Strengthening CHR-P and FEP CSC Services through Peer Specialist Integration

Hassan Ramadan & Lauren Utter

Hassan Ramadan is a Certified Peer Specialist at McLean Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. He has previously worked on an Adult Community Clinical Services (ACCS) team. He brings his lived experience with mental health and substance use challenges to support others in their own recovery. His favorite saying is "I may have never been in your shoes, but I've probably been to that same shoe store."

Dr. Lauren Utter is a licensed clinical psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) within the Psychosis Clinical and Research Program. She serves as the Clinical Director of the MGH RE-SET Program for individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis and provides clinical services within the MGH First Episode Psychosis team. In these roles, Dr. Utter also oversees psychology practicum training and leads the integration of peer support services.

Dr. Utter’s work centers on supporting families and young adults with emerging serious mental health conditions as well as enhancing systems of care to promote early intervention and recovery.

Family Consultation: Common Dilemmas in Family Treatment

Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, PhD

Recovery Oriented Cognitive Therapy

Tamara Welikson, PhD

Evaluation and Treatment of Co-occurring CHR-P and Trauma

Anika Guha, PhD

Coaching: Executive Functioning/School Work

Juan Parra, LMHC

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: Racist History of Psychosis Diagnoses

Emily Gagen, PhD

Evaluation Feedback and Recommendations

Amanda Weber

Differential Diagnosis for CHR-P

Michelle L. West, PhD

Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Director, Program for Early Assessment, Care, & Study (PEACS)
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
University of Colorado School of Medicine (CUSOM)

Dr. Michelle West is a clinical psychologist specializing in assessment, treatment, and research for young people showing possible risk for psychotic disorders. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of PEACS (Program for Early Assessment, Care, and Study), a psychosis risk program through the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her research interests include intervention for early psychosis and common comorbid concerns, including OCD, emotional disorders, and risk for self-harm. She earned her BA in psychology and philosophy at Colgate University, her MA in forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and her PhD in clinical psychology at the City University of New York.

Foundations of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Amanda Weber, PhD & Emily Carol, PhD

Navigating Academic Accommodations and Considerations for Neuropsychological Assessment

Drew Coman, PhD

Dr. Coman is the Director of Child and Adolescent Psychology & Neuropsychology in the Psychosis Clinical & Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.  He received his undergraduate degree with Departmental Honors at the University of Miami (UM) and also completed his graduate studies there in Child Clinical Psychology.  He concluded his training with a pre-doctoral internship/residency and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (MGH/HMS).  He has been a faculty at MGH/HMS since 2014.  His work has been published in some of the nation’s top psychology journals, such as the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America.  Dr. Coman has also presented his work at conferences both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Coman conducts comprehensive neuropsychological and educational evaluations for children, adolescents, transition-aged youth, and young adults (i.e., around ages 2 to 28 years) for various learning, socio-emotional, and behavioral difficulties.  He also provides school observations as well as educational and psychiatric consultations in addition to evidenced-based therapeutic treatments-which informs his recommendations in assessments as well as his consultation reports.  He has trained and worked within an array of outpatient clinical settings serving multicultural families employing each of these services.

Third-Wave Cognitive Behavioral Therapies for Psychosis

Ashley Buchanan Nguyen, PsyD

Dr. Ashley Buchanan Nguyen is a postdoctoral fellow on the early psychosis track at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School (MMHC/BIDMC/HMS), and splits her clinical time seeing CHR/FEP populations at the CEDAR clinic at The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health and the ASPIRE clinic at BIDMC. Dr. Buchanan Nguyen has worked with adolescents and young adults experiencing severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) and psychotic spectrum disorders across a variety of settings, and with clients ranging from low to higher acuity. Her clinical interests focus on understanding and addressing the experience of psychosis across the lifespan, and she has devoted years to understanding individual and interpersonal predictors of health outcomes for individuals experiencing psychosis. Dr. Buchanan Nguyen works from a developmental approach, utilizing trauma-informed and evidence-based therapies (e.g., CBT-p, DBT and ACT for psychosis), to provide recovery-oriented and culturally-sensitive care. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapies for Psychosis

Ashley Buchanan Nguyen, PsyD

Dr. Ashley Buchanan Nguyen is a postdoctoral fellow on the early psychosis track at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School (MMHC/BIDMC/HMS), and splits her clinical time seeing CHR/FEP populations at the CEDAR clinic at The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health and the ASPIRE clinic at BIDMC. Dr. Buchanan Nguyen has worked with adolescents and young adults experiencing severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) and psychotic spectrum disorders across a variety of settings, and with clients ranging from low to higher acuity. Her clinical interests focus on understanding and addressing the experience of psychosis across the lifespan, and she has devoted years to understanding individual and interpersonal predictors of health outcomes for individuals experiencing psychosis. Dr. Buchanan Nguyen works from a developmental approach, utilizing trauma-informed and evidence-based therapies (e.g., CBT-p, DBT and ACT for psychosis), to provide recovery-oriented and culturally-sensitive care. 

Suicide Risk Assessment and Safety Planning

Michelle West, PhD

View Slides

CAMS Suicide Status Form

Safety Planning Template

CEDAR Seminar: Effectively Navigating Systems of Care

Lauren A. Utter, Psy.D.

View Slides

Recognizing and Responding to Risk for Psychosis in College Students

Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D and Colette Potts, LMFT

Join Dr. Friedman-Yakoobian and Colette Potts in this talk geared toward high school counselors, social workers, and psychologists about how to recognize risk for psychosis in High School Students and how to respond.

Click here to watch the recording of this training!

Recognizing and Responding to Risk for Psychosis in High School Students

Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D and Colette Potts, LMFT

Join Dr. Friedman-Yakoobian and Colette Potts in this talk geared toward high school counselors, social workers, and psychologists about how to recognize risk for psychosis in High School Students and how to respond.

Click here to watch a recording of this training!

Clinical Brief on Supporting Young People at Risk for Psychosis Through Telehealth

Jasmine Mote, Ph.D, Christopher Ceccolini, MA, James Green, B.A, and Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D

This is a clinical brief created by Mental Health Technology Transfer Center and the CEDAR Clinic to help provide information on Supporting Young People at Risk for Psychosis Through Telehealth. Click the image or here or a pdf of the brief!

Clinical Brief on School and Work Coaching for Youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

Emma Parrish, B.S and Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D

This is a clinical brief created by Mental Health Technology Transfer Center and the CEDAR Clinic to help provide information on School and Work Coaching for Youth at CHR-p. Click the image or here for a pdf of the brief!

Clinical Brief on Interventions for Youth at Risk for Psychosis

Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D and Suzannah Zimmet, M.D.

This is a clinical brief created by the CEDAR Clinic to help provide information on Interventions for Youth and Psychosis. Click the image or here for a pdf of the brief!

Clinical Brief on Early Psychosis and Addressing Risk for Suicide and Violence

Michelle West, Ph.D

This is a clinical brief created by the CEDAR Clinic to help provide information on Early Psychosis and Addressing Risk for Suicide and Violence. Click on the image or here to get a pdf of the brief!

Clinical Brief on Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis

Claire Goods, B.S

This is a clinical brief created by Response to Risk Research to help provide information on Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis. Click the image or here for a pdf of the brief!

Family Treatment in CHR-P Training Intensive- Recording 2

Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D

This is the Second part of the Family Treatment in CHR-P, in this workshop Dr Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian provides example of cases and gives tools to understand and navigate different scenarios. Click on the image or here to watch this training now!

Family Treatment in CHR-P Training Intensive - Recording 1

Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D

In this training, Dr Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian gives an overview on the importance of Family Therapy and explains strategies for effective family treatment. Click the image or here to watch this training now!

Recognizing and Responding to Risk for Psychosis in High School Students

Colette Potts, LMFT

Join Dr. Friedman-Yakoobian and Colette Potts in this pre-recorded webinar teared toward high school counselors, social workers, and psychologists about how to recognize risk for psychosis and how to respond. Click the image or here to watch this training now!

Recognizing and Responding to Risk for Psychosis in College Students

Colette Potts, LMFT

Join Dr. Friedman-Yakoobian and Colette Potts in this webinar for a FREE training geared toward college counselors, social workers, and psychologists about how to recognize risk for psychosis — and how to respond. Click the image or here watch this training now!

Clinical Brief on Discussing Diagnosis of Early Psychosis with Youth and Families

Michelle West, Ph.D, Megan Lilly, LMHC, Matcheri Keshavan, MD, and Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian, Ph.D

This is a clinical brief created by the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network and the CEDAR Clinic to help provide information on how to discuss an early psychosis diagnosis with youth and families! Click on the image or here to get a pdf of the brief!

Identify and Respond to Mental Health Risk in Your Church Community Training

Colette Potts, LMFT

How can the church help amidst our mental health crisis? Learn more here about recognizing and responding to risk, and how the church can help children, youth, and families. Click the image or here to watch this training!

Recognizing and Responding to Risk for Psychosis in Students Training

Colette Potts, LMFT and Michelle Friedman-Yakoobian Ph.D.

Join Dr. Friedman-Yakoobian and Colette Potts in this presentation for high school counselors, social workers, and psychologists about how to recognize risk of psychosis — and how to respond. Click the image or here to watch this training now!

Coordinated Specialty Care for Early Psychosis Webinar Series

Coordinated specialty care (CSC) for early psychosis is an evidence-based treatment model aimed at fostering resilience and recovery for individuals who have experienced a first episode of psychosis or are at clinical high risk for developing psychosis. Each webinar is co-presented by a professional with expertise in that component of care as well as an individual with lived experience who can speak to how this aspect of care was meaningful in their journey towards recovery. This series is geared toward individuals new to working on an Early Psychosis Specialty Team – including students, clinicians, prescribers, supported employment specialists, family clinicians, and peer specialists. Click the image or here to watch this series now!