health outcomes in children and families who have experienced the child welfare population. So again, it's, it's a, it's a piece of the mental health system. Again, we're focusing on those children and youth and families who've experienced the child welfare system. Okay, next slide. 

::Slide - Introduction - pictures of Mary Wichansky Director, National Center - CASE and Michelle Savieo, Director ofTechnical Assistance - CASE::

And it's great to see who's here. So I appreciate that. Yeah. Okay. So I'm joined by my colleague, Michelle Savio. Um, I am the Director of the initiative, and Michelle Savio is the Director of Technical Assistance. And we are here to provide information to you today, as well as answer questions, um, about the center. Okay, next slide. 

::Slide - Agenda & Webinar Objectives::

So, um, what we wanna talk about today really is, um, you know, do some, and we, by introductions we're thinking by chat. So if you would be kind enough to share in the chat, you know, who you are and maybe where, where you work or what your role is, that would be really helpful. We're gonna provide an overview of the National Center. We're gonna talk a lot about adoption competence. We're gonna talk about how our initiative partners with youth and families at front and center to transform systems. We'll talk a little bit about how we apply a racial and broader equity lens. Um, and then we'll talk about, you know, technical assistance. Um, so our hopes really is when you walk away, um, that you understand really the purpose of the national center and you understand adoption competence. And we'll broadly talk about kind of what that applies to, um, and envision kind of what Technical Assistance will look like in in Oklahoma, um, and then know about resources. So, okay, next slide.

::Slide - The Why of The National Center::

So we'll start with kind of answering the question. Why was, why was the center funded? So the center was funded in October. It is a five-year initiative funded by the Children's Bureau, and it's a unique initiative because it's one of the, it is the only initiative that actually at the goal level is to go cross system from mental health to child welfare and from child welfare to mental health with the alignment of improving the outcomes, mental health outcomes. So again, it's, it's quite unique and that is, you know, dual system. Um, and also, you know, what really what we're trying to do, um, in the center is to bring forward the adoption, competence, understanding, as well as the investment of different states, tribes and territories, Oklahoma being one, in terms of moving that system forward. So we really envision a world where in the ideal situation, families have the tools that they need to reach their full potential. Mental health, we believe is one of the foundational, um, developmental pieces of life that actually can catapult achievement academically, socially, and families, um, and, and other things. So it is really important that we make sure that these families and youth are afforded the toolkit that they need to reach their full potential. And so what we do, how we do this is we are aligning with change makers in different states. Our initiative is to serve six states, tribes and territories every year. And that extends for a period. Um, the grant is funded through five years, so that'll be 30 states when we complete this. And so our hope really is that as we're developing our TA plans, that those change makers in child serving systems are collaborating with us. And Michelle will talk a little bit later about Technical Assistance and pull in some key terms around how we bring in these change makers and how we utilize them to help support the change in a particular system. And then we partner, uh, to build culturally and linguistically accessible mental health services. So accessibility of service that are uniquely designed to meet the needs of these particular families. So the why of the national center actually sits on top of another initiative called the National Training Initiative for Mental Health Adoption Competence. Um, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in terms of it is not case as the lead in this, um, grant is been in the field of creating the terminology in the framework of adoption competence for about 25 years, and most specifically in the last 14 years, creating curriculum to advance the workforce and understanding about what adoption competence can do for states, tribes, and territories. Okay. Next slide. 

::Slide - Children and Youth's Mental Health::

All right. And so, just, you know, spending a minute on this slide, I know most people here very clearly have this information already, but again, it's important to think about kind of the different aspects of this. So when we think about the mental health needs of this population, we think about the, you know, incidence rate of how often, um, and a prevalence of need, which is significantly higher than the general population. So again, three to four times more likely to need mental health services. Um, of course, they experience much higher rate of various conditions. Um, and so you can see the list there, I won't read it to you. ::(items not read aloud) including ADHD, depression, anxiety, ODD, conduct disorder and behavioral problems.:: Um, but one of the challenges that has been ongoing is the disproportionate utilization and referral of all populations, you know, to mental health services. And so one thing that we know is that in terms of those who are involved in child welfare, um, you know, one in nine children, black children will spend part of their childhood in foster care and one in seven Native American children. So that's a significant amount of individuals who are gonna need, um, those services. But what's important is if we do this well, right, if we're able to deliver a workforce that can meet the needs of the population that is well-trained, where referrals are appropriately, you know, working, we're gonna see families heal. And what's really important about adoption competence is it's all about the future in terms of how do you heal from the experience of being in, you know, foster care, being in removed from your family loss, grief, attachment issues and so forth. We know that when that is well treated, the trajectory looks really different than when it's not. So, when it's not, the last point on the slide really is that, you know, 60% of this population, you might, they might be 10 right now, but when they go into adulthood, 60% of these individuals will have lifelong disorders. And so it's not a, just a now phenomena, it's a ongoing phenomena that carries significant impact in people's lives. And so we care about this very, very much because we want to make that trajectory, that number of 60%, you know, as low as it can be. Okay, next slide. 

