Sarah Kopelovich, PhD, launched two new teleconsultation clinics in February for community mental health providers in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (CBTp). The clinics follow the Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Model developed at the University of New Mexico. Using state-of-the-art telehealth technology and clinical management tools, the CBT ECHO clinics connect expertise within our department to community mental health providers from rural and underserved areas to enhance workforce capacities to deliver CBTp. In Washington State, these CBT ECHO Clinics will enable providers to build proficiency in individual and group-based CBTp more quickly, advancing efforts to enhance access to evidence-based treatments for individuals with Serious Mental Illness and create self-sustaining communities of practice among CBTp providers.

The CBT ECHO Clinic is the first ECHO program in the world focused on psychotic disorders and the first ECHO program to assist providers in developing competencies in group and individual evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions.