Enhancing Behavioral Health Care Through Digital Psychiatric Advance Directives: A California Initiative

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A Psychiatric Advance Directive (PAD) allows individuals with behavioral health conditions to outline personal directives before a crisis occurs. Despite proven benefits in reducing hospitalizations and incarcerations, PAD use remains limited. The webinar will share insights from a multicounty PADs project collaboration aimed at co-developing a digital PAD with stakeholders to identify the platform build, implementation barriers, and strategies to promote the use and access of PADs within California. This initiative underscores the critical intersection of technology, policy reform, and patient-centered care in advancing behavioral health services and the empowerment of individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

Healthcare professionals working with advance care planning for serious illness should be aware of this initiative and its potentials effects on the Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD) and the role of the healthcare agent. Legislation to more fully establish PADs in the California healthcare and legal landscape was put forward in 2024, but encountered obstacles. New legislation may be forthcoming in 2025. This is an opportunity for our community to learn how we can collaborate to ensure PADs and AHCDs work together to support patient-centered care.

FACULTY

Kiran Sahota, MA
President, Concepts Forward Consulting

Kiran Sahota has been working in the social services sector for nearly 30 years. Her role as a social worker led to many opportunities within county and nonprofit employment, such as creating independent living skills and housing for transitional-aged youth, training law enforcement in crisis intervention and de-escalation, and building mental health innovation and prevention programs within a large county mental health plan. In 2020, Ms. Sahota retired from county mental health as a senior behavioral health manager and co-chair of the Statewide Mental Health Services Act Coordinators Committee.

Since retiring, Ms. Sahota has been working as the president of Concepts Forward Consulting. Through her consulting business, she is working with multiple California counties on a statewide Innovations impact project to test digital Psychiatric Advance Directives. She also provides counties with her strategic planning expertise and works as an External Quality Reviewer.

Throughout her career, Ms. Sahota has made significant contributions to community behavioral health programming. She has worked on quality impact improvement, program evaluation, and digital transformation with a global lens toward community service enhancement and systemic change. Her expertise includes innovative programming, digital transformation, strategic planning, law enforcement training, mental health advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and suicide prevention efforts. Ms. Sahota holds a master's degree in Clinical and Community Psychology.

OBJECTIVES

• Identify a Psychiatric Advance Directive (PAD) and the importance of autonomy, self-determination, and peer facilitation when creating one, and identify challenges and limitations to creating a PAD. 
• Demonstrate how technology can enhance user and receiver experience when creating and accessing a Psychiatric Advance Directive.
• Describe the importance of collaboration between different agencies and utilizing legislative support to impact systemwide change when creating improvements to crisis intervention protocols. 
  

1 CEU available for nurses and social workers. After you click the Register Myself button, be sure to scroll to the Program section below the Add button to click the appropriate program and enter your license number. Next, click the Proceed to Checkout button at the bottom of the page and then complete your registration by clicking the Submit Order in the cart. Live attendance and survey completion are required to earn 1.0 CEU.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Full attendance at the live webinar (you must attend a minimum of 50 minutes) is a prerequisite for receiving professional continuing education credit. Attendees requesting CEU credit must each login into the webinar individually using the unique computer link from your instruction email for your attendance to be documented. If you do not follow these directions, there is no official documentation of your attendance, and you will not receive CEU credit for this webinar. Ask us about special arrangements offered to CCCC organization members.

You are also required to complete an online survey within 14 days following the webinar to receive a CEU certificate or certificate of attendance. A link to the evaluation will be provided in an email sent to you within 48 hours following the webinar. The email will also include links to the presentation recording and slides. Certificates will be sent via email. 

Nursing: Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #CEP 15403, for one (1) contact hour.

Social Work: Course meets the qualifications for one (1) hour of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. CCCC is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LCSWