Center of Excellence for Recovery

Education and Training

The West Virginia Behavioral Health Workforce and Health Equity Training Center (WVBHW-HET)

The WVBHW-HET Center, was developed to improve behavioral health outcomes for West Virginians by providing high-quality, culturally appropriate, evidence-based trainings statewide to all behavioral health practitioners, including those in geographically isolated areas. Using virtual training platforms to increase accessibility to remote practitioners, the Training Center’s primary mission is to reduce disparities in behavioral health outcomes by improving the quality of care for all and ensuring that practitioners are trained in culturally relevant, trauma-informed approaches that meet the needs of both the broad population as well as those marginalized by social factors.

It functions as a collaboration between the West Virginia Bureau for Behavioral Health and Marshall University. The training center is funded by the WV Bureau for Behavioral Health and funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Center is based out of the Marshall University Center of Excellence for Recovery.

The training center’s pilot trainings launched with three initial goals:

  1. Support the highest level of competence across behavioral health providers in West Virginia by providing evidence-based trainings that increase the capacity of the behavioral health workforce statewide to provide person-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate care.
  2. Increase WV Behavioral Health Workforce and systems capacity to engage, retain, and support diverse communities and populations that make up the citizenry of West Virginia.
  3. Foster collaboration among WV Behavioral Health agencies and providers to develop networks and systems of care that communicate and share resources to promote practices that support the highest level of functioning in the least restrictive environment for all individuals, regardless of background, diagnosis, financial status, or co-morbid factors.

The pilot trainings included seven evidence-based practice target areas, as well as several other supportive sessions that highlighted populations experiencing health disparities and evidence-based practices that address health disparities. The population of focus for the trainings are behavioral health providers. Participants are offered continuing education if applicable.

Please see the project website for scheduled trainings WV Behavioral Health Workforce and Health Equity Training Center (wvbhtraining.org)

The first year’s report is available here Training Center Report

PreventionDatatoPractice2020 Prevention Data to Practice: Virtual Learning Series

The West Virginia Strategic Prevention Partnerships for Success Evidence-Based Practice Workgroup in partnership with Marshall University Center of Excellence in Recovery is hosting a training series on translating data into prevention practice. The series is funded by the West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources Bureau for Behavioral Health by a Partnerships for Success (PFS) grant to Marshall University from the federal Department of Health & Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Sessions will be of interest to prevention and public health professionals, community coalition staff and members, schools, higher education and community members and organizations serving youth and families.

Informational flyers on each session are listed below. Recordings of past sessions are available by clicking on the links below.

2021 Prevention Virtual Learning Series

Marshall University Center of Excellence for Recovery collaborates with many state and community partners to provide access to virtual prevention trainings on a variety of topics. Informational flyers on each session are listed below. Recordings of past sessions are available by clicking on the links below.

Building Bridges Prevention Conference

The Building Bridges one-day, in-person conference held August 23, 2021 focused on further equipping communities and organizations with effective tools to help build vital youth and adult coalitions. Attendees learned how to build bridges to cross obstacles to improved behavioral health and wellness in their communities. Agenda items included: understanding the core of effective coalitions, how to fire up community and youth engagement and a discussion of opportunities for learning together and receiving funding for needed community and youth projects.

The two nationally renowned speakers providing the interactive training were Jim Ryan, Ohio Certified Prevention Consultant and Internationally Certified Prevention Specialist and Kym Laube, Executive Director of Human Understanding Growth Services, Inc. (HUGS Inc.), located in Westhampton Beach, New York. The conference is funded by the West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources Bureau for Behavioral Health by a Partnerships for Success (PFS) grant from the federal Department of Health & Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Morning Session
https://vimeo.com/647434814/d05c90bd52

Afternoon Session
https://vimeo.com/647417134/c3758923b0

CANS and FAST Trainings

Marshall University provides CANS and FAST training to DHHR, community partners and Marshall University classes. Trainings can be done in person or virtually. Marshall also will provide train-the-trainer sessions twice a year. Learn more about training opportunities here.

Series on the Intersection of Prevention & Domestic Violence

Sara Blevins, Director of Development and Shannon Petree Beckett, Director of Systems of Advocacy, from Branches provided this training series for West Virginia’s Collegiate Partnerships for Success Project student leaders. The following link allows access to all three sessions.

Session 1 is Domestic Violence 101

Session 2 is Understanding Poverty and Domestic Violence

Session 3 is The Intersection of Domestic Violence and Substance Use Disorder.

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I62V47dV6Ys9Eymr9rGRf3hSqeyM3E-r?usp=sharing

Funding Resources for Community Organizations Series

Marshall University Center of Excellence for Recovery coordinated a series of panels and discussions that highlighted funding resources for community organizations. Access the recording below as well as several resources shared during the presentations.

Training Resources

Training Video