These slides were presented at the September 2023 meeting of the KC Digital Drive Health Innovation Team. The University of Kansas Medical Center's Telehealth ROCKS program is a federally-funded collaborative effort involving government, state and local organizations, universities, health care providers, and school districts to collectively meet the behavioral health needs of children and their families. The program focuses on comprehensive approaches, including a focus on the social drivers of health, targeted services, and clinical care.

1. ROBERT STILES
University of Kansas Medical Center
Department of Pediatrics
TELEHEALTH ROCKS
Regional Outreach for Communities, Kids, and Schools

2. 2
What brought us and keeps us
together . . .
TELEHEALTH ROCKS
Regional Outreach for Communities, Kids, and Schools

3. Schools and communities where every
child has the resources and skills they
need to have the exact same opportunity
for success in school and in life.
3
COLLECTIVE VISION

4. • Work began with Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office for
the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) funding in 2015.
• Focus on school and community-based-based linkages to telebehavioral health
services and training.
• Provision of psychology, psychiatry and specialized behavioral health services and use
of ECHO model for distance training to clinicians, schools, and communities.
• April, 2020 received SAMHSA Disaster Recovery Funds (KanDO)
• September, 2021 received HRSA OAT Evidence-Based Telehealth Network
Program funding (Communities)
• September, 2021 received HRSA OAT Telehealth Technology-Enabled Learning
Program funding (Together)
• September, 2022 received SAMHSA AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience
in Education) funding (KanAWARE).
• Recently received an NIH R56 award to further develop the research approach to
evaluate health and social determinants outcomes from our work.
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Telehealth ROCKS Timeline

5. Funding

6. Goal:
Community
Transformation

7. 7
Key Concepts
School-district driven and centered.
• School as central to rural communities
Universal, Targeted, and Individual Services
• Clinical services with focus on social determinants of health as
behavioral health intervention along with support for those
working with children and families
Trauma-RESPONSIVE
• Mitigating the impact of trauma while working to reduce its
occurrence

8. 8
Key Concepts
Training and Resource Needs of schools, clinicians, and
communities.
• Topics identified by school districts, clinicians, and local communities.
Collaboration and creation of Integrated Systems
• Continue to grow Network across entities and systems while remaining
FOCUSED on school and community priorities.
Students/populations with specialized needs
• Immigrants, Justice System, Foster Care/Protective Services, I/DD

9. • Collaborate. Everyone has an equal voice.
• Simplify. Big tent doing a few important things together—need everyone.
• Capacity. Interventions have to better meet local needs with same level of
existing resources—time/staff/funding, while adding new resources where
where needed.
• Coordinate. Understand the landscape; who is working in it; and what
they are doing; then magnify and expand the things that are already
working/already exist, prior to creating something new.
• Focus. Understand the needs of each school and community and children
and families with specific needs/issues and develop specific, relevant
resources to meet those needs.
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What have we learned?

10. Behavioral Health Providers
It
takes
all
of
us.

11. • Government—U.S. Dept. Health and Human Services, HRSA, SAMHSA, NIH.
KSDE, KDADS, DCF, KDHE.
• Statewide Advocacy—DCCCA, Headquarters Kansas, Families Together,
Communities Honored Adolescent Success in Education (CHASE)
• Education—Greenbush Education Service Center, Coffeyville, Pittsburg, Sedan,
Caney, Fort Scott, Labette County, Parsons School Districts (Kansas), Eldon,
South Callaway, Kennett School Districts (Missouri)
• Health Care—Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Four County
Mental Health Center, University of Kansas Medical Center.
• Local Entities—Crawford County Restorative Justice Authority, Southeast
Kansas DCF
AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK TO ADD PARTNERS UNTIL WE
HAVE EVERYONE WHO IMPACTS OUR KIDS AND COMMUNITIES.
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Who’s in our tent?

12. Source: Healthy Baton Rouge
https://healthybr.com/community-health/what-are-the-social-determinants-of-health
50 percent of our
health is related to
our direct
community,
and it has a direct
relationship to the
remaining 50
percent of our
health.

