Mental and Social Health Commons^™

A Mental Health Workforce Crisis: Roadmap For Enhancing Recruitment & Retention In Minnesota, Iowa & Wisconsin, Lindsay Duenow, Rebecca Kobernick, Mckenzie Sohre, Kim Wallgren

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Building and maintaining an adequate mental health workforce requires successful recruitment and retention of qualified workers. Identifying recruitment and retention factors specific to behavioral health providers is essential in determining strategies for increasing the rural health behavioral workforce. The World Health Organization estimates there are 1.18 million additional mental health workers needed to end the mental health treatment gap between patients and providers worldwide. In the U.S., there has been a nationwide shortage of mental health professionals, and this shortage is more pronounced in rural communities,with twenty percent of rural areas lacking mental health services, compared to five percent of …

Creating Healthy Communities Across Minnesota: Investing In Integrated Health Care, Leah Jacobson, Nicole Lidstrom, Jenna Lipovetz, Jamie Schuller

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

In Minnesota, behavioral health homes have become an efficient resource for individu­als on Medical Assistance to receive integrated behavioral and primary health care under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The rising popularity of behav­ioral health homes in Minnesota introduced the concept of integrated medical care with a patient's primary care physician as the "home-base". Figure 1 illustrates the inte­grated approach that supports the patient and their family, provides care that covers an entire continuum of care with a comprehensive care team focused on the whole person, is accessible with short waiting times, and is committed to quality and …

{Ace}Ing Early Childhood In Minnesota, Bailey Alston, Casie Devos, Alisha Field, Renee Gasner

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Too many young children are facing ACEs that are detrimentally impacting their development and contributing to negative outcomes that persist into adulthood. There are no current policies using the ACE questions to drive mental health interventions. The Governor’s Task Force on Mental Health made nine recommendations that, if implemented, will greatly improve the mental health and well-being of children and their parents. Improving early childhood prevention and intervention programs helps ALL Minnesota’s families build healthy and rich experiences for their children.

1. Expand the Early Childhood Mental Health Grant program statewide to increase early childhood mental health specialists.
2. Create a Governor’s …

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Characteristics And How Social Support Plays A Role, Stephanie Smith-Kellen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

NSSI affects many young adults and is associated with suicidal ideation, as well as numerous mental health disorders and other psychological variables. There were a total of 59 participants that participated in this study from an undergraduate college sample who endorsed self-injuring. An online platform for research was used to recruit participants and provide them with the online survey link. Self-injuring more than one bodily location may result in feeling more stigma than individuals who self-injure one bodily location. Self-stigma and self-injuring multiple bodily locations both significantly predicted suicidal ideation, but gender and social support did not predict suicidal ideation. …

The Effect Of Clinician Competence And Religiosity On The Trainee Clinician’S Ability To Identify Problematic Sexual Behavior, Cody Butcher

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Models in psychology do not consider the concept of sex addiction the same way as other substance or behavior addictions. For example, sex addiction, which is not a DSM-5 disorder, is often assigned as a label to clients based off of high frequency of sexual behavior. Despite sex addiction not being a diagnosable disorder, sex addiction therapists are conducting treatment with people who identify as sex addicts. Due to this lack of a definition, previous research has found that clinicians may identify sex addiction in clients based on their own preconceived worldviews of what types of sexual behaviors or frequencies …

The Relationship Between Religiosity And Depression Among Sampled Kenyans In The Twin Cities Metro Area, Dorcas Waite

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to assess whether there is a relationship between the self-reported level of religiosity and the self-reported level of depression among sampled Kenyans in the Twin Cities Metro Area, in Minnesota. The sample consisted of 63 individuals who were members or visitors at Destiny Faith Ministries and United Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Results showed that 98.4% (n=60) of participants identified themselves with a specific religion, 90.4% (n=57) scored 40 and above on the religiosity scale, which indicated strong religiosity. Majority of participants (66.8%, n=42) indicated that they had been bothered for several days by at least …

Adolescents' Experiences Returning To School After A Mental Health Hospitalization, Pamela Iverson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This qualitative study explores how adolescents experience transition when they return to school after an acute mental health hospitalization. For this study, the term transition is used to describe the process of adjusting to the return from an acute mental health hospital to school. Eight adolescents from southern Minnesota, ages 15-17, were interviewed about their transition experience for this study. Each participant had experienced an acute hospitalization within 12 months of their interview. Each participant interview was recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using phenomenological research methods. For each participant, an individual textural description, structural description, and textural/structural description was provided through …