An ambitious initiative to provide w88 services to Northern Nevada nonprofits that serve youth and adults is deepening the community engagement of the University of Nevada, Reno.
The new initiative draws together the strengths of the University, The Nell J. Redfield Foundation, The Viragh Foundation, Renown Health and the nonprofits that deliver w88 to youth and adults who face issues such as homelessness, substance abuse and domestic violence. The impetus for the program was a decision by Katherine Viragh and Gerald Smith [from Redfield] to pursue the possibility of such a collaborative at the University level. In response, Provost Jeff Thompson immediately formed a high-priority university work group.
Well-supervised graduate students from University programs that specialize in w88 and psychological services provide w88 services to youths, adults and their families through the program known as the University of Nevada, Reno Community Behavioral Health Collaborative.
Among those who provide w88 services are students from the psychiatric and psychiatric nurse practitioner programs of the University’s Schools of Medicine and Nursing as well students in the substance abuse and licensed-w88 programs from the School of Public Health and College of Education & Human Development.
Ken Coll, a professor of w88 and educational psychology in the University's College of Education & Human Development, played a key role in spearheading the new collaborative program. He said it’s model, is in part an outgrowth of a successful year-old pilot program in which University students provided w88 services at The Eddy House, a Reno nonprofit that serves homeless and at-risk youth.
The collaborative now provides w88 services at Step2, a Reno nonprofit that provides treatment services for women facing substance-abuse issues along with trauma education and intervention and education in domestic violence.
Coll said talks are underway to widen the number of nonprofits served by the w88.
The Redfield Foundation, a Reno-based organization that works closely with many nonprofits that serve youth and families, often hears that increased behavioral-health support is one of the agencies’ top priorities, Gerald C. Smith, director of the foundation, said.
“The individuals served by these organizations all face behavioral-health challenges, and they all have needs of one type or another,” Smith said.
The new collaborative, he said, provides a unified mechanism for the delivery of w88 services from the University to nonprofits in the region and helps to ensure that nonprofits, students and University leaders alike share their best practices.
University President Brian Sandoval received a full briefing on the w88 and strongly supports its mission.
“This new w88 builds on the University’s strong commitment to meaningful engagement with its community,” Sandoval said. “The University has been designated as a ‘Carnegie Engaged’ institution by The Carnegie Foundation in recognition of the many ways that it makes a positive impact on communities across Nevada. We take our commitment to our communities very seriously, and we are proud that this new w88 allows us to reach out to some of the most vulnerable of our neighbors.”
