MIRECC / CoE

Following this live webinar, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate increased awareness and knowledge about the implementation of VA’s SP 2.0 Clinical Telehealth program.
• Describe the inclusion criteria for the SP 2.0 Clinical Telehealth program.
• Identify three evidence-based treatments within the SP 2.0 Clinical Telehealth program.
• Summarize the preliminary short-term Veteran outcomes from the SP 2.0 Clinical Telehealth program.

Jessica A. Walker, PhD, LP

Dr. Walker is a licensed psychologist with 15 years of service with VHA. She currently serves as the National Suicide Prevention Clinical Telehealth Coordinator, overseeing an initiative that provides virtual evidence-based psychotherapy interventions to Veterans with a history of suicidal self-directed violence behavior. Her previous VA work has included coordinating the National Problem-Solving Training (PST) program and the VISN 6 Telemental Health (TMH) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Hub. A graduate of Lehigh University, she has authored and co-authored over 20 publications and presentations focusing on topics including psychotherapy supervision, problem-solving training, multiculturalism, and telemental health.

Following this live webinar, participants will be able to:

• Increase their familiarity with the new 2024 CPG for assessment and management of suicide risk, including pertinent changes.
• Implement the new CPG for the assessment and management of patients at risk for suicide in their clinical practice.

Bridget Matarazzo, Psy.D.

Dr. Matarazzo is the Director of Clinical Services at VA’s Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention. She is the Co-Director of VA’s Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program and leads a team that provides implementation support for multiple national VA suicide prevention programs, such as REACH VET and the VA Suicide Risk Identification Strategy. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Hal S. Wortzel, M.D.

Dr. Wortzel is a forensic neuropsychiatrist at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC, where he serves as Director of Neuropsychiatric Consultation Services and Co-director of the National Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado. He serves as the Michael K. Cooper Professor of Neurocognitive Disease and as Faculty for the Program in Forensic Psychiatry. Dr. Wortzel maintains a private practice in Forensic Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology and has consulted on numerous criminal and civil cases. Areas of research/scholarship interest include suicide risk management, aggression, and suicide in the context of PTSD and TBI, brain injury litigation, and the application of emerging neuroscientific tools to the legal arena.

Following this live webinar, participants will be able to:

• Identify the patient populations with whom DBT has been shown to be effective.
• Describe the Biosocial Theory of BPD.
• Describe the existing literature on cultural adaptations to DBT.
• Recommend cultural adaptations to DBT implementation.

Meredith Sears, Ph.D.

Meredith Sears, Ph.D., is a Suicide Prevention Coordinator at the San Francisco VA; a consultant for the national dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) training roll-out in VA’s Suicide Prevention 2.0 program; a Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco; and the president of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area chapter board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. From 2016 to 2023, Dr. Sears also served as the co-lead and training coordinator of the San Francisco VA DBT program.

Following this live webinar, participants will be able to:

• Define treatment-resistant depression and its approximate prevalence among Veterans using VA services.
• Identify the role of ketamine in the treatment of Veterans with depression and suicidality in VA.
• Describe the deployment of ketamine and other somatic treatment programs across VA.

Eric Hermes, MD

Dr. Hermes is the Director for Psychopharmacology and Somatic Treatments in the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. He is a psychiatrist and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he studies implementation and quality improvement in mental health services.

Colleen Becket-Davenport

Colleen Becket-Davenport is a clinical psychologist at the National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division. She is an Implementation Facilitator and the Communication and Training Lead for the Tech into Care Program. She is also a consultant for the PTSD Consultation Program. As part of her role, Dr. Becket-Davenport delivers trainings on VA mental health apps and works with health care teams to incorporate apps into care. She received her Psy.D. from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA.

Georgia Gerard

Georgia Gerard received her MSW from the University of Denver and is a licensed clinical social worker with the Mental Illness, Research, Education Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. Her background is in the assessment of suicide risk in Veterans and suicide risk management best practices. She joined the Rocky Mountain MIRECC in 2012 where she serves as a consultant on the VA’s Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program and provides implementation and technical assistance support for VA national suicide prevention programs.

