Episodes
Friday Jun 05, 2020
Ep. 10 - Boston University Mentoring and Research Team
Friday Jun 05, 2020
Friday Jun 05, 2020
We had the opportunity to talk to the Boston University Mentoring and Research Team, a project we discussed with Ariel Schwartz in a previous episode (linked here). Marianne, Jesse, Timur, and Alix (bios below) talk to us about their experience being researchers and peer mentors for this project, how it has impacted them, and how they have used this project to assist peers. We enjoyed hearing from all the members of this group* and have included a full transcript (linked here in English and here in Spanish).
*We recorded this group interview prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
BIOS:
Marianne
“I am 22 years old I worked as a researcher at Boston University. My job was to mentor a young adult and then put together data about mentoring when it was over. I really enjoy having coffee!”
Jesse
“I enjoyed coming to work. I helped Ariel with the Meeting Wrap Up each week. Outside of BU, I do not get upset very much. I am open to doing more tasks than most other people are.”
Timur Gizatullin
“I am a researcher at Boston University and have been working there since September 2018. It’s been a wonderful experience so far. I live in Newton, MA, and have lived there for most of my life.”
Alix Herer
“I worked at Boston University on a research project, by making a peer program for young adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities and mental health challenges. On my researching team everyone had real life experiences in the project because they went through some of these challenges growing up. During my time at Boston University I got to, make worksheets for my mentees, I got get to know my mentee by meeting one a week for 10 weeks and a weekly check in, I taught them about mental health, and I also collected a lot of data and got to put that into the research project to make the program better. I really enjoyed being a part of this project because I was able to help someone who was similar to me. Some things I really enjoy are photography, going to the beach and collecting sea glass, and I also love cooking.”
Participatory action research (PAR)
Website for PAR team:
Inclusive research information from Australia: https://www.cadr.org.au/images/1759/inclmainrapidreview.pdf
*Music Credit: Music for our podcast is licensed from Marmoset Music. Artist: Johnny Clay; Song "Looking Down the Road"
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Ep. 09 Interview with Janet Shouse
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Ep. 09 Interview with Janet Shouse show notes
In this episode, we had the opportunity to interview Janet Shouse, a program coordinator at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and parent advocate. You may remember Janet from a group interview we did (linked below), but she is involved in so many projects, we interviewed her again about some of the things she is working on.
In this episode, we discuss a toolkit that she helped develop that is for healthcare professionals to better meet the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She discusses some of the other resources that she has helped develop and is full of information and experience.
We thank you for listening to the MHDD Crossroads podcast. Remember to subscribe, listen, and share our podcast and for more great information and resources, follow us on social media @MHDDcenter
Bio:
Janet Shouse works at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in Nashville, TN, as the program coordinator for the IDD Toolkit, www.iddtoolkit.org, an online resource for medical providers to better serve adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Janet also serves with TennesseeWorks, a partnership of state agencies and disability organizations aiming to improve the employment landscape for people with disabilities. As part of that work, she writes and edits a blog called “Rise to Work,” www.tennesseeworks.org/blog/. Janet is also involved with the new multi-site Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities, and she is the study coordinator for a Department of Defense Autism Research Grant to create a provider-focused training program to serve adults with autism spectrum disorder. This effort will use the Project ECHO model (live videoconferencing and case-based presentations) to enhance primary care providers’ ability to care for autistic adults. Janet has also been a member of the advisory board of a national research project examining the needs of young adults with IDD and mental health conditions. She is the parent of three young adults, including a son with autism.
Janet is connected to hundreds of families of children and adults with disabilities through her work with Autism Tennessee, TennesseeWorks, The Arc Tennessee and the IDD Toolkit.
