Wolverine Human Services
One of our psychologists, Robert Hindman, Ph.D., has been involved in a research study on how to effectively train an organization in CBT. The lead investigator is Cara Lewis, Ph.D., a former Beck Institute Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Indiana University where she has a dissemination and implementation science lab. Dissemination and implementation science studies the best ways to take practices which research shows are effective, train clinicians to use them properly, and keep clinicians using the best practices after the training is over.
Drs. Lewis and Hindman began the project in 2012 with an organization in Michigan, Wolverine Human Services (WHS), which provides treatment to adolescents who need residential treatment services. WHS contacted the Beck Institute to provide their clients with evidenced based CBT. Before the training began, Drs. Hindman and Lewis met with the administrators, clinicians, and staff at all levels of the Wolverine organization to identify any factors or barriers that could get in the way of successful implementation of CBT. They developed a plan to address the potential obstacles, and worked with Wolverine to make the necessary changes.
So far, Drs. Hindman and Lewis have conducted two trainings at Wolverine Human Services and are scheduled for their next visit this month. They also work with Wolverine between visits; Dr. Lewis helps them successfully complete the implementation plan, and Dr. Hindman provides supervision to their clinicians and supervisors in CBT. At their March visit, Drs. Hindman and Lewis will begin training the supervising clinicians on how to supervise their staff in CBT, so that after the 5-year training program is over, Wolverine can continue to provide high quality CBT to its clients.