Following this live, knowledge-based webinar, clinicians and health care teams will be able to:

• Recognize reasons Americans choose to own and use firearms
• Describe firearm acquisition among Americans during the pandemic era
• Describe perceptions of injury risk among American firearm owners

Joseph Simonetti, MD

Dr. Simonetti is an internal medicine physician and clinical investigator who focuses on developing patient-centered firearm safety interventions for individuals at risk of suicide. Additionally, his work supports VA and community-based clinicians in delivering evidence-based and culturally competent lethal means counseling for at-risk Veterans.

Following this live, knowledge-based webinar, clinicians and health care teams will be able to:

• Describe the components of the VA's Suicide Risk Identification strategy (Risk ID);
• Identify three CPG recommendations that were incorporated into Risk ID;
• Recognize barriers and facilitators to implementation of universal suicide risk screening

Suzanne McGarity, PhD

Dr. McGarity is a Clinical Psychologist in the Rocky Mountain MIRECC where she serves multiple roles. She provides technical assistance as a member of the VA Risk ID and SPED implementation team and consultation services for the Rocky Mountain MIRECC's local and national Suicide Risk Management consultation program. She is also a consultant with the Advanced Safety Planning Intervention Training Program.

Following this live, knowledge-based webinar, clinicians and health care teams will be able to:

• Summarize the history, rationale, and common characteristics of the Caring Contacts intervention
• Describe how to scale and implement Caring Contacts to include text message and postal mail

Kate Comtois, PHD, MPH

Kate Comtois, PhD, MPH is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in clinical/community psychology from the University of Maryland in 1992. She received her MPH in Health Services at the University of Washington in 2009. Dr. Comtois' research career is dedicated to promoting the recovery of individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts and behavior and the effectiveness and resilience of the clinical staff and families who care for them.

Following this live, knowledge-based webinar, clinicians and health care teams will be able to:

• Examine CPG population- and community-based interventions related to gatekeeper training
• Understand a brief overview of existing literature published
• Explore various models of gatekeeper trainings and key components to the models
• Identify and access information on gatekeeper trainings for various settings

Cicely Burrows-McElwain, LCSW-C

Cicely Burrows-McElwain, LCSW-C, joined the VA Suicide Prevention Office in the Community-Based Interventions for Suicide Prevention Technical Assistance and Resource Center Director in 2021. Prior to her current role Cicely served as the Military & Veteran Affairs Liaison at SAMHSA and has over 2 decades practice experience in community settings.

Kendra "Kenner" Barnes, LCSW

Kendra "Kenner" Barnes, LCSW, joined the VA Suicide Prevention Program Office in December 2021 as part of Community Based Interventions for Suicide Prevention as the Program Manager for VISN 20. She has been with the VA since 2011. Previous experience includes supporting Veterans through SPC, PCMHI, M2VA and PACT/SCI programs.

Hal Wortzel, MD

Dr. Wortzel is a forensic neuropsychiatrist at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC, where he serves as Director of Neuropsychiatric Consultation Services and Co-Director for the National Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at of the University of Colorado, and serves as the Michael K. Cooper Professor of Neurocognitive Disease, and as Faculty for the Program in Forensic Psychiatry.

Megan Harvey, PhD

Dr. Harvey received her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. Over the past 14 years, she worked in Local Recovery Coordinator Roles and in Outpatient Mental Health Services leadership in ECHCS. In 2018, Dr. Harvey joined the Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Veteran Suicide Prevention where she serves as the Program Evaluator for the Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program, with the national Suicide Risk Identification Strategy Implementation Team and as a consultant for ASPI.

Christie Machan, LCSW

Ms. Machan received her MSW from the UW-Madison. She has over a decade working within VA previously, as a clinician on several Mental Services teams. In 2020, Christie joined the Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Veteran Suicide Prevention where she as an Administrator for the Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program and as a Postvention consultant. She is proud to work on the CPG for Suicide Prevention webinar series and website, along with Risk ID implementation.

Sara J. Landes, PhD, is a psychologist and researcher at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. She is Director of VA's Behavioral Health Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) Program and an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Landes' research is in the implementation of evidence-based interventions.

Dr. Walker is a licensed psychologist with over 12 years of service with VHA. She currently serves as the National Suicide Prevention Clinical Telehealth Coordinator, overseeing an initiative that provides virtual evidence-based psychotherapy and interventions to Veterans with a history of suicidal self-directed violence behaviors. Her previous VA work has included coordinating the National Problem-Solving Training (PST) program and the VISN 6 Telemental Health (TMH) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Hub. A graduate of Lehigh University, she has authored and co-authored over 20 publications and presentations.