Link to transcript: https://www.mhddcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Interview-with-Janet-Shouse.pdf
Links to resources mentioned in this episode:
IDD toolkit: www.iddtoolkit.org
Here’s the TennesseeWorks website and a few key blog posts:
https://www.tennesseeworks.org/each-of-us-must-help-protect-our-community-at-this-time/
https://www.tennesseeworks.org/the-dignity-of-risk/
Some of the source curriculums: http://psip.vueinnovations.com/
A press-release https://hdi.uky.edu/project/center-for-dignity-in-healthcare-for-people-with-disabilities
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
Ep. 08 - The IDD-MH Research Group
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
In this episode we talked to the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Partnership (IDD-MH). This group is made up of researchers, including people with lived experience of IDD and/or mental health concerns. Members of this group involved in this interview include Destiny Watkins, Micah Peace, Janet Shouse, Jessica Kramer, and Ravita Maharaj; brief bios of each person are included below. The purpose of this group is to learn about and make recommendations to improve access to mental health services for young adults with IDD-MH and we learn about how they became involved in this project and the impact it has had.
Links
Article by the IDD-MH Research Partnership:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19315864.2019.1636910?journalCode=umid20
MHDD National Training Center: www.mhddcenter.org
Thank you for listening to the Mental Health Crossroads Podcast - where we explore the intersection of mental health and developmental disabilities. This podcast is produced by Dr. Alex Schiwal and is hosted by Dr. Jeff Sheen. This podcast is a product of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities National Training Center, which is a grant from the Administration for Community Living. Remember to like, subscribe, listen, and share wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on social media @mhddcenter.
*Music Credit: Music for our podcast is licensed from Marmoset Music. Artist: Johnny Clay; Song "Looking Down the Road"
Guest Bios:
Destiny:
I have many lived experience of Physical/Development/Mental Health challenges. I am a DoTerra Wellness Advocate. I played a central role as an advisory board member of the Intellectual/Developmental Disability and Mental Health (IDD- MH) Research Partnership (PCORI Tier A P2P award: #7675658-A), I helped design the techniques we used to better understand the needs and experiences of young adults with IDD and co-occurring mental health conditions. I have done several national presentations and webinars to share what we learned. I was also an advocate for our group at a national expert panel held by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). I was also part of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) national conference and annual reauthorization. I have made multiple presentations about mental health advocacy and natural approaches including for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and the START National Training Institute and I was also on a few other advisory boards for peer mentoring intervention also with Boston University. I am a primary member as a co-investigator for “Reconciling the Past & Changing the Future: Engaging young adults with IDD-MH and researchers in CER/comparative effectiveness research”.I also am involved in other projects around the country since my past project are connected and involved in project like The Arc Of United States and Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) I also am a self-advocate in my local city hall engineering and planning/development with helping improving ADA accessibility and also when I travel for conferences and expert panels presentations.I also bring awareness of wheelchair accessibility and how to be more aware of people with many disabilities not just visual disabilities.
Micah:
Micah Peace is an Autistic, multiply-disabled educator and community organizer from Louisville, KY. Grounded in an Intersectional, interdisciplinary approach as well as their own personal experiences of Disability, Micah strives to foster collaboration between Disability service providers and the Disability Community to promote true access, inclusion, and empowerment through creativity, acceptance, and collaboration. They are a founding member of the Kentuckiana Autistic Spectrum Alliance (KASA), an affiliate group of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network serving the Louisville Metro Area, including Southern Indiana.
Janet:
Janet Shouse works at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in Nashville, TN, as the program coordinator for the IDD Toolkit, www.iddtoolkit.org, an online resource for medical providers to better serve adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The IDD Toolkit Project also offers online training to help build capacity of clinicians to serve adults with IDD. Janet also serves with TennesseeWorks, a partnership of state agencies and disability organizations aiming to improve the employment landscape for people with disabilities. As part of that work, she writes and edits a blog called “Rise to Work,” www.tennesseeworks.org/blog/. Janet has also been a member of the advisory board of a national research project examining the needs of young adults with IDD and mental health conditions, the IDD-MH Research Partnership. She is the parent of three young adults, including a son with autism
Links and resources: Here is the link to the journal article that we published that includes the findings of our survey and storytelling session, as well as our recommendations for research, policy and practice!