13. • Mission: to make Kansas City a digital leader and to improve the quality of
life for all people in the region.
• Ameliorate equity barriers, increase opportunities for economic
prosperity, and elevate the community as a key informant in the
innovation process.
• Collaborative business model directed to:
• Decrease socioeconomic differences in the utilization of new
technologies;
• Lead the development of technology solutions for vexing public
problems; and
• Increase adoption of emerging technology.
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Why does this matter to KC Digital Drive

14. KC
Digital
Drive
Model

15. • Comprehensive—Has to include everyone
• Partnership with Southeast Kansas DCF and Greenbush Education Service
Center for creation of school district referral system for unmet needs across
southeast Kansas.
• In partnership with Community Care Link create an information and referral
exchange that includes health, education, and social services.
• Responsive—Locally-led and defined—what do you need? What are you
struggling with?
• Keeping Kids Safe ECHO-last year suicide; this year social media, substance use,
bullying, self-harm, and disordered eating;
• Focus on youth impacted by justice and child welfare systems, with new focus
on truancy/attendance.
• What’s next?—whatever our partners and communities tell us they’re struggling
with.
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Guiding Principles (Values)

16. • Expansive—Create new models and resources to globally meet needs of kids and
their communities.
• School-based CHWs to provide resources needed so schools can focus on
educational success; Two new pediatric clinical post-doctoral fellows
supervised by KUMC (with virtual supervision), but placed in the rural
communities we serve.
• In 30+ states, CHWs are billable Medicaid providers in at least some
situations; Unfortunately in Kansas, will not be billable for FQHCs, CCBHCs,
or RHCs.
• Receptive—Listen and make changes to meet unmet and emerging needs
• How does this approach replace current practices within the current time
available?—revamp of resilience/self-care; new shorter videos and other
resources on website; what do we need to add to the system?
• Add new resources to the system to better meet community needs.
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Values

17. • Inclusive—”It’s going to take all of us”--need to have everyone at the table
and everyone working together and do a few simple things driven by local
community:
• Federal (HRSA, SAMHSA, NIH);
• State (KS Depts Health and Environment, Aging and Disability Services, Children
and Families, Education);
• Statewide (Prevention/Substance Use, Suicide Prevention, I/DD family
advocacy; foster care/adoptive family advocacy);
• Health care (16th largest rural FQHC in the country, five-county mental health
center, state’s academic medical center);
• Education (11 school districts in two states, statewide education service
center); and
• Everyone else (County-level juvenile justice, foster care contractor, regional
family support services agency, faith-based organizations, and everyone else).
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Values

18. Individual
Addressing
child/family needs
through identifying
and creating
resources
Environment
Coordinating
collaboration
across social
services,
education, and
health
Community
Creating a system
that includes
everyone who
impacts a child
Meeting the
needs of children
and their families
It’s Simple:
focusing on
Leads to a
community
where all
children thrive.

19. Keeping Kids Safe ECHO
Telehealth ROCKS, in partnership with HeadQuarters Kansas and DCCCA,
presents a training series with topics dedicated to Keeping Kids Safe. Training
is free and online via Zoom.
Join us monthly from 12-1 PM CST
• Oct. 4, 2023—Social Media Safety
• Nov. 1, 2023—Substance Use
• Dec. 6, 2023—Bullying
• Jan. 10, 2024—Self-Harm
• Feb. 7, 2024—Disordered Eating
• Mar. 6, 2024—Wrap Up
Learn more on the Telehealth ROCKS current training webpage
or use the QR code to register.

20. Better Behavior Together
This 3-part series focuses on practical applications for challenging behavior
and dysregulation you've encountered in the classroom. We'll discuss cases
using the ECHO model and workshop ideas for next steps. The team will be
co-led by a long-term school therapist, school special education director, and
a community/clinical psychologist. Training is free and online via Zoom.
Join us:
• Session 1: Oct. 12 from 12-1 PM CST
• Session 2: Oct. 26 from 12-1 PM CST
• Session 3: Nov. 9 from 12-1 PM CST
Learn more on the Telehealth ROCKS current training webpage or use the QR
code to register.

21. Internal Team
Eve-Lynn Nelson, PhD, FATA (PI)
Carolyn Bates, PhD
Haley Bell, BA
Molly Brown, PhD, MPH
Sage Brown, MA
Sharon Cain, MD
Ann Davis, PhD, MPH
Kristy Gagnon, BA
Erin Hambrick, PhD
Yael Harris, PhD
Linda Heitzman-Powell, PhD, MPH
Chase Koob, BA
Sonita Loyd, MS
Melissa Maras, PhD
Ashley McGrath, BA
Stephanie Punt, PhD
Madison Schoenekase, MA
T. Ryan Smith, MD
Robert Stiles, MA, MPH
Leni Swails, PhD
Joah Williams, PhD
E Alice Zhang, PhD, BCBA-D
Cordaris Butler, MA
Ilana Engel, MA
Ghina Fares, MA
Rene Gilbert, MA
Annaleis Giovanetti, MA
Daryl Hesse, MA
Mariana Rincon Caicedo, MA

22. Children and our communities need help,
and it’s going to take us all!
www.telehealthrocks.org
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