::Slide - Compromised Beginnings::

So this is a slide just, and I'm sure most of you are familiar kind of with, you know, the compromised beginnings and, and the experience of childhood welfare and looking at adverse childhood experiences. And the, the point here that I wanna make really is that, you know, the impact of this early adversity, right? It is something that translates over time in very significant ways. And so by the time we know that the ACEs scores and what has happened as experiences for this population has lasting, impactful, you know, impact on their lives. And so we want to make sure that, again, that we can change this, we, you know, again, um, experiences happen, but how do we respond to those experiences and how do we provide services that are responsive to those fundamental issues of, of loss grief, attachment issues, healing in the context of a relationship with family? And we'll talk about that in terms of our curriculum. Okay, next slide. 

::Slide - Five Key Outcomes of the National Center::

So, just as in a nutshell, I wanna share what our primary outcomes goals for the National Center are. And the first, as Bonni said, is increasing collaboration. So one of the things that we wanna work very hard in different states to accomplish is to building bridges between systems and bridges that actually work very well, right? So that we have systems and providers who are collaborating on the, the wellbeing of children, and that the, the, the issue or the child doesn't rest in other either system. It's in both systems. It's aligned need between child welfare and mental health. So increasing collaboration is significant in terms of goals. 
The other is when I, the increased use of training. So I think what's important to note here is that, you know, really around, um, the adoption competency, we'll talk about the fact that this training that we are bringing forward in all Technical Assistance is the use of, of NTI. And I know some folks may be familiar with NTI, but it is a state-of-the-art curriculum, um, that is free of charge, available online, self-paced, and with the provision of coaching. And so in order to equip the, the workforce, we want to both train and support shifts of practice shifting in practice. 
And the third goal is really to improve access to services and in state to state what access looks like differs significantly, what the key challenges. In some communities it might be the challenges geographic that there are very few services in rural communities. In some areas it might be that linguistics is a challenge because, you know, the providers are not speaking in, in that native language. It might be that, um, accessibility is around wait time for services. It might be that there are some providers out there that they may make good referrals, but the barrier is wait time to services. So when we talk about accessibility, we're really having a broad brush on accessibility and the different accessibility features that impact states the most. 
So those are our three goals along with sustainability. Um, when we talk about the work that the national Center is doing in different states and across the nation, this is built to be sustainable. And so when we work in states for 12 months, 12 to 18 months, 12 months is intensive ta, the additional six months is kind of step down ta. But we're building, we're building the program for sustainability. And what we really wanna do is make sure that all providers, it's a lofty goal, but we'll say it all providers who interface with, um, children and youth who have experienced a child welfare system have adequate knowledge, skills and practice support to affect change. And so in terms of sustainability, this is something that we have seen in different states be integrated into things like onboarding for sustainability, so that they're not catching up the workforce, they're preparing the workforce. So that's, uh, that's one of the issues in terms of our work. 
And then the, the very end of the road, you know, we are really hoping that we see enhanced youth outcomes, improving wellbeing, stability, permanency, and behavioral health outcomes for children. So again, that's our long-term goal and how we get there. We'll describe a little bit, uh, further. Okay, slide. 

::Slide - NTI Training and Technical Assistance (TA)::

Okay. So as I mentioned, you can, this is a little hard to read, but the top boxes, um, are our goals. You know, enhanced collaboration, improved access, and workforce competency. And when we talk about workforce competency, I wanna pause on that just for a minute, because this initiative is, it actually serves three different systems. It serves the, there's a curriculum that serves the mental health workforce. There is a different curriculum, but aligned curriculum that supports the child welfare workforce. And there's a third curriculum that supports the educational workforce. So once we have in a particular community or system, all of the workforce being trained on a very aligned curriculum, the language, the priorities, the understanding becomes shared language, shared vision, shared understanding. Um, and so we wanna make sure that we are driving, you know, kind of a system level change of professional, um, competency and development. 
And then the bottom boxes are just kind of showing, um, visually what connects to what. And so in our, in our initiative, we have things that I hope are of interest to everyone on the call, which is we have universal technical assistance. And what that means is we have a knowledge hub, and in that knowledge hub, we have materials, resources, you know, articles, information that is going to be helpful to any child welfare worker, mental health worker, or even family, um, families who want to learn more about what is adoption competence, how do I get better services for my family? What does that look like? So that's the Technical Assistance that is universally provided, and it's free of charge, it's online. And in addition, that's where we house our webinars, um, and our chat conversations and so forth. 
And then the green box is where, um, Oklahoma is now focusing. And, um, Bonni, thank you for, you know, really supporting our efforts to bring, uh, this Technical Assistance to Oklahoma. And Michelle Savio is, is leading the initiative overall of all states who are engaged in this, but really that in-depth Technical Assistance is designed to meet the priority needs of a particular state, tribe or territory that may already be in process. And so we're not creating brand new initiatives all the time. Sometimes we're expanding breadth or depth of something that's already occurring. Okay, next slide. 