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19315864.2019.1636910?journalCode=umid20
Ravita:
Dr. Maharaj is a licensed, clinical social worker in the District of Columbia, with extensive experience in program development and implementation for adults with developmental disabilities, mental illness, and substance abuse. Her previous employment includes 12 years at the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Institute, Washington, DC, in the position Director/Division Director, and three years as a Research/Evaluation Coordinator at Community Connections, Inc., the largest mental health agency in Washington, DC.
Dr. Maharaj earned a doctorate in social work at the Catholic University of America, with a research interest in organizational factors that influence the implementation of evidence-based practices. She also holds an MSW from Howard University and a bachelor's from the University of Manitoba, Canada. Originally from Trinidad, she has worked for over 20 years in human services in Washington, DC.
Jessica:
Dr. Jessica Kramer, PhD, OTR/L is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida.
Dr. Kramer’s research draws upon theoretical concepts and methodologies from occupational therapy, disability studies, education and rehabilitation to: 1) Partner with youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in the development and evaluation of rehabilitation products; 2) Develop community-based interventions that equip youth with I/DD and their families with the skills to identify and resolve environmental barriers to participation; and 3) Design high quality patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) using contemporary measurement approaches.
Dr. Kramer uses quantitative, qualitative, and participatory approaches to design projects that harness the optimal method needed to answer complex research questions and meet the needs of multiple stakeholders, including youth and young adults with disabilities, their families, and rehabilitation professionals.
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Ep. 07 - An interview with Justin Olson
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Justin Olson is our guest this episode. He is a disability rights advocate from the Salt Lake City area of Utah. Justin was a founding member of the Becoming Leaders for Tomorrow a grant funded group of young adults created to educate pediatricians about how to better support individuals with developmental disabilities transition to adult medical providers. He is also a long-time staff member of the University of Utah’s (U of U) Best Buddies program and is involved with Best Buddies at the local, state, and national levels. Justin is also a proud fan of the U of U and Utah Jazz basketball teams. He attends games regularly and is one the most enthusiastic fans in the arena.
Jeff and Justin discuss his current involvement in the Best Buddies program, past projects he has worked on, and what he does to maintain his mental health. He talks about some of his experiences with hospitalization (and a full video of the panel discussion is linked below).
*The MHDD National Training Center would like to note that our conversation with Justin about staying positive and happy is not meant to suggest that depression and anxiety are not serious clinical health conditions that many people experience; we support appropriate therapy, medication, and activities for wellness as part of a comprehensive plan for managing mental health concerns, in addition to the ideas that Jeff and Justin discuss that are specific to Justin’s lived experience.
Links:
MHDD National Training Center and past episodes https://mhddcenter.org/voices/
Panel Discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJVgU7aGUZw
Psychology today service locator
SAD lamps (and other recommendations for seasonal affective disorder)
Apps Justin recommended for keeping in touch with friends:
*Music Credit: Music for our podcast is licensed from Marmoset Music. Artist: Johnny Clay; Song "Looking Down the Road"
Wednesday Feb 05, 2020
Conversation with Dr. Ariel Schwartz
Wednesday Feb 05, 2020
Wednesday Feb 05, 2020
In this episode, we talk to Dr. Ariel Schwartz at Boston University. She tells us about her early engagement with the disability community. She discusses the importance of meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities in research, beyond the tokenism frequently present in academic research. Ariel discusses participatory action research and how she has implemented it in work with peer-mentoring, developing relationships with self-advocates and giving them space to actively steer research. We will be interviewing some of the self-advocates that work with Ariel in the coming months, so we can hear directly from them and their experiences in this process.
