CHEEERS at University of Missouri for Project ECHO

Kansas City, MO.- CHEEERS is represented in Kansas City this week by Kimberly Craig, CEO, who has been invited to participant in Project ECHO , an innovative project supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) to address the needs of Pregnant and postpartum women with mental health and substance use disorders. This pilot project is a collaborative effort with subject matter experts joining with the University of Missouri, and the Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Center of Excellence on Behavioral for Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Their Families, along with the SAMHSA funded programs that serve pregnant women throughout the United States. Project ECHO, leverages multipoint videoconferencing and a subject matter expert (SME) panel representing a wide range of disciplines and expertise to provide individualized, case-based learning to clinicians. In particular the Pregnant and Postpartum Women’s ECHO pilot aims to 1) develop capacity to safely and effectively treat individuals and family members impacted by substance use and mental health disorders and to monitor outcomes, and 2) develop a model to treat complex substance use and co-occurring disorder conditions in pregnant and postpartum women who receive services in one of SAMHSA’s Pregnant and Parenting Women Grantee locations. CHEEERS is honored to participate in projects that introduce innovative methods to meet the needs of individuals with mental health and substance use disorders. Kimberly’s contribution on the panel will incorporate her 16 + years of experience working in women’s services, her knowledge around implementation of family centered programming (namely father or male involvement in predominately female focused programming) the use of Peer Support Services as an effective and evidenced based intervention, as well as methods to develop and integrate Peer Support Mentors in family centered programs.