::Slide - The National Center Goals::

And so, you know, in terms of the goals, um, what our overarching goal is in improving the capacity to deliver culturally and accessible mental health services. Um, and so again, those three goals, which we've talked about, how are we gonna get there? 
We're gonna do a couple of things that are important to point out. And part of that is the National center is going to provide a level of expertise that is not easily found elsewhere. We, and we'll talk a little bit more about our team, but this challenge, improving mental health outcomes for families and youth and who've experienced child welfare is a huge issue in terms of, it's a huge need. There's urgency to it, and if it were easy, it wouldn't, it would've been solved. So part of our work is to be really creative around how do we move forward that needle, um, by providing the expertise needed to support states to move forward. 
Um, our other piece is that this is not, um, a static national center, meaning that we just have information available, but part of our work is to collect stories and experiences to put on our hubs so that others can learn what's happening in other states. You can learn, um, you know, again, it's a push-pull communication vehicle, so that we're interested and we hear from, we just did a focus group, for example, um, at the National Foster Parent Association. And our job there was to really learn from the field about what families need more specifically, um, and families who are in the process of fostering and adopting youth. And so our website and our knowledge hub will be aligned to meet those needs dynamic as opposed to kind of just pushing out of materials. We are valuing the input of states, tribes, and territories in terms of the work they're already doing, and we're featuring that. 
So, um, and then again, the third achieve how we'll achieve this is really looking at developing and delivering the tailored onsite technical assistance. 

::Slide - The National Center Partners::

Okay? And so I mentioned, um, if this was an easy problem, we would have solved it already. Um, and it's not, this is a really important issue. It it's complex. It create, it requires a network of change makers to help support the efforts. And so in our staffing of the National Center, we are partnering with a series of experts across the nation to bring what we believe to be the key leverage points in a system to make these kinds of changes. And so CASE, as the lead will bring expertise and adoption competency, the Baker Center for Children and Families at Harvard will bring the mental health training and TA expertise. Uh, Fred Law, which is Family run organization, will bring the perspective of families who have either successfully gotten what they needed, which is wonderful, we'll hear from them. And for those who have not gotten what they needed, we'll hear from them as well to understand more specifically what they need. We'll have lived experience in terms of youth and Foster Club. NAA is gonna be our racial and cultural equity perspective. And NFPI mentioned is around advocacy and kinship, families, adoptive and foster families. 
And then last is our policy arm and then our evaluation arm. And so what's important around this is that as we learn in each state, tribe or territory what the primary needs are, we will equip the team with the resources needed specifically for that TA goal. And so, for example, if we are working in, you know, really wanting to bring in family voice and family organizations, our partner at Fred has both a national perspective and can operate in any state. So they can bring expertise of things that are working in, in other states and help inform and suggest or maybe brainstorm some ideas in another territory. Um, next slide.

::Slide - What is Adoption Competence?::

Okay. So, um, you know, this is kind of the heart of what we're talking about, and I wanna do a little bit of a language clarification. So we were funded by, um, adoption, um, adoption dollars, um, federally initially. And so the name Adoption Competence, I wanna say is, it's important because it really is a framework for understanding, and that's how it's been coined. 
But we wanna make sure that, uh, folks understand that adoption competence is a series of skills, knowledge, and practice that can be applied to any child and family in any, any point in child welfare. It is not specifically adoption, it is all of the families that touch child welfare. And so, again, we each state, and I don't know, Bonni, we had a chance to talk with you about this yet, but, um, you know, the idea around how do we name this, how do we coin this for sustainability and local uptake that makes it makes sense for the state? Um, we have been given permission to allow states to design a great name and a great logo, um, for that purpose so that it's owned, you know, really and sustained by the, the state. 
So I wanted to clarify that adoption competence to include a much broader audience and important in the training around adoption competence is that this is not like, it's not a single practice, but really a comprehensive set of knowledge and understandings that incorporates other evidence-based practices. So it will touch on other evidence-based practices that you're already familiar with, whether it's motivational interviewing or, um, ccb, you know, CBT training or, uh, trauma informed care, or there's a bunch of things that you already may be familiar with. And this is to compliment, not duplicate the trainings that you've already had as mental health professionals. So we wanna really look at what is the experience and the particular needs of clinicians that, what do they have to have to adequately work with and treat families that are, you know, coming from this population. And so, again, these are just some key features. It's, and many much of this is probably familiar in other certain evidence-based practices. 
Um, but it is, again, uh, attachment focus, trauma-informed very much keys to the concept of healing occurs best in the context of a family. And so we are working with providers to work in fam with families and for families, um, in service of, of their treatment goals. Um, and then again, what we talked about earlier, the core issues around the experience of being, um, you know, removed from your biological family or your family of origin has impact on youth. And so those core issues around loss, rejection, guilt, grief, are really critical to understand because they're actually the foundation impact of what happens then kind of cascades into a number of other issues oftentimes if they're not addressed well. And so understanding this training will help understand these concepts much more deeply as it relates to the experience of being in child welfare. 
Um, and then there's therapeutic parenting, which is really critical, um, you know, to really help understand that behaviors, uh, and I'm sure most of you all are kind of practicing in this way. Um, some of the behaviors that we're seeing there are deep connections to the loss, rejection, grief, and guilt. And this is the type of experience that travels with you for a lifetime. And so we talk to adult, you know, adoptees, adults who have been in the foster care system. We have folks who do presentations, and they talk about the impact of these experiences over the trajectory of their life. And so it's, again, just, it's not necessarily, now it's an issue and you get treatment and all as well. It may need ongoing support over a lifespan depending on what's going on in people's lives. Um, and so this is a really, um, adoption competence is a way of framing and a way of thinking about the issues to help support, um, families most. Okay. Next slide.