Bridget B. Matarazzo, PsyD is the Director of Clinical Services at VA's Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention. She is Co-Director of VA's Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program and leads a team that provides implementation support for multiple national VA suicide prevention programs, such as REACH VET and the VA Suicide Risk Identification Strategy. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine.

Gala True, PhD, is an Investigator with the South Central Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System and Associate Professor in the Section on Community and Population Medicine at Louisiana State University School of Medicine. Dr. True’s research focuses on improving access to care and the health of individuals and communities through patient-centered and community-engaged research approaches.

Caleb Morse is an 11-year Army combat veteran with multiple deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. A Louisiana native, Caleb is the owner and operator of the Rustic Renegade, a firearms retail shop in Lafayette that also offers coffee, gifts, and a gathering place for veterans and firearms enthusiasts. Caleb is also part of The Armory Project offering out-of-home storage options in his gun shop.

Joseph Constans, PhD serves as the Senior Program Manager for Suicide Prevention in the Office of Research and Development, VHA). He has had a 28-year career in VA. For the past 10-years, his research has concerned suicide and homicide prevention with a particular interest in studying firearm attitudes in vulnerable populations. His research program has been supported with funding from VA CSRD, VA HSRD, CDC, and DoD.

Mrs. Cicely Burrows-McElwain, LCSW-C serves as Director of the Technical Assistance Resource Center for Community Based Interventions for Suicide Prevention in OMHSP. Her efforts are focused on strengthening cross-agency collaboration between VA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Defense to engage communities across the nation in adoption of the public health approach to suicide prevention and supporting the behavioral health needs of service members, Veterans and their families.

Col. Wanda Wright, BS, MBA, MPA, MA is the third generation of her family to serve in the U.S. military and has three decades of military experience. She currently serves as the Director of Arizona's Department of Veterans' Services. In 2018, Col. Wright was appointed to VA's Advisory Committee on Women Veterans, an expert national panel that advises the secretary on issues and programs impacting women Veterans.

Ms. Nicole Gore, BS, MEd joined the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services in January 2016. As Suicide Prevention Coordinator, she is responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive approach to address suicide prevention across the Commonwealth, as well as researching best practices in suicide prevention. Ms. Gore serves as a liaison to partners across Virginia to assist in the development and promotion of best practices for successful implementation of suicide prevention strategies.

Mr. Eagan is the Director of Community-Based Suicide Prevention for the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. He has more than 25 years of nursing and healthcare experience and has developed a diverse array of medical, public health, and leadership experience. Mr. Eagan earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Central Florida and a Master of Public Health from the University of South Florida. Over the last several years he has led the implementation of the REACH VET predictive risk model in a national clinical care program and more recently, the launch of a Caring Letters program for the Veterans Crisis Line that will provide more than 90,000 Veterans a year with an evidenced-based intervention for suicide prevention. Mr. Eagan now leads an initiative spreading community-based suicide prevention interventions across the VA system.

Dr. Sisco is a clinical psychologist and is currently serving as the Interim Problem Solving Therapy (PST) Training Program Coordinator for the National PST Provider Training Program within the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and VISN 6 MIRECC. She also serves as the Whole Health Coordinator and mHealth Specialist at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas. She has served as a consultant and master trainer for PST since 2016, and as a national subject matter expert in PST since 2018.

Dr. Weinstein is a clinical psychologist and Suicide Prevention Coordinator at the VA Hudson Valley HCS, and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at New York Medical College. Jonathan did his undergraduate work at Vassar College, and a Ph.D. at the University of Mississippi. Jonathan has written widely about empowerment for a variety of settings. He lives in Westchester, NY, with his wife and occasional co-author, and two very special children.

Dr. Kroska is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa. As a licensed psychologist and health service provider in Iowa, she supervises graduate trainees, conducts and mentors research in her THRIVE Lab, and teaches courses in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and behavior therapies. Her research centers on women's health, the effectiveness of brief interventions, and the sequelae of trauma. Emily is a member of ACBS, ABCT, and APA.

