BHECN-ARPA News

News regarding the BHECN-ARPA Awards Project -- May 8, 2024

This month's ARPA awardee profile will feature Miller and Micek Consulting in Wayne. Below, Julie Micek, left, and Jennifer Miller, right, tell us more about their project, which received funding in the Behavioral Health Workforce COVID-19 projects category.

Tell us about your project and what made you want to pursue it?

Our project is focused on helping college students to build their resilience using the tools of resilience planning and evidence-based coaching. Students who would like to have more support with increasing their resilience contact our team and we set them up to create a plan that they can use on their own to get through those times that are challenging. Those students meet with a coach up to once a week to practice their plan, identify ways to modify the plan or increase its use, and in general to learn how to more effectively manage the stressors that affect their personal and academic life.

What do you find most exciting about the project?

What's most exciting about this project is working with the students and seeing them grow in their resilience and abilities. Our regular participants use their resilience plans a lot and they talk about how much it actually improves their days and weeks. To see that improvement and to get positive comments about how much they believe in this project is really amazing.

What do you see as the biggest barrier to success for the project?

The biggest barrier is getting students to take the step of asking for help and becoming actively engaged in the planning and coaching process. It's a lot like the world of therapy -- we know a lot of individuals are wanting or needing these types of supports but that doesn't necessarily mean they go out and start working with a counselor. Information-sharing about the project has been successful, but a lot of students appear to think they don't have time to do resilience planning. Our team plans to be very proactive about in-person contact with potential student participants in the fall of 2024.

What learnings have you gleaned from the project so far?

There are so many ways that students can practice resilience that they don't often know would be considered 'building resilience' -- steps like identifying positive thoughts and practicing self-care. Demand for resilience is clear, but it is also clear that even students feel the time required to work on resilience is a challenge. Resilience planning and coaching for students is as much about practicing time management and organization as it is about using techniques like guided imagery.

Additional American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding will not be allocated to the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska’s ARPA Awards Program. The Nebraska Legislature and Gov. Jim Pillen agreed this funding should support state infrastructure improvement efforts. However, our program has a surplus of administrative and operating expenses we are redirecting to our current awardees.

If your project needs additional funding, we are asking that you please submit a proposal that meets the following criteria:

1. The proposal must not exceed one (1) page in length, be written in 11-point font, and be single-spaced.
2. The proposal must be supported by a budget and justification using the attached budget sheet.
3. The proposal must expand upon the scope of work of your currently funded project. We are not accepting proposals for new projects as we are under federal time constraints that will prevent us from creating a new subcontract.
4. The maximum project budget must not exceed $50,000.
5. Please include your 3-digit application (e.g., 321) number in the supplemental funding application.
6. The proposal must be submitted to bhecn_arpa@unmc.edu by May 10, 2024, at 5 p.m. CDT.

BHECN staff will review the proposals. By the end of May, we will notify the project directors who are receiving additional funding.

PLEASE NOTE: This funding will be distributed per project, not per organization. Also, because this is ARPA funding, these additional funds must be spent by Dec. 31, 2025.

If you have questions or need clarification, please email ARPA Awards Program Director Jessie Buche, at jbuche@unmc.edu or ARPA Awards Program Coordinator Caitlyn Wayment, at cwayment@unmc.edu.

The BHECN ARPA Awards Program team and BHECN colleagues will host regional awardee gatherings and site visits this summer. The ARPA team will visit Central Nebraska from June 10-12, the Panhandle from June 17-19, Northeast Nebraska on Aug. 5-6, and Omaha on Aug. 7.

During the gatherings, organizational representatives can meet with other BHECN ARPA Awardees, BHECN staff, including our new rural education and training manager, Alyssa Spartz, local behavioral health stakeholders, and others. Awardees can also share project accomplishments and best practices.

The awardee gathering schedule is as follows:

• Tuesday, June 11 – 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at the University of Nebraska Kearney. See a tentative event schedule and register to attend.
• Tuesday, June 18 – 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. MDT at Chadron State College. See a tentative event schedule and register to attend.
• Tuesday, Aug. 6 – 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at Wayne State College. See a tentative event schedule and register to attend.
•  Wednesday, Aug. 7 – 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at UNMC. See a tentative schedule and register to attend.

Plans are in the works to schedule gatherings in Scottsbluff on Tuesday, June 18 and Wednesday, June 19. More details will be announced as they become available!

Awardees who travel more than three hours round trip to attend a gathering will be reimbursed for their travel expenses (e.g., mileage reimbursement and hotel). All members of an organization’s BHECN ARPA project team are encouraged to attend a gathering.

Please email Jessie Buche (jbuche@unmc.edu) or Cherish Harbour (charbour@unmc.edu) with questions about the gatherings.

We look forward to seeing you this summer! 

Lutheran Family Services and the Health Center Association of Nebraska (HCAN) have designed and released an online course titled “Working with Newcomers” to help health care providers care for refugees.

The course – which is presented by Katherine Saaid, Refugee Wellness Program Coordinator at Lutheran Family Services -- explores essential topics such as:

• Understanding the resettlement process for refugees;
• Trauma;
• Barriers to care;
• Worldview cultural differences;
• English as a Learned Language (ELL); and
• Invaluable tips for effectively engaging with refugee populations.

Access the course here.

KOLN HIGHLIGHTS BRYAN HEALTH'S TELEMEDICINE WORK

Through the support of ARPA funding, Bryan Health is expanding its telebehavioral health program throughout rural Nebraska. The program recently was highlighted by KOLN. Read more about Bryan Health's work here.