Psychiatrist Susan Boust, M.D., has been appointed to the newly established state Behavioral Health and Oversight Commission. An associate professor of psychiatry at UNMC, Dr. Boust has long been a champion of the need for better public access to quality mental health care.
She is active on several committees working on behavioral health reform, including the Region VI planning committee that is reviewing services for the Omaha area, and the Nebraska Medical Association Mental Health Task Force that is looking at services state wide. She is a former member of the Nebraska Mental Health Planning and Evaluation Council.
Dr. Boust was one of 120 candidates who were recommended to fill 20 spots on the commission created to oversee and support implementation of the Nebraska Behavioral Health Reform Act passed by the Nebraska legislature earlier this year.
Officials from the Nebraska Medical Association and the Nebraska Psychiatric Society recommended Dr. Boust for appointment to the commission.
Sen. Jim Jenson, chair of the committee, said in a press release that he chose people to serve on the commission who will “advocate zealously on behalf of consumers of behavioral health services and who will help ensure the success of behavioral health reform in Nebraska.”
Dr. Boust supports the concept of multidisciplinary teamwork in providing community care for persons with serious mental illnesses. “Although the work of the psychiatrist is essential in any system of care, it takes more than psychiatry to provide community care to people with serious mental illnesses,” she said. “We must have well trained multidisciplinary teams across the state.”
Dr. Boust also believes strongly in the principles of the Recovery model — recognizing that appropriate services and support can successfully transition people with mental illness from institutional care to contributing and productive members of their communities.
“Dr. Boust has certainly distinguished herself by demonstrating a high degree of expertise and commitment to the attainment of behavioral health reform in Nebraska,” said Jeff Santema, legal counsel for the Health and Human Services Committee.
Dr. Boust graduated from the UNMC College of Medicine in 1985 and spent the next four years in psychiatric residency at UNMC. She has served three years as the Mental Health Clinical Leader for the state of Nebraska and has extensive experience with both inpatient and community care of persons with severe mental illness.
She currently is the Division Director of Public and Community psychiatry in the UNMC department of psychiatry and her clinical work is as the psychiatrist for the Assertive Community Treatment Team, which is a joint UNMC, Community Alliance and Heartland Family Service program serving people with treatment resistant mental illness.