We have been working with Dr. Kamon and Dr. Turner at the Center for Behavioral Health Integration for many years and have had nothing but an exemplary experience. Our mission at Spectrum Youth and Family Services is to assist young people who are suffering from mental health disorders and substance use disorders, and they have been key on our work regarding SBIRT. Our country is in the midst of a mental health and substance abuse crisis and Vermont is no exception, particularly when it comes to teenagers and young adults.  C4BHI has given us the tools to reach more clients than ever and to do so in an evidence-based and professional manner.

Evidence-based tools to reach more clients than ever

“Participants were engaged throughout the two-day event, both during breakout rooms and via chat. As always, Win and Jody were very thorough in their presentation, while also being extremely warm with participants and consistently encouraging their continued interaction. The feedback we consistently received from participants was that they were enjoying the training and for those who had previously had SBIRT training, they indicated that it was “The Best SBIRT Training” they’d ever had.“

The Best SBIRT Training

C4BHI psychologists were a tremendous help to our Central Vermont Medical Center’s adoption of integrated approaches to patient care.  Not only did they commit their complete attention to our Emergency Department team as we adopted SBIRT protocols; but they also attended to each essential element of the implementation including onsite coaching/supervision, training across medical provider groups, evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement. Their focus on and support for sustainability of the work was critical to my role as project champion and to the hospital’s mission of supporting the patients and families in our community.  In fact, the SBIRT collaboration with C4BHI spearheaded a new approach to caring for our patients.  This integrated approach has now taken off in many of our other hospital and outpatient medical departments.  CVMC, with the help of C4BHI is now much more proactively involved throughout our Central Vermont community in prevention, treatment, and recovery and applying for funding to extend our reach and efforts at building a seamless system of care substance use and co-occurring disorders.

Attention to each essential element of SBIRT implementation

For over 10 years, JBS International has utilized C4BHI and its team as “go to” national experts in the field of behavioral health.  The diversity of experience among the staff at C4BHI has provided critical support for our larger efforts in providing programmatic technical assistance, clinical training and evaluation.  Consistently and dependably, the C4BHI team is quick to respond, collaborative, and creatively adds to the final outcomes, helping providers and government organizations.

“go to” national experts in the field of behavioral health

Win Turner and Jody Kamon are professional trainers and demonstrate clinical expertise when teaching the MET/CBT curriculum. The curriculum and training is well organized and easy to understand, which is desirable to clinicians. The materials for the training, including the manual, handouts and cheat-sheets are helpful and provide for easy implementation. MET/CBT includes must-have therapeutic techniques for clinicians working with people with substance use disorders.

-Iowa Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse

Must-have therapeutic techniques

Implementing a new statewide behavioral health integration project was a daunting task for our team. We were familiar with behavioral health integration concepts, but didn’t know where to begin or what questions to ask to facilitate a successful series of implementation launches. Jody and Win provided us with intensive and comprehensive training and consultation, including site visits to work alongside us while we met with challenging healthcare systems and fine-tuned our capabilities. They were very much our guides, coaching us along the way. As a result we quickly became proficient integrationists. Of course, we continued to find additional opportunities to use their expertise.

The C4BHI team excels in evaluation. Their evaluation support has made a significant difference to our project. They’ve helped us to accurately capture and report project metrics, identify opportunities for QI, and supported several QI efforts which led to improved implementation. Successes have ranged from increased staff engagement through revisiting and addressing readiness for integration to increased adherence to the integration protocol.

Lastly, I cannot speak highly enough of their strength in delivering skills-based training. We have used the C4BHI team to successfully prepare several cohorts of providers to deliver evidence-based interventions with trainings that include a heavy emphasis on experiential learning and feedback. I can say with certainty that the training was able to shift most of our providers into a new clinical space in which they began to deliver interventions more aligned with what the literature shows is effective.

One of the best parts of working with C4BHI is that they are a trusted team of professionals sincerely excited about their work and in supporting others to carry behavioral health integration forward!

Trusted team of professionals sincerely excited about their work