::Slide - Applying Adoption Competence::

Um, so I, I'm gonna skip this slide. It's, I, I think it first in service of time. That's okay.

::Slide - Partnering with Youth and Families to Transform Systems::

Um, so I wanna focus on what's at the core of our work is partnering with youth and families to help transform systems. And what we know is if folks aren't at the table at initiation, if they're not at the center, if we're not listening to them, then the systems are not going to transform as well as they would if we had full input and full co-creation of Technical Assistance plans and support from anything from how are services working to, what feedback do you have if you've been treated by an adoption competent professional, what, what difference does that make? And so we're continuing to collect information from youth and families to help support getting them closer to a system that is responsive to their needs, both culturally and linguistically, which has, you know, a lot of work under that as well. Okay. Next slide. 

::Slide - Value of Lived Experience (LEx) in Child Welfare Systems::

So, lived experience, um, I think, you know, just to focus here, again, this is a critical value in the work that we do, is that we value highly lived experience. We have four partners, and that is what they bring to this initiative because it is as important as it is. And so we're integrating lived experience into our understanding, our Technical Assistance plan, our briefs, all of the work that we're doing. Um, and then that input is also strengthening advocacy and policy development, both in states and nationally. 
Um, and then we're looking at family and caregiver engagement strategies in terms of how do we use lived experience from others to help support that family and caregiver engagement. Okay. 
And I think the last little square on that is our knowledge hub. So access to knowledge of best practices, um, because we've learned a lot in this, you know, since inception of NTI adoption, competent training in 2014, um, over the last 10 years, we have learned a lot about what the field needs and what providers need. Um, and so it's in the knowledge head, we will gather key information to, to be able to provide it to any audience. And then again, that's the audience includes child welfare, mental health, and families, as well as any other change maker, which could be family, organization, policy makers, juvenile justice education. So it's across system initiative. Okay, next slide.

::Slide - Engaging Families::

Um, so I won't read the detail on this, but just to talk a little bit about, you know, who are the, what's the flow of what we're doing and who are we working with? And so we're bringing to the table systems perspectives, which are held by leadership and systems. We're bringing together community experiences. And so that can be both caregiver experiences and youth experiences. We're bringing together managed care to the table or other insurance carriers for the, for the purpose of looking at, you know, how do we create an incentive type system for appropriate training, appropriate compensation for specific expertise. And in some states, if it's, if it's a statewide, uh, carve out like it is in Oklahoma, um, those partners are really critical because they can help support our goal of making sure that our providers are trained as they need to be, um, agency and facility, uh, family, child, and youth. Um, and we'll share these slides at so that you'll have them. Um, but I think that the point is just to say that, you know, we're engaging all of these players for the purpose of creating the outcomes we're looking for. Okay, next slide. Um, here's a,

::Slide - Application of Racial and Broader Equity Throughout the National Center::

Um, here's a, a slide really just talking about racial and broader equity. And I think everyone on the call is well aware of the, the disproportionate outcomes and the disproportionate access to services and to systems. And so what we know is that we are going to have to make very targeted, focused efforts to understand in each state, tribe or territory what is working and what diversity efforts need to happen. And so we're, we'll be collecting that information, we are sharing it broadly. Um, and for anyone who's not signed up for our newsletter, we, um, we'll share it at the end. But again, it's, it's, uh, month of BIPOC month. And we're really looking forward to looking deeply at the issues of disparities. Um, and that is broadly defined. Um, so stay tuned for that, 
uh, the dissemination process. So we'll be looking at how do we disseminate that information? How do we outreach to those who've historically had systemic racism impacts? And developing partners with associations whose primary purpose across, you know, in every state and across the nation, is really to address that disproportion that outcome, and then engaging communities in technical assistance. Um, and so part of that work, Michelle will talk more about, um, in depth about how do we engage communities and how do we work to engage individuals who've been impacted? 'cause we think about this effort as in terms of, you know, looking at how can NTI equip a system? We think about kind of the three areas. The individual themselves, the provider themselves will gain expertise, skill, knowledge, and have access to incredible resources that they can go back to and revisit. So that's at the individual level. 
Then at the organizational level, we see that as another impact circle, you know, kind of when we're looking at a diagram, um, and those organizations who choose to take NTI as an organization will, we're looking at that as kind of the next subset of change in terms of organizations who commit to this and who train their staff there will be impact organizationally, which is different from individuals who may take this, this training outside of an organizational context and support. 
Um, and so then the last is o obviously the societal impact. And so we believe that by that we will have impact individually with providers in organizations, and then overall, uh, throughout society, making this a priority. Um, and again, equipping our families with the knowledge and understanding of what they can advocate for in their systems. Okay. Next slide. I will kick it over to Michelle.

