The WA State Opioid Response (SOR) Training Team, part of the Center for Community-Engaged Drug Education, Epidemiology, and Research (CEDEER), provides training and technical assistance to providers who care for people with opioid use disorder.

In July, the SOR team released a new video series – Mental Health Topics for Non-Therapist Professionals – to help educate providers who are not trained as mental health therapists. Behavioral health providers come from many different backgrounds with varying training and credentials including social workers, addictions counselors, peer professionals, and many others.  The goal of these new training videos is to boost knowledge of mental health issues, especially those common in people with a substance use disorder.

The first video, Common Mental Health Disorders, explains the basics of the most common mental health disorders a provider might encounter while working with people who have a substance use disorder. The second, called Effective Referrals, helps providers learn how to incorporate motivational interviewing and a “warm hand off” to improve the referral process, and a new video focused on trauma was just posted. These impressive videos were all recorded and created by Lara Okoloko, MSW, LICSW.

For more from the SOR Training Team, visit their Care Navigator Training Videos or the Nurse Care Manager foundational Series.