Join the ACPE Behavioral Health Settings Community of Practice

The ACPE Behavioral Health Settings Community of Practice was created for the intention of bringing together ACPE Certified Educators, CECs, and Clinical Members who serve in the unique contexts of Behavioral Health Settings and might benefit from context-specific consultation, continuing education, and community formation. This CoP was originated by Carl Yusavitz (ACPE Certified Educator, Penn Foundation), who served as convener until his retirement October 2020. Prior to his retirement, Carl asked for volunteers to serve as convener. Ryan Parker (Mental Health Chaplain/ ACPE Certified Educator, Durham VA Health Care System) is currently serving as convener.

The CoP meets four times a year, one hour each meeting. The meetings alternate between community formation (and consultation as needed) and didactic material. We’ve had sessions on stages of change, trauma informed care, and guest presenters from the VA Office of Integrative Mental Health. We’ve discussed the various ways our programs and lives have been impacted by the COVID pandemic, and received consultation about integration of trauma-informed care into CPE curricula, managing behavioral health needs of students, and developing specialized 2^nd year residency curricula. We also discussed powerful lessons learned from ACPE 2021 Conference: Creating Room to Breathe.

Given the VA computer systems not playing nicely with Yammer, our membership roster is maintained in Excel by the Convener, and WebEx meeting links sent out to all known members. As of February 2022, the CoP has 38 members and throughout 2021, average attendance was 6-7 members at each meeting with 12 members attending at least one meeting during the year. We would welcome additional membership, and increased involvement of existing members. To be added to the CoP membership roster and distribution lists, please email Ryan Parker (ryan.parker3@va.gov).