Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center

The Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) provides comprehensive training, resources, and technical assistance to mental health providers and other practitioners in the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Region 8. The Mountain Plains MHTTC team will develop new, and identify existing, resources which will then be disseminated and easily accessible across the region and the MHTTC network. The team will also build and maintain strong collaborative relationships with key stakeholders in the region and nationally.

Visit the Mountain Plains MHTTC website for more information or to access a list of upcoming free trainings and resources for those serving individuals with mental illness in HHS Region 8.

Our Goals

• Accelerate the adoption and implementation of mental health related evidence-based practice in HHS Region 8.
• Heighten the awareness, knowledge, and skills of the HHS Region 8 workforce that addresses the needs of individuals living with mental illness.
• Foster regional and national alliances among culturally diverse practitioners, researchers, policy makers, family members, and consumers of mental health services.
• Ensure the availability and delivery of publicly available, free of charge, training and technical assistance to the mental health field, including Center for Mental Health Services grant recipients in HHS Region 8.

Who Is Involved

The Mountain Plains MHTTC includes faculty from the University of North Dakota (UND), program staff from the Behavioral Health Program at the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE), and staff at the Center for the Application for Substance Abuse Treatment (CASAT) at the University of Nevada-Reno.

• Thomasine Heitkamp, Principal Investigator & Project Director (Professor at UND; PI and Co-Director of the Mountain Plains - Addiction Technology Transfer Center (MP-ATTC) in HHS Region 8)
• Dennis Mohatt, Co-Project Director (Vice-President of Behavioral Health WICHE)
• Shawnda Schroeder, Rural Health Director (Assistant Professor at UND)
• Dr. Maridee Shogren, Technical Trainer (Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing at UND)
• Dr. Andrew McLean, Technical Trainer (Chair- UND Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at UND)
• Dr. Sarah Nielsen, Technical Trainer (Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at UND)
• Dr. Elizabeth Tupa, Technical Trainer (Director of Education and Research at WICHE)
• Dr. Rebecca Helfand (Program Director at WICHE)
• Nancy Roget, Direct Enhanced Professional Learning Series and establish Communities of Practice (Co-Director of the MP-ATTC in HHS Region 8; Director of CASAT)

Additional Partners

• Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.
• National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH)
• National Rural Health Association (NHRA)
• American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)
• State Office of Rural Health
  • Colorado
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
  • Wyoming
• Area Health Education Center (AHEC)
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
• Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, Office of Suicide Prevention
• Maria Monroe-DeVita, University of Washington

This work is supported by grant H79SM081726 from the Department of Health & Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Most Recent Publications

• Measuring Stigma around Mental Illness in North Dakota
  Researchers collected data in North Dakota utilizing a nationally validated instrument for measuring stigma. This brief presents the results of the survey and implications for communities.
  Author(s): Schroeder, S., Heitkamp, T., Tan, C.M.
  Date: March 2019
  Type: Other