::Slide - Technical Assistance::

[Michelle Savieo]
I think I'm unmuted now, so thank you, Mary. Um, I'm Michelle Savieo. I'm the Director of Technical Assistance with the National Center. And so I'm gonna talk a little bit about what Technical Assistance means. And with the National Center, we have two types of technical assistance, as Mary indicated. We have our universal technical assistance, which is available to anybody at any time, and is really gonna provide a great depth of information about, um, mental health services for children, families and children, youth and families involved in child welfare. And, and honestly, I believe it, it, it, you know, children that have experienced loss can benefit, uh, in many ways from it. So we are, you know, have that, that universal hub really, you know, wanna connect people with, with others across the nation and, um, really create a network of professionals that can benefit from that knowledge. 
And then we also have intensive technical assistance, which we will provide to six sites, um, six states, territories, or tribes every year. And so what Technical Assistance really is, is this a change initiative? You know, our work is to, um, take all the knowledge and transfer it from experts and, and share it with the field and make sure that everyone benefits from that knowledge. Um, we wanna support, um, support you all as you do your work with children and families, and really, um, give you the knowledge and tools to really make you feel more confident in when you are working with them. Um, we will be using NTI as one of our tools of Technical Assistance and really, um, working to increase the knowledge of that through that, um, robust training, which is a really state of the art, um, to provide information to mental health professionals, uh, child welfare professionals and, and even educators, um, to, to help improve the work with these children and families. 

::Slide - Universal Technical Assistance::

So our Universal Technical Assistance is we have our website, it's up and running. Um, it's, um, on that you will learn about all of our partners, you'll learn about more about what Technical Assistance is, so be, you know, articles on there. Um, if you're looking for information about a, a, a specific topic or a specific resource, you know, we hope that you'll access the knowledge hub. Um, we also have a chat function on that website. So if you are looking for something and perhaps you don't see it, um, you can chat with us at any given time and we can do some research. We can do some of the legwork for you through the Knowledge hub and help get you the information. Maybe it's there and you can't find it, or, or maybe we, we can do a little bit more, um, digging to help you get what you need. But, um, we also have a blog and encourage you to sign up for our monthly newsletter, um, because that will give you, uh, a lot of good information as well. And so this is constantly growing and evolving, and our, the goal is that it's gonna meet the needs and be your go-to place, um, for information and resources in your work. Um, as you go into it, as I said, the Go-to repository.

::Slide - Universal TA:: 

We want this to be that your source of information when you, when you're looking for evidence-based interventions, you're looking for models and, and treatment me, uh, mechanisms to, uh, work with these children and families. Um, as I indicated, you know, it's for, for child welfare, it's for mental health, but it's also for the families. It's also for families that may have adopted, maybe it's foster families or biological families who are looking for resources on, on how to better, better parent the children that they're with. Um, you know, manage some of the behaviors that they may encounter as, as a result of their involvement with child welfare services, um, and all the general public, so anybody can access it. Um, we are taking all of the information that we gain from the focus groups that Mary talked about, what we learned from our Intensive TA sites and conferences, um, and, and what we're learning from our Family Voice organizations, inputting all of that information into the knowledge hub so that we can create the webinars, podcasts, um, blood codes. We wanna, we wanna have a place for peer-to-peer learning where sites can learn from one another. Um, and even if sites aren't engaged, inten Intensive Technical Assistance that, um, states, territories and tribes can go to these and hear from others on what's working and what's not working, and really have the capacity to learn from and brainstorm with one another, um, you'll find toolkits there as well as e-news. And so it really, as, as, as it continues to develop, it will continue to get more and more information and, and really be your, your Go-to place for information. 

::Slide - Intensive Technical Assistance::
So, Intensive Technical Assistance is, um, our tier two, and we have already engaged with Oklahoma. And so we are going to be, um, working with Oklahoma. We had a kickoff back in May and are in the process of beginning the development of the work plan. And, um, Technical Assistance is simply a change initiative. And so we are using implementation science to bring in tools and resources to help move forward that change. And then our roadmap is gonna be that work plan, and that work plan is co-created, um, by the individuals at the in Oklahoma as well as the National Center partners, so that we can use our knowledge together to really develop a plan that's going to be, meet the needs of Oklahoma, meet the needs of the children and family, and achieve those goals that Mary talked about of really building collaborations between mental health and child welfare, um, bringing in training that can help enhance, uh, the workforce and, and when as you work with these children, and really so that you can develop the confidences that you need and have the tools that you need. And then, um, and preventing access is our third goal. So we're gonna be doing that at, you know, and as we develop that, that work plan. And so what's next is, is the work plan development, and then, um, we'll also be having some additional onsite sections, um, onsite sessions. Excuse me, as we move forward with our technical assistance. And, um, I'm hearing from a meeting yesterday that the next one will likely be in the fall of this year. And so, um, you know, having that to move forward with really implementing that work plan and, and having some groups. So I'll talk a little bit about steering and implementation groups too as we, as we move forward. 

