On-Demand Replay

Knocking at Your Door: The National Mental Health Crisis is Actually a Local Public Health Issue

Reeling from the pandemic, political divide, economic stress, health inequities, and work-life changes, communities are seeing 2-3 times higher rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, and many other forms of mental distress. The acute shortage of mental health care providers has left individuals waiting months for an appointment or they end up fending for themselves.

The challenges for public health are to identify risk factors, increase awareness about mental disorders and the effectiveness of interventions, decrease stigma, eliminate health disparities, and improve access to mental health care through better triage.

Watch this on-demand replay from NACCHO and CredibleMind to find out what the research is showing from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and other professionals, plus learn about practical approaches for bending this curve in your community. The presentation includes a new system now available to jump-start evidence-based prevention, early intervention, and triaged access to relevant local mental health resources.

Using local health department case studies, learn how new “population mental health” models, methodologies, and approaches can bring together Public Health and Behavioral Health to make an immediate impact.

Presenters

Connie Moreno-Peraza, LCSW
Connie Moreno-Peraza is the Behavioral Health Director for Madera County. She has over 20 years of combined experience in mental health, substance use, co-existing conditions, and integrated care services. She has worked in small, medium, and large counties where she has led, co-led, and implemented innovative programs and services.

Connie has extensive administrative and clinical experience and has worked with criminal justice, social services, schools, public health, community-based organizations, and healthcare providers. Ms. Moreno-Peraza has held leadership roles such as deputy director, division director, administrator, chief, and senior manager. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, bilingual, and bicultural in Spanish. She has led multi-disciplinary disaster teams and implemented strategic and cultural competence plans addressing policy, program, training, and structural changes to meet the needs of diverse clients, families, and communities. She is a strong advocate for health and wellness among her workforce and a strong advocate of prevention and early intervention services. Connie has held leadership roles as President, Vice President, and committee chair and co-chair in a former state association (CADPAAC) and is currently on the Executive and Governing Boards of CBHDA and committees (County Behavioral Health Directors Association) and serves on the CalMHSA Board of Directors (California Mental Health Services Authority). Policy, legislation, regulations, and funding are some of her areas of interest, as these are mechanisms to develop and/or increase behavioral health services for our diverse clients and communities.

Connie has experience developing Continuums of Care for all ages. and has directed Children, Youth, Families, Adults, and Older Adults Systems of Care. Ms. Moreno-Peraza is a graduate of California State University, Fresno, where she obtained her BA in Psychology and MSW. She is married, has two grown children, and has an incredibly supportive extended family. Connie loves to dance, laugh, and watch NBA games.

Deryk Van Brunt, DrPH
Deryk Van Brunt is a co-founder of CredibleMind and serves as CEO. He is also President and CEO of the Healthy Communities Foundation, a nonprofit organization. He teaches Health Informatics at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, and conducts research in the area of individual and community health information systems.

Dr. Van Brunt has overseen the creation, development, and evaluation of clinical and patient-centered information systems implemented in over 500 healthcare institutions. He has authored several health-related articles and is the recipient of the Health 2.0 Outstanding Leadership Award for 2022. Dr. Van Brunt received his MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and his DrPH in Health Informatics from the University of California at Berkeley.