Rebecca is the Associate Chief of Mental Health for Community Programs, overseeing the mental health treatment and staff in the Salt Lake City VA Healthcare System's Community Based Outpatient clinics, and Community programs (VA Homeless, Suicide Prevention, Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Mental Health Intensive Case Management). She earned her BS in Sociology, Master of Social Work with Graduate Certification in Gerontology, and Master of Public Policy, from the University of Utah. She has taught Mental Health Public Policy at the University of Utah, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the College of Social Work. She has coordinated the VASLCHCS Social Work Service Field Education, served on the University of Utah College of Social Work Practicum Advisory council, and is currently serving on the Community Advisory Board. She coordinated and developed the VASLCHCS SWS Hartford Partnership Program on Aging Education curricula . She has served as the Mental Health Service Representative to the Women Veteran's Advisory Council and as the SLCVA Diversity Council Chair. She has served on the boards of the Utah Chapter of NASW, the Salt Lake City Utah Chapter of NAMI, and the Utah Chapter of the Society for Social Work Leadership in Healthcare.
Her work includes clinical care and consultation, program development and implementation, and managerial expertise. She has worked with Salt Lake County Aging Services to develop Caregiver support groups and Computer Skills training in Senior Centers, provided clinical care and program coordination for Hospice for Utah, and the SLC VA Geriatric Clinics. She has developed and maintained partnerships between VA's Mental Health Services, and community partners in homelessness, aging, and disability. She has presented at VA and professional membership conferences about mental health and aging, and been a Clinical Coach and consultant for the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program for the Cincinnati VA. She is a VA and Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care Mentor at the fellow level.
Why I Applied to be a Fellow
"I applied for the Health and Aging Policy Fellows program to address the deficiencies I had seen and personally experienced as a caregiver. Gaps in behavioral health and quality of life standards and measurement, lagging implementation of evidence based long term care practices, as well as the lack of accountability in quality outcomes in Medicaid funded long term care settings, and the disconnect between public policy priorities and the measurable suffering of the diverse aging and disabled populations served in these settings drove me to learn about how to advocate for change. Both of my parents became catastrophically disabled in their mid-sixties, and though I was very grateful that my father had VA funding for his needs, the combination of mental illness and disability made both finding and funding suitable long term nursing care impossible for my mother, though I had initially felt equipped as an LCSW formally certified in Geriatrics who was very connected to state and local resources."
Program Info
Program Track
Non-Residential
Placement
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)/Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
The 2015 Fellows