::Slide - What is Technical Assistance:: 

But first of all, what is Technical Assistance? As I indicated, it's, um, based on implementation science, and it really is simply a set of tools and activities that, activities that are designed to bring about change and, and sustain that change. And so as we think about that, we wanna think is what is the thing we need, you know, is a particular thing. What is it that, um, we need to implement? For instance, say the thing is NTI, the National Adoption Competency Training, um, we want to make sure that, um, that is spread far and wide across Oklahoma so that people have knowledge and of it, they're able to easily access that, they're able to get it and it's really gonna benefit their practices. And so maybe that's our thing is NTI. So then we'll look in, excuse me, and then we'll begin to look at what resources do we need to implement that thing. And so, you know, we'll be working with, with people, you know, all the partners in Oklahoma to say, what kind of resources do we need to bring in? Um, you know, maybe it has something to do with the managed care organizations. Maybe it has something to do with, with licensing and getting CEUs, because it does offer CEUs. And so we wanna work on how, what needs to, what needs to be put, what resources do we need, um, and then we're gonna begin to develop that plan and have the processes in place so that we can begin to, to implement those changes and move it forward.

::Slide - Our Technical Assistance Framework::

Um, and so this is kind of a, a layout of the science of Technical Assistance. And so, um, to break it down, we're gonna be looking at the innovations. And so the innovations are the things that I just talked about. It might be the NTI, it might be what do we need to do to improve access? So those are our, our things. And then we're gonna be looking at, um, our stages. And so breaking it down into manageable parts to make it easier to implement and, and more feasible to implement, because we know that everybody is already, um, very busy in the work you do. So we wanna make sure that, that we're doing this in, in the right stages. And then we'll bring in the, the drivers. And those are, are those resources that can help implement change, um, and teams. So I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about steering teams and implementation teams that we will, we will be developing to, um, help move those forward. And then looking at those improvement cycles and making sure that when our initial plan isn't working, that we're making the adjustments that we need, um, and, and recognizing that we need to make some changes within the plan to make sure that, that our plan is effective. And so constantly looking at that and circling back and, and making it, making those adjustments.

::Slide - Intensive Technical Assistance Suggested Participants::

So, so as we think about who needs to be involved in Technical Assistance, you can see from this chart, if you can see it, well, it's quite expansive. Um, which mean anybody involved, uh, that may be impacted by child welfare would, um, might want to have a, some kind of involvement. Um, so we have, you know, the systems of child welfare and mental health, but we also have partners, we have providers, we have schools, we have training partners, we have fiscal and juvenile justice. And this list is probably not all inclusive, um, but it really is to, we put down on paper first to give us some, some things to think about, you know, definitely systems of care partners, networks, um, university affiliations, even medical, you know, there, there's a role at the table for all of these because everyone can contribute and help, help drive and move this process forward. 
So I didn't, I thought that was it. I'm sorry. I talked to you about teams and steering teams and I thought there was a slide, but I see that there's not. So as we, as we move forward, one of the things that, that we're gonna do want to do in Oklahoma is have steering teams and implementation teams. And so steering teams, what they are, they're kind of the, the drivers of the plan. They are generally in leadership type positions or, um, champions of, of the initiative that can help drive it and move everything forward. Um, all of the plans, we, or all of the teams that we will look to develop, um, we want to be inclusive of, of diversity and inclusive of, of different roles and, and different organizations so that they are, um, diverse and, and can help drive the plan. And from there we'll also be looking at implementation teams. And the implementation teams are really the, the kind of the, they carry out the, the plan in many situations. And, um, they're gonna be looking at, um, you know, the plan objectives and we're gonna be working with those to develop, um, strategies and tactics to achieve those. And so the intent is that we'll be working with those, those teams on a regular basis to, to move the Technical Assistance plan forward. Um, and we believe that that through those teams and through these regular meetings and through our four, um, onsite work, work events, um, with you, that we'll be able to achieve the outcomes that, that are hoped for in, and that the, the state of Oklahoma is seeking to achieve.

::Slide - Q & A:: 

So that brings us to our, our Q & A, um, and would definitely wanna open it up to everyone to, um, ask any questions that you have or, you know, share any thoughts with that you might have without it. And I would also like to use this kind of as a, a call for your participation and for you to think about how you might like to be participate in this initiative. That might be as simple as saying, you know, what I wanna take NTI and get out there and get in front of it, or it may be that you'd like to participate in, in some, some of the other planning and mechanisms and, and we would welcome that. So, um, definitely would, would like to open it up and, and hear your thoughts and questions. 

[Bonni Goodwin]
I see someone in chat already, Sharita has already, uh, uh, expressed interest in being involved. So what would be the best way, um, who, who would be the contact person for any interest of any participant? 