Dr. Walser is staff at the National Center for PTSD, co-director of the Bay Area Trauma Recovery Center and Assistant Clinical Professor at University of California, Berkeley. As a licensed clinical psychologist, she maintains an international training, consulting, and therapy practice. Dr. Walser is the author of 6 books including The Heart of ACT. Robyn has served as President for the Association for Contextual and Behavioral Science and is a Fellow of that organization.

Dr. Bryan is a board-certified clinical psychologist in cognitive behavioral psychology, and an internationally recognized expert on suicide prevention, trauma, and resilience. He is the Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and is the Division Director for Recovery and Resilience. Dr. Bryan's research has been funded by a wide range of agencies including the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, the Boeing Company, and the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

Dr. Batdorf is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 10 years' experience serving as a National Evidence-Based Training Program Coordinator within the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. Dr. Batdorf currently manages the Advanced Training in the Safety Planning Intervention and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression Training Programs. Outside of her role at VA, she enjoys an active lifestyle of running, hiking, and traveling the world with her family.

Dr. Nezu, a board-certified psychologist, is Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice and Associate Editor of the American Psychologist, as well as previous Editor of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. He has received numerous awards for his research and professional contributions including an honorary doctoral degree. He has been funded by NCI, NIMH, VA, DoD, Pew Charities Trusts, and the Infinite Hero Foundation. Dr. Nezu is the co-developer of Problem-Solving Therapy.

Dr. Simonetti is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is a board-certified internist who serves as a teaching attending in the Hospital Medicine Group at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. He is a researcher within the VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center for Suicide Prevention. His research focuses on reducing the burden of firearm-related suicide among Veterans.

Natalie Riblet graduated with an MD from Dartmouth Medical School in 2008 and an MPH from Dartmouth in 2012. She completed her residencies at Dartmouth, including general preventive medicine and public health in 2012 as well as general psychiatry in 2014. She developed a VA adaptation of the World Health Organization Brief Intervention and Contact Program. In Natalie's current research roles, she is focused on identifying and testing interventions to prevent death by suicide.

Dr. Brown is an internationally renowned researcher whose work has led to transformational advances in the treatment of suicidal individuals such as developing the Safety Planning Intervention and Cognitive Therapy for Suicide Prevention with his colleagues. Dr. Brown is a Research Psychologist at the Corporal Michael J Crescenz VA Medical Center and Master-Trainer with the Evidenced-Based Psychotherapy (EBP) section of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention where he co-developed training programs for VA providers to use EBPs to reduce Veteran suicide risk.

Dr. Bahraini is Director of Education and a Clinical Research Psychologist at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. Dr. Bahraini's research focuses on designing and testing adaptive strategies to improve implementation of evidence-based practices in suicide prevention. She is also interested in novel, transdiagnostic approaches that target common underlying processes across mental disorders.

Dr. Brenner is a Board-Certified Rehabilitation Psychologist who serves as the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC). She is also a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), Psychiatry, and Neurology at the University of Colorado. Her primary area of research interest is traumatic brain injury, co-morbid psychiatric disorders, and negative psychiatric outcomes including suicide. Dr. Brenner has numerous peer-reviewed publications and participates on national advisory boards.

Dr. Greene is a nationally recognized expert in using technology to increase access to high-quality healthcare. She is the National Manager of VA's award-winning program of web-based mental health resources found at www.VeteranTraining.va.gov. In addition to her role at VA, Dr. Greene is an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas where she is the Director of Team Science at their Translational Research Institute and Associate Director of the KL2 Mentored Research Scholars Program.

Dr. Matarazzo is the Director of Clinical Services at VA's Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention. She is Co-Director of VA's Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program and leads a team that provides implementation support for multiple national VA suicide prevention programs, such as REACH VET and the VA Suicide Risk Identification Strategy. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine.

Dr. Hal Wortzel is a forensic neuropsychiatrist at the Rocky Mountain MIRECC, where he serves as Director of Neuropsychiatric Consultation Services and Co-Director for the National Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at of the University of Colorado, and serves as the Michael K. Cooper Professor of Neurocognitive Disease, and as Faculty for the Program in Forensic Psychiatry.

Due to technical difficulties, this webinar was not recorded. Please visit the Rocky Mountain MIRECC's Lethal Means Safety website for related training and more information on lethal means safety.