Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska

- Career Pathways Overview
- - Behavioral Health Career Pathways
    Behavioral health professionals share what is unique about their profession and how it is different from other behavioral health careers.
  - BHECN App
    The BHECN Behavioral Health Mentorship & Supervision App is a resource for anyone interested in behavioral health careers in Nebraska.
- - Lifelong Learning Fund
    BHECN's Lifelong Learning fund supports educational and career engagement opportunities to help grow our state's behavioral health workforce.
  - BHECN Scholars
    The BHECN Scholars program supports undergraduate seniors who plan to pursue master’s degrees in Nebraska-based behavioral health programs.
  - Correctional Sites Internship Program
    With clinical supervision, trainees in this internship program provide direct care to inmates and individuals needing mental health care.
  - Rural and Underserved Trainee Stipend Program
    In BHECN’s Rural and Underserved Trainee Stipend Program, graduate-level student trainees can apply to receive a stipend for their experiences.
- Education and Training Overview
- - Project PEACE
    The Project PEACE Webinar Series is a series of webinars recorded by psychiatry residents on rotation with BHECN.
  - Core Topics
    This accredited continuing education activity is designed for Behavioral Health providers to include psychologists, nurses, therapists, and social workers.
  - DSM-5 TR
    This webinar reviews revisions from the DSM-5 to the DSM-5-TR with speakers Krista Fritson, PsyD and Arden Szepe, PhD, NCC.
  - Heal the Healer
    Heal the Healer is a free webinar series that addresses incivility and bullying in the workplace designed for nurses and interested healthcare professionals.
- - Training Partnerships
    BHECN establishes partnerships to create and disseminate educational materials for the development of the behavioral health workforce.
  - Nebraska Behavioral Health Education Partnership
    BHECN partners with the 19 academic institutions to track the number of graduate-level behavioral health education students graduating and staying in Nebraska.
  - The BHECN Serenity Project
    The BHECN Serenity Project is a series of free online yoga and meditation sessions in partnership with Lotus House of Yoga.
- Research, Data & Policy Overview
- Nebraska Behavioral Health Workforce Dashboard
  The dashboard helps policy makers, employers, and behavioral health care stakeholders understand the state of the behavioral health workforce.
- Legislative Reports
  BHECN's biennial legislative reports examine the characteristics of actively practicing behavioral health providers in Nebraska.
- Nebraska Behavioral Health Policy Forum
  This forum discussed how investments in BHECN are being used to recruit, train, and retain behavioral health and rural healthcare providers across Nebraska.
- ARPA
  Access information related BHECN’s allocation of $25.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to Nebraska behavioral health providers.
- BHECN Sites Overview
- BHECN Panhandle
  BHECN Panhandle serves as a rural hub that supports our mission of recruitment and retention of behavioral health professionals across Nebraska.
- BHECN Central
  BHECN Central serves as a satellite location for training and workforce development in the central parts of the state.
- BHECN Northeast
  BHECN Northeast is a satellite location based at Wayne State College that facilitates training and workforce development in Northeast Nebraska.
BHECN Model

— Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska — Career Pathways — BHECN-UNO pilot program aims to increase interest in school-based BH careers

BHECN-UNO pilot program aims to increase interest in school-based BH careers

schoolbasedmentalhealth5.14.jpg More Nebraska graduate students will get experience working in school-based mental health thanks to a a new partnership between BHECN and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

The pilot program, which is supported by $1 million from the CDC Foundation and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, will result in approximately 25 UNO graduate behavioral health students receiving internships in Omaha-area public schools starting this month.

The goal of the project is to get more people interested and ultimately working in this critical area of behavioral health care, said Kati Cordts, PhD, Associate Director of Education and Training at BHECN, who will help oversee the project along with BHECN Deputy Director Erin O. Schneider, EdD.

“Our schools are truly a front line in our efforts to improve behavioral health in Nebraska, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Cordts said. “We are excited to launch this project and provide needed support in this crucial arena of behavioral health.”

BHECN will provide infrastructure and support the training and supervision needs of the graduate students in schools.

Along with placing graduate students in schools, the contract also will allow BHECN and UNO to sponsor 10 students to attend the upcoming Middle America School Mental Health Conference and Nebraska School Mental Health Conference at the end of May.

“Many behavioral health graduate students are interested in working in our schools and this program can help some move toward forging careers that will allow them to provide powerful support for our school children,” Dr. Schneider said.