Guest bio:
Ariel Schwartz, PhD, OTR/L is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University. She has worked with young adults with IDD for over 15 years. Ariel’s research is focused on figuring out how to best include people with IDD in the research process. Including young adults is called “inclusive research.” Ariel wants to learn the best way to do inclusive research, because she believes that people with IDD have a lot of knowledge and experience that can help make research more useful to people with disabilities. Ariel also studies peer mentoring and employment for young adults with IDD-MH.
Links:
Our website: www.mhddcenter.org
Participatory action research (PAR)
Website for PAR team:
Inclusive research information from Australia: https://www.cadr.org.au/images/1759/inclmainrapidreview.pdf
*Music Credit: Music for our podcast is licensed from Marmoset Music. Artist: Johnny Clay; Song "Looking Down the Road"
Thursday Dec 19, 2019
A look ahead, new resources, and reducing stress this holiday season
Thursday Dec 19, 2019
Thursday Dec 19, 2019
This month we created a mini-episode - listen for a look ahead into the new year, including upcoming guests and topics. We also talk about new and soon-to-be released resources, trainings, and other content from the MHDD national training center.
What we provide for the remainder of this episode, is something we value here at the MHDD National Training Center - information on mental health and resilience. This time of year can be a challenge for anyone, but particularly people living with trauma, mental illnesses, and disabilities. We talk about why this time of year is a challenge, direct you to resources, and leave you with action items that can help manage some of the potential struggles that manifest this time of year. Take a listen - we wish you an enjoyable holiday season and we will back with more content after the new year!
MHDD national training center training resource page: https://mhddcenter.org/training/
Transcript of this episode: Mini Episode full transcript
NAMI article: https://www.nami.org/Press-Media/Press-Releases/2014/Mental-health-and-the-holiday-blues
APA holiday stress resource center: https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/holiday-stress
Self-compassion and social support:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656606000353
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aphw.12051
*Music Credit: Music for our podcast is licensed from Marmoset Music. Artist: Johnny Clay; Song "Looking Down the Road"
Thursday Nov 14, 2019
Conversation with Dr. Ty Aller, LMFT and Training Coordinator for the MHDD-NTC
Thursday Nov 14, 2019
Thursday Nov 14, 2019
This week we hear from Dr. Ty Aller, about mental health and how it intersects with disability, his work on college campuses, in therapy, and at the MHDD National Training Center. Some of the resources mentioned in this episode include:
- The Happiness Trap 8-week program; https://thehappinesstrap.com/
- The Happiness Trap, book https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/76053/the-happiness-trap-by-russ-harris-foreword-by-steven-hayes/
- A Liberated Mind, book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48228223-a-liberated-mind-mr-exp
- ACT research and programs at USU: https://www.utahact.com/
Transcripts and past episodes of our podcast: https://mhddcenter.org/voices/
Trainings:
Trainings from the MHDD Center (use this page for current webinars and watch for updates for other trainings from our center): https://mhddcenter.org/training/
Digital storytelling:
The MHDD center is collecting stories about lived experience (and is in the process of producing already collected stories from advocates). If you are an advocate, follow the link at the bottom of our voices page https://mhddcenter.org/voices/
Guest Bio:
Dr. Ty Aller is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist that works as the Training Coordinator for the MHDD: NTC and is housed at Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities (CPD), a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Prior to joining the CPD, Ty worked as a therapist at a local non-profit organization serving victims of domestic violence and child abuse/neglect. He now owns and operates a private practice in Northern Utah. Ty’s research interests include measuring and implementing mental health literacy programming on college campuses, parent-child relationships and their influence on social-emotional development and projects related to direct service implementation. In his clinical work, Ty focuses on leveraging the strengths of family systems and incorporates components of Acceptance Commitment Therapy and Dialectal Behavior Therapy to help adolescents improve their well-being.
