CONTINUING EDUCATION SPECIALIST

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences within the UW School of Medicine is the third largest clinical department with over 300 full-time faculty members, over 400 courtesy/affiliate faculty members, 132 trainees and over 300 staff with an annual budget of over $110m. Department faculty provide clinical services in the University of Washington School of Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center-Montlake and Northwest and Harborview Medical Center.  Faculty members also serve at Seattle Children's Hospital, the Veteran’s Administration Puget Sound Healthcare System, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; which comprise 5 hospitals, 14 primary care locations, and several outpatient sites; in addition to telepsychiatry consultations to more than 150 clinics in Washington and beyond. As the only academic psychiatry department serving the five state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), the Department’s highly competitive residency training program is largely responsible for developing the mental health workforce in the Pacific Northwest and is the largest program in the United States. We offer 26 graduate medical education programs, including the Psychiatry Residency and Clinical Psychology Intern/Resident programs, 24 subspecialty clinical fellowships (ACGME & Non-ACGME), and required and elective medical student clerkships for 276 students.  In addition, our education program runs 6 workforce training programs for mental health practitioners across Washington State and the Pacific Northwest Region.

The Department’s robust research portfolio reached $55 million in grant and contract awards in fiscal year 2023 for projects ranging from clinical neurosciences to treatment development to health policy and population health. The Department is recognized as an international leader in developing, testing, and implementing Collaborative Care, an integrated care model increasingly seen as a solution for population-based mental health care. Other areas of excellence include Addictions, Autism, High Risk Youth, Neurosciences, and Trauma, and the Department is developing innovative new programs in Technology and Mental Health, Global Mental Health, Maternal and Child Mental Health, and Targeted Intervention Development.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is recruiting for a full time Continuing Education Specialist.

POSITION PURPOSE
The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences within the UW School of Medicine is the third largest clinical department within the School of Medicine with 285 full-time faculty members, 280 clinical faculty members, and over 200 staff. Department faculty provide clinical services in 5 hospitals, 14 primary care locations, and several outpatient sites in addition to telepsychiatry consultations to more than 150 clinics in Washington and beyond. As the only academic psychiatry department serving the five state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), the Department’s highly competitive residency training program is largely responsible for developing the mental health workforce in the Pacific Northwest. The Department’s robust research portfolio totals $35 million in grants and contracts per year for projects ranging from clinical neurosciences to treatment development to health policy and population health. The Department is recognized as an international leader in developing, testing, and implementing Collaborative Care, an integrated care model increasingly seen as a solution for population-based mental health care. Other areas of excellence include Addictions, Autism, High Risk Youth, Neurosciences, and Trauma, and the Department is developing innovative new programs in Technology and Mental Health, Global Mental Health, Maternal and Child Mental Health, and Targeted Intervention Development, and more recently First Episode Psychosis (FEP) and psychotherapeutic interventions and programs to address Serious Mental Illness (SMI). This full-time (100%) position within the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences based at Harborview Medical Center will play a key role in providing training, consultation, and fidelity reviews within the SPIRIT Lab (Supporting Psychosis Innovation through Research, Implementation, and Training) at the University of Washington. In particular, this trainer will provide implementation support to Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams nationally as well as within Washington State (where they are known as PACT teams). At times, this trainer and consultant will also provide similar PACT/ACT-related training and support through the Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (NW-MHTTC) serving Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho. This position will work closely with Dr. Maria Monroe-DeVita and the UW PACT Training and Implementation Team on a daily basis. This position requires expertise and working knowledge of ACT teams and other evidence-based practices (EBPs) typically integrated within the multidisciplinary roles of ACT teams (e.g., motivational interviewing, supported employment, illness management and recovery). 

Position Complexities:
PACT has been shown to produce positive outcomes in the people who receive such services and requires a high level of clinical, organizational, and team-based skills to implement. This work is creative and breaks new ground for the field of public behavioral health in the State of Washington.  Further, PACT implementation is tied to a set of contract deliverables for the SPIRIT Lab to meet for the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) and for the NW-MHTTC to meet its objectives in their Cooperative Agreement with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  The successful fulfillment of these responsibilities is critical to the professional reputation and growth of the SPIRIT Lab and NW-MHTTC, as well as to the field as a whole, as there are no established procedures that apply to this work and much of it requires innovation and creativity in developing new approaches to fulfilling contract deliverables and making these projects successful.  A high level of professionalism and previous experience is required to obtain the cooperation and respect of all stakeholders to meet SPIRIT Lab/NW-MHTTCs contractual obligations. Further this position requires positive working relationships with the directors and program managers of HCA, and community behavioral health centers and stakeholders across Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho.

Position Dimensions and Impact to the University:
The successful fulfillment of these contract responsibilities is also critical to the professional reputation and growth of the SPIRIT Lab and NW-MHTTC as a center of excellence in implementation and evaluation of EBPs for adults with serious mental illness and early psychosis across the state.  A high level of professionalism, clinical expertise, and previous experience is required to obtain the cooperation and respect of all stakeholders to meet the SPIRIT Lab’s contractual obligations for these projects and initiatives.  Stakeholders include the program managers within the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR)/Healthcare Authority (HCA) and providers of behavioral health services in Washington State.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
•Lead and co-lead ACT training:  This includes planning and coordination, curriculum development/enhancement, training delivery, development of learning objectives and follow-up evaluation (30%)
•Lead ACT fidelity reviews: This includes conducting several ACT fidelity reviews per year with co-reviewers from other ACT teams and/or staff from UW SPIRIT Lab. This role includes leading the consensus rating process with co-reviewers, writing comprehensive fidelity reports focused on quality improvement recommendations and training, and providing feedback to teams about fidelity findings (10%)
•Facilitate and co-facilitate ACT consultation:  This includes ACT consultation through the monthly Washington State PACT ECHO Clinic (modeled after University of New Mexico’s Project ECHO), as well as ad hoc virtually. This role includes consultation to state and agency administrators to facilitate adoption and sustainment of ACT and other evidence-based practices within ACT (40%)
•Consult to ACT training team:  Assist with integrating new training material and training approaches into existing ACT training curriculum, facilitate quality improvement processes with ACT training materials, facilitate train-the-trainer approaches with current training team (10%)
•Respond to/triage ACT training and consultation inquiries:Develop a collaborative and/or independent response to ad hoc and National ACT Listserv consultation and training inquiries (5%)
•Facilitate external contracting:  Assist with developing and finalizing external trainers’ and consultants’ statements of work and personal service contracts as needed (5%)

Lead Responsibilities:
Lead and co-lead ACT training:  This includes planning and coordination, curriculum development/enhancement, training delivery, development of learning objectives and follow-up evaluation. Lead ACT fidelity reviews: This includes conducting several ACT fidelity reviews per year with co-reviewers from other ACT teams and/or staff from UW SPIRIT Lab. This role includes leading the consensus rating process with co-reviewers, writing comprehensive fidelity reports focused on quality improvement recommendations and training, and providing feedback to teams about fidelity findings.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS