Novel Approaches to Behavioral Health Innovation is a monthly lecture series offered through Vail Health Behavioral Health Innovation Center and University of Wisconsin-Madison. The series features innovative leaders in behavioral health treatment and research and offers continuing education credit for mental health professionals.

As the rate of mental illness—especially depression, anxiety, and substance abuse—continues to climb in the United States, the mental health field of medicine is in dire need of new perspectives and treatments. The Novel Approaches to Behavioral Health Innovation Lecture Series seeks to address this mental health crisis head-on by providing fresh, scientifically-supported perspectives on mental illness and a framework for understanding a range of new evidence-based treatments. The novel interventions explored in this lecture series approach emotional health in ways that leverage ecological and psychosocial understandings of wellbeing and that tap into evolved human capacities for strengthen psychological and physical resilience factors that are protective against mental illness.
 

Who is the lecture series for?

The Novel Approaches to Behavioral Health Innovation Lecture Series is designed for psychologists, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, physicians, nurses, physician assistants, social workers, and other behavioral health clinicians. However, a vast variety of interesting and popular mental and behavioral health topics will be covered throughout this series. We encourage anyone interested in the topics to participate and learn.

Cost & Accreditation

This accredited lecture series is FREE. Participants must register for each lecture to access the information and receive course credits. 

In support of improving patient care, the Novel Approaches to Behavioral Health Innovation Lecture Series has been planned and implemented by the University of Wisconsin–Madison ICEP and Vail Health. The University of Wisconsin–Madison ICEP is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
 

Learning Objectives

From participation in this educational lecture series, members of the healthcare team will be able to:
  • Describe the scientific rationale behind adaptive stress based and related empirically supported interventions for depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and related mental health conditions
  • Plan and implement adaptive stress based and related empirically supported mental health interventions in clinical practice
  • Describe and mange risks associated with adaptive stress based and related empirically supported mental health interventions

How to Register

There are two registration buttons available for Upcoming Lectures. Please register based on your need for continuing education credits:

REGISTER TO WATCH > 
If you are intrigued by the monthly topics and would like to learn more for your own personal interest, please register via the 'REGISTER TO WATCH >' button. This button will prompt you send a pre-filled email our team at InnovationSeries@VailHealth.org. You will then receive a response with the upcoming lecture Zoom link. Please note: you will need to register each month to receive the upcoming lecture link.

REGISTER FOR CREDIT >
If you are clinical mental health professional participating in the series for continuing education credit, please register via the 'REGISTER FOR CREDIT >' button. This link will direct you to sign up through the University of Wisconsin-Madison's system. You will receive access to the lecture through the UWM portal and/or via a reminder link that will be emailed through that system. Please note: you will need to register each month to be enrolled in each session.

Upcoming Lectures

Session 6  |  December 7, 2023  |  12:00 - 1:00PM MST  |  ZOOM (Online)
Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health

Presented by Tom Insel

The last four decades have seen unprecedented progress in the science of mental illness, yet there has been little movement in improving the outcomes of patients. At a population level, despair, anguish, and mortality are increasing for those with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe mood and anxiety disorders. How do you explain this gap between science and social impact?

Join Tom Insel, MD, author of “Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health” as he discusses there is a crisis of care, the five major contributing factors and the solutions. There may not be a magic bullet but with high touch, high tech, and shifting the model from a narrow medical “sick care” approach to a broader recovery “health care” approach, the curve can be bent to make a difference.

REGISTER TO WATCH >   REGISTER FOR CREDIT >

Session 7  |  January 4, 2024  |  12:00 - 1:00PM MST  |  ZOOM (Online)
Old Friends & Mental Health: Role of Co-Evolved Micro-Organisms in Stress Resilience

Presented by Christopher Lowry

Session 8 |  February 1, 2024  |  12:00 - 1:00PM MST  |  ZOOM (Online)
Back to the Basics: WILD 5 - A Proven Path to Wellness

Presented by Saundra & Rakesh Jain

Past Lectures

Session 1 
Novel Approaches to Behavioral Health Innovation: Non-Specific Treatments, Adaptive Stress and the Future of Depression-Enduring

In this talk, Dr. Charles Raison will apply an evolutionary lens to address the urgent question of why treatments for mental illness have not made the type of progress that has occurred in other fields of medicine, especially oncology. 
 

Session 2
Novel Approaches to Behavioral Health Innovation: Challenging Yourself with Thermal Stress to Improve Health and Well-being

Presented by Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D.
Intentional exposure to both heat and cold can have remarkable health benefits. 

ALL PAST LECTURES >

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