*Music Credit: Music for our podcast is licensed from Marmoset Music. Artist: Johnny Clay; Song "Looking Down the Road"
Thursday Oct 17, 2019
Dr. Verity Rodrigues: Mental Health and Autism Spectrum Disorders
Thursday Oct 17, 2019
Thursday Oct 17, 2019
This week we hear from Dr. Verity Rodrigues, a specialist in mental health and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) who is working towards a more accessible and inclusive mental health field. She talks to us about her work with children with ASD and their families, across school and clinical settings. Dr. Rodrigues works directly with educators across Tennessee to help them better understand the signs, symptoms, and opportunities to support individuals with ASD and co-occurring mental health concerns. She also works directly with children and families with disabilities and/or mental health concerns. In addition, Dr. Rodrigues is interested in developing manualized approaches to building and sustaining best-practice classrooms and supporting other system-wide changes to improve access to quality mental health care for individuals with developmental disabilities.
The links we mentioned in this week’s episode:
Transcript of this episode: Dr. Verity Rodrigues Transcript
Transcripts and past episodes of our podcast: https://mhddcenter.org/voices/
TRIAD at Vanderbilt: https://triad.vkclearning.org/
Dr. Rodrigues received her master’s in special education and her doctorate in school psychology, both from the University of Oregon, where she focused on systems consultation and mental health in schools. As an educational consultant and psychologist at TRIAD, she works across TRIAD’s school-based professional development team and runs her own integrated behavioral-health clinic within the Division of Developmental Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
*Music Credit: Music for our podcast is licensed from Marmoset Music. Artist: Johnny Clay; Song "Looking Down the Road"
Friday Sep 20, 2019
Friday Sep 20, 2019
On this episode of the Mental Health Crossroads podcast, our host Jeff Sheen interviews Dr. Elaine Eisenbaum from Human Development Institute at the University of Kentucky. They discuss her educational background, her current projects including the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities National Training Center, and how they both became involved in the field of disabilities and their interest in disability rights.
Some of the links mentioned in this episode are:
Human Development Institute at the University of Kentucky: https://www.hdi.uky.edu/
Voices page on the MHDD website, you can access transcripts of previous podcasts and find a link to share your story about mental health and intellectual and developmental disability through our digital storytelling initiative: https://mhddcenter.org/voices/
To access a full transcript of this episode head to:Episode 2 Transcript_Dr. Elaine Eisenbaum
AUCD (Association of University Centers on Disability) website: https://www.aucd.org//template/index.cfm
Guest Biography:
Dr. Elaine Eisenbaum serves as a Project Director at University of Kentucky’s Human Development Institute (HDI), a federally designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). Prior to joining HDI, Dr. Eisenbaum worked at the University of Texas, Texas Center for Disability Studies, where she taught disability studies courses while obtaining her PhD in Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Eisenbaum’s scholarly work aims to create intervention models focused on improving health outcomes and well-being for people with disabilities. Her research interests include universal design, health disparities among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, co-occurring mental illness and intellectual disabilities, transition, and eugenics and disability history. Currently, Dr. Eisenbaum is Project Director on a 3-year Administration for Community Living grant, building a National Training Center on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, which will include universally designed web-based trainings.
Music is "Looking Down the Road" by Jonny Clay
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Monday Aug 26, 2019
In this first episode of the Mental Health Crossroads podcast, we talk to Dr. Matt Wappett from the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University about some of the challenges faced by people with both intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) and mental health issues. Dr. Wappett highlights the new Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities National Training Center, a collaborative project designed to increase awareness of these issues and prepare direct support workers and clinicians across fields to address the needs of this population, while also elevating the voices and experiences of people that have identified themselves as having IDD and mental health issues.
Links to resources discussed in this episode are included below:
1. Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities National Training Center: www.MHDDcenter.org
2. Center for Person with Disabilities at Utah State University: www.cpd.usu.edu
3. Center for Human Development - University of Alaska Anchorage: www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-health/departments/center-for-human-development/
4. Human Development Institute - University of Kentucky: www.hdi.uky.edu/
5. NADD - thenadd.org/
To access a full transcript of this episode head to: Episode 1 Transcript
Music is "Looking Down the Road" by Jonny Clay