[Michelle Savieo]
Yeah, so, um, I think the best way to do that is Joanna Marita is our, um, implementation specialist that will be working with Oklahoma. And I can definitely put her information in the chat, but we can also include it, um, with the, maybe I would just add, maybe I can just add it to, um, the slide and indicate that anybody who's interested could send a quick email to her is do, unless, unless I would, you know, Bonni, unless I would, since you're involved with, do you have a different recommendation you want him to go through Joanna?

[Bonni Goodwin]
No, I think that's a great idea. I know that we're, um, looking at doing a kind of a follow up to the kickoff and having anybody who's interested in joining the steering or implementation committees, we're gonna have, um, a kind of general gathering, uh, to, to overview all of that again and have final commitments, um, and make sure everyone knows what they're committing to. Um, so it now would be the time, now would be the time to definitely reach out and let Joanna know. 
Um, also, Sharita, you mentioned something that is dear to my heart, so I just wanna to call it out. You said would also suggest we reach out to adults who are adopted as children. Totally agree. And, uh, definitely a part of what we are planning and a lot of, uh, the population that I speak to the most. Um, so definitely agree with that and will incorporate, um, feedback and and perspective there as well. 
Yay. Yay. Yay, Christy. Starting the training as a child welfare worker, the NTI training, um, and plan to get back into it as a mental health professional. Now, of course you will, Christy, you're awesome. She's a rock star. Excellent. Oh, um, oh, Mary, you asked Christy to share experience with NTI. Great idea. Christy, would you be willing to share more thoughts about what your experience with NTI has been? 

[Christy Chandler]
Um, sure. So it's been a while. I will admit that I didn't get to finish my training definitely got kind of sidetracked as I was finishing up school last year and everything. But, um, as far as getting enrolled in everything super simple, easy to kind of figure out like where you fall in terms of accessing the free training, um, layout is super easy to follow as you're going through the training. I love that there's the constant reminders through email, like you have so many days to finish it. Um, but just the training material itself, it is just, there is so much, and I, it's just amazing to me that that is all free. Um, it really did help inform, uh, what I did when I was working at DHS and even now, you know, as a new therapist, I definitely hold what I did, learn in mind, just a little bit of training and then, you know, practicum experience with Bonni and everything. Um, it's such a great tool. So I encourage everyone who, you know, hasn't heard of it or maybe is just kind of interested in it's definitely get yourself signed up.

[Bonni Goodwin]
Thank you, Christy. Yeah, Christy was one of our, sorry, Michelle, go ahead. 

[Michelle Savieo]
No, go ahead. Finish your thought.

[Bonni Goodwin]
Yeah, Christy was one of our, um, post-adoption practicum students, uh, when we first started adding quite a bit of post-op support, um, and services across the state. So Christy was right in there, um, being a part of the brainstorming and growth of, of everything that we're doing in Oklahoma. So thank you so much for that. 
Also, Sierra, put, uh, a link in chat to access NTI and I also want to offer, we do Sierra and I, Sierra is the clinical program manager here at the Center for Adoption and Family Wellbeing at OU. Um, she and I are in this center and we, uh, run coaching sessions with NTI. So if you want to join a group of other professionals who are going through the training together and meeting about once a month, we meet virtually for about an hour and just talk and consult and process the, the content of NTI together. 
So I'm gonna go ahead, um, looks like in the chat, Mary put Joanna's email, uh, that's, uh, maranta@adoptionsupport.org. So if you're interested in joining, um, efforts about the national center, everything that's been talked about today, email her. 
And I'm gonna put my email address in the chat as well. Um, so if you're interested in doing, uh, putting together a cohort for NTI coaching, uh, please email me and let me know if you would like to do that together. Um, NTI stands for the National Training in Adoption, Competent Mental Health Initiative. I say that right guys. Mm-Hmm. So it was, uh, it was a, a federal effort about, oh, eight years ago, something like that. Um, put together this really well done, easy to access, like Christy said, online training. Um, but we like to, we like to put cohorts together to be able to do the online training, but then process it together as well.

[Michelle Savieo]
Hmm. Is it, I do see that quite a, a few people have expressed interest and that's exciting to see. Um, so, you know, please do email Joanna. Um, I don't know if it, um, so you have her email 'cause I don't know if we'll be able to get all of your contact information through the chat to, to be able to reach out to you. Is that, is that possible to do that or just to have people email? Joanna is better.

[Bonni Goodwin]
Yeah, I think, um, I think it'd be good if you are interested to go ahead and, and shoot that quick message to Joanna. Um, 'cause we've got, we've got quite a few people on here today, so that'd be great.

[Michelle Savieo]
Yeah. And we are working to schedule, um, kinda a, a relaunch information type session, um, hopefully yet this month in July. Um, we'd like to get it, you know, soon after the, the holiday so that we can, we can move forward with beginning technical assistance. So I'm gonna let her know that she should expect some, some emails to come through so that we can make sure that you're invited to that, to that session where we'll be able to provide some more detailed information about what it means to sign up for teams and, um, you know, meet our Technical Assistance team and, um, so that we can be able to get moving forward with you. 

[Bonni Goodwin]
I think it's also a good idea to let you all know, um, the end of this month, uh, July, is it 30th, Sierra, July 30th, our next lunch and learn, uh, we will have Don Wilson and Leslie, um, Wright with CASE, uh, Leslie does the TAC training, which is, uh, in-person, more in depth training on adoption competency that we do have available in Oklahoma. And NTI is this online training that we're talking about, they will both be on that presentation. Um, so if you're interested in learning more information about those trainings, um, and more and have the opportunity to ask them questions, um, hop on with us again on July 30th for our lunch and learn on that day. 

[Mary Wichansky]
Great. Um, I was gonna tag Bonni to your, um, a lot of coaching kind of chats in here. And I wanted for those who are child welfare professionals, I just wanted to point out the NTI curriculum does have a specific layer on top for supervisors and the intent of that is to help support supervisors to support their staff. So, you know, again, we're really working at trying to support, uh, practice change, which again, we think of what we're offering and what we're doing as much more than a training. We think of it really as developing the workforce in a professional development effort that will involve multiple things over time. 

::Slide - National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI)::

And so as, as Bonni said, we really hope that folks who are, you know, big proponents of NTI will then look at TAC as a possibility for deepening and broadening their clinical skills, um, in Oklahoma. 'cause you do have that available there.

[Michelle Savieo]
Yeah. And I wanna sh show when we do send this PowerPoint, you'll have a link right here also to, um, access CNTI training, if you would like to, to get that started and begin that. And it does come with free CEUs for those of you, we didn't mention that. Um, it does have, you know, CEUs that you can, can, uh, earn at, at no cost to you, which is always to me, I always thought that was a huge bonus.

::Slide - Resources::

[Mary Wichansky]
And one thing that we're doing as we go along is really trying to understand kind of the level of awareness around adoption competence, and so that we can kind of have a baseline understanding of who is actually familiar with that concept or familiar has taken a training. So just on this screen, I was just wondering, I, I did see someone, a couple people who had taken NTI are people maybe just a shake of the head or a chat, um, asking the question around whether adoption competence is a familiar concept to those on this call or is it a new concept? So would love to hear, you know, familiar. Not familiar.

[Melanie Moore]
Definitely Familiar. 

[Mary Wichansky]
Thank you, Melanie. Okay. Anybody else?

[Jackie Turner]
Um, I am also kind of familiar just by being an adoptee myself, but I also just started a new job about four months ago within the behavioral health, um, field. So

[Mary Wichansky]
Thank you. That's good. Good to know. Thank you. And a couple folks are familiar, but missing key pieces. Some of the people are interested in learning more, so it sounds like we have people who've taken the training who are familiar and people who need to have more information. So we've got the entire spectrum of awareness here, which is, which is great. So I think there was, there was a response, um, and maybe everyone saw it. 
So a couple of questions around, will I have access to the PowerPoint? There was a, um, a chat that was, you know, put in the chat around, um, materials and resources will be available on the resource database. So I just wanted to point that out 'cause I know some folks asked, can we send the slides so it it will be available there, correct. Yeah. Okay, great. 
And we invite you, um, part of our, our work again, is really ear to the ground listening for what providers need for what, uh, child welfare workforce needs, what systems need. So if you're not able to participate formally as a steering committee member or an implementation member, but you wanna share your thoughts, please also reach out to us for that purpose. Um, again, your commitment can be simply sharing your experiences or sharing what you believe is needed. Uh, we will welcome any of that participation. And then more formally as you move up kind of the, um, engagement process or level, you'll have opportunities for being part of either the steering committee or the implementation committee. 
So, um, again, we hope this is not a single conversation, but we hope you've opened the door at any point to reach out to any of the National Center staff for more information or for how we can better support your needs and the work that you're doing. And again, as, as Michelle, um, mentioned, we're here to provide Technical Assistance and support to anyone who it may be informational needs or it may be system change efforts. So feel free to reach out, um, at any time. 
Any other questions or thoughts? I mean, I, I really appreciate some folks putting in the chat that they believe that this is a critical initiative. That it's an important initiative, that they're excited about it. Um, that's really great to, to hear the echoes of what we've been hearing, you know, all along. Um, in terms of the need for this and the appetite for it and the benefit to it, um, I'll just share very quickly that we did a presentation where Bonni was able to bring, um, some family members and some others to talk about their experiences and also to talk about, you know, we've tried to highlight the difference for families about what it means to be, um, provided, I'm trying to, from a professional who is adoption competent, train adoption, competency trained, um, and we have kind of resounding information that the, the difference it makes is really significant to the families that are being served, particularly in mental health services. So, okay. 

[Bonni Goodwin]
Alright. Mary, Michelle, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time and your expertise and your willingness to, to partner with us here in Oklahoma. Um, I'm really excited about the things that we've got going, um, and it sounds like we've got some great people who are interested in joining us. So thank you all for, um, hopping on here. Reach out, let us know. Um, we are absolutely interested in, um, having further conversation in all these different, uh, spaces. So thank you so much and hopefully we'll see you again on July 30th.

[Mary Wichansky]
Thank you.
 
[Michelle Savieo]
Thank you.