An ECHO Colorado staff team attended the 2019 Public Health in the Rockies conference August 27-30 at the Keystone Conference Center in Keystone, Colo. This year’s conference, Equity and Social Justice: Innovation at Elevation, was an opportunity for education, networking and skill development for professionals in Colorado and neighboring regions. The conference was designed to build a more competent public health workforce.

ECHO Colorado staff attended a variety of sessions that presented research and policy initiatives relating to past, current and future learning series. Topics included adolescent sexual health in Colorado, children and youth with special needs, MAT training in rural areas, and innovations in behavioral health care.

Networking was an important and enjoyable aspect of the conference. ECHO Colorado staff were able to connect (and reconnect) with ECHO partners including CDPHE and the CDPHE Oral Health Unit, and staff from the IT MATTRs program.

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The ECHO Colorado Team, in partnership with the Center for Health, Work & Environment and UCHealth, offered a half-day event at the Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs. The day was tailored to local residents with a focus on Mental Health Supports for the Workplace to address challenges, barriers to care as well as provide local and state resources. 

Participants engaged in a “live” echo simulation, which included a brief presentation by Alex J. Reed, PSYD, MPH. The room divided into “break outs” by gathering in groups to review submitted cases from participants who expressed challenges they currently faced in the workplace. Groups discussed and worked collaboratively on sharing and connecting over similar situations as well as pooling resources and experiences to support and empower handling similar scenarios in the workplace. The room reconvened at the close of the hour and brought together all the collective wisdom and shared solutions to enhance the sense of connection and community in facing similar challenges. 

Participants will be invited to the upcoming ECHO Series that is being developed from the day’s discussion points as a follow-up resource to the event, “Solutions for Workplace Behavioral and Mental Health Challenges.” The series will also be offered to those who did not participate in the one-day event, but would like to benefit from the connection, community, and resources that will be offered. 

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