Health & Behavioral Health

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The Public Policy Center works with local, state, and federal agencies on a variety of projects relating to public health and behavioral health for the state of Nebraska. In addition to program coordination and evaluation, our role includes fostering links between mental health and substance abuse resources with public health systems, healthcare networks, emergency management, and first responder groups. The Center has also performed national and statewide consultation in various areas of disaster behavioral health planning. Such activities also include evidence-based psychological first aid training as part of disaster behavioral health preparedness.

The PPC has collaborated with the state of Nebraska, behavioral health regions, and human service providers in providing training, program evaluation, and consultation regarding various aspects of human service delivery. Stakeholders from across the state and across disciplines are involved in these projects.

Recent projects include:

Disaster Behavioral Health Project

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center has worked continuously since 2005 carrying out disaster behavioral health activities related to public health prevention, response, and recovery related to violent events, outbreaks of infectious diseases, natural disasters, and other public health threats and emergencies with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Collaborating organizations from across disciplines and the state, such as community groups, faith groups, public and private entities, and key responders like the American Red Cross, Nebraska’s Critical Incident Stress Management Team, and Nebraska State Agencies, are involved in this endeavor. Learn more by visiting the Disaster Behavioral Health website.

System of Care Evaluation

The Nebraska System of Care (NeSOC) created a comprehensive and sustainable system of care that is youth-guided, family-driven, trauma-informed and culturally responsive to improve outcomes for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. Public Policy Center researchers worked with partners to collect service-level data on individuals and families to complete a needs assessment and an evaluation of the project. The Center worked with the national evaluation team to ensure performance measurement requirements were integrated with the local evaluation.

DHHS Behavioral Health Trainings

In partnership with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Division of Behavioral Health and Office of Consumer Affairs, the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center sponsors, coordinates, and promotes free virtual Zoom trainings regularly on behavioral health-related topics such as ethics, peer support, substance use, criminal justice, and more. Since its start in September 2020, thousands of behavioral health clinicians, psychologists, and peer support workers across Nebraska participated in these training sessions.

Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center (NUPPC) provides evaluation, conducts performance assessments, reports on project outcomes, and provides technical assistance to Lutheran Family Services (LFS) to establish Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHC) in both Lincoln and Fremont. This effort led to low-barrier behavioral health care, expanded care coordination, and expanded implementation of evidence-based practices at each location. The NUPPC first worked with LFS in 2020 to evaluate the establishment of the Lincoln CCBHC; LFS has since received two four-year grants and has expanded services to individuals who are underinsured, justice-involved, and/or veterans. State legislation (LB276) was passed in May 2023 to implement CCBHC statewide.

Automated External Defibrillators Evaluation

In partnership with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center (NUPPC) evaluates the Nebraska Automated External Defibrillators (AED) Initiative funded by a $6.4 million grant by the Helmsley Charitable Trust for the distribution of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to law enforcement organizations throughout the state of Nebraska. This initiative distributed over 2,000 AEDs to law enforcement agencies, first responders, and state offices and officials across Nebraska. The goal of this program is to save more lives by expediting access to defibrillation in case of a Nebraskan having a cardiac emergency.

State Opioid Response Evaluation

In partnership with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Division of Behavioral Health (DHHS DBH), the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center (NUPPC) has served as evaluator of State Opioid Response grants since 2020, documenting the activities and outcomes of each grant. Within the areas of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery, the project engages comprehensive strategies to provide education and training, resources and events for safe medication disposal, Naloxone distribution, recovery housing, peer support, and medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services. On this project, NUPPC works with partners across all behavioral health regions to report results of treatment services. 

Services

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Conference & Training Facilitation

For many of our active projects, our staff plan and execute conferences, workshops, and seminars of all sizes, virtual and in-person. This includes event management, technology recommendations, graphic design, communications, and accommodations for in-person and remote-hosted events. Additionally, staff are experienced in managing all logistics for virtual and in-person events. The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center is an approved continuing education sponsor through the American Psychological Association (APA). This means we can facilitate psychologists’ access to continuing education that meets APA standards.

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Grant Development & Management

We pursue and manage funding opportunities to support policy-related initiatives. Center researchers garner both public and private funding at the local, state, and national levels for applied and translational research grants. We work closely with partners to identify funding opportunities, develop grant and contract proposal narratives, create budgets and timelines, execute agreements, manage grant funds in accordance with funder requirements, and submit required fiscal and programmatic reporting.

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Program Design and Evaluation

Center research staff routinely conduct program evaluations in partnership with stakeholders to define questions, plan activities, interpret results, and use findings to recommend and implement changes. We use quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods techniques appropriate to the project. Our programmatic capabilities include survey design, interviews, focus groups, mapping geographic data, overall data analysis, and report preparation.

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Project Management, Strategic Planning & Consulting

Our researchers bring high-level management expertise to projects for all kinds of organizations. We bring research-based insights to executive decision-making, develop organizational structures to achieve desired results; assist with communication planning, agenda setting and creating necessary informational materials; implement research plans; and guide open communication among stakeholders. Our researchers are trained in facilitation and regularly lead stakeholders through strategic planning, problem definition, and consensus-building, as well as discovering organizational priorities, setting goals, and creating action plans.

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Scholarly Research

Our approach is rooted in academic-oriented inquiry and investigation. We provide basic research products for partners such as high-quality and easy-to-understand literature reviews, white papers, and briefing papers. Our researchers come from diverse disciplines, including: Business, Economics, Family and Consumer Sciences, Law, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. 

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Stakeholder Engagement & Outreach

We work with stakeholders to design and execute customized frameworks. This includes determining the breadth, length, location, and timing of facilitated events; identifying participants; collecting data from participants throughout the planning or engagement process; creating opportunities for feedback and debriefing; and producing draft and final products based on results. In addition, many of our staff consult with outside organizations and conduct professional presentations on a variety of issues.