Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska

- Programs and Training Overview
- - Lifelong Learning Fund
    BHECN's Lifelong Learning fund supports educational and career engagement opportunities to help grow our state's behavioral health workforce.
  - Graduate Trainee Stipend Program
    The Graduate Trainee Stipend Program financially supports master's-level students during select advanced practicum or internship experiences.
  - Mentoring Program
    BHECN's mentorship program provides guidance and support to undergraduate and graduate-level students seeking licensed behavioral health careers in Nebraska.
  - BHECN Scholars
    The BHECN Scholars program supports undergraduate seniors who plan to pursue master’s degrees in Nebraska-based behavioral health programs.
- - Core Topics
    This accredited continuing education activity is designed for Behavioral Health providers to include psychologists, nurses, therapists, and social workers.
  - Project PEACE
    The Project PEACE Webinar Series is a series of webinars recorded by psychiatry residents on rotation with BHECN.
  - Telehealth Training
    Following the COVID-19 pandemic, day-to-day use of telehealth allows people to connect safely and effectively to mental health services no matter where they are located.
- Partnerships Overview
- Nebraska Behavioral Health Education Partnership (NEBHEP)
  BHECN partners with the 19 academic institutions to track the number of graduate-level behavioral health education students graduating and staying in Nebraska.
- Nebraska Behavioral Health Training Partnership
  BHECN establishes partnerships to create and disseminate educational materials for the development of the behavioral health workforce.
- Advisory Groups
  BHECN’s advisory groups provide input that shapes our work and help us keep up with the latest challenges and issues facing Nebraska’s behavioral health workforce.
- 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's Published Research
  See a listing of BHECN's published research.
- BHECN Sites Overview
- BHECN Panhandle
  Our BHECN Panhandle site supports our mission of recruitment and retention of behavioral health professionals in Western Nebraska.
- BHECN Central
  BHECN Central is a remote site for training and workforce development at the University of Nebraska Kearney that serves the central part of the state.
- BHECN Northeast
  BHECN Northeast is a remote site based at Wayne State College that facilitates training and workforce development in Northeast Nebraska.
- BHECN East
  BHECN East is located at the UNO Grace Abbott School of Social Work and focuses primarily on the behavioral health workforce needs of the Omaha area.
- BHECN Southwest
  BHECN Southwest is a remote site based in North Platte that facilitates training and workforce development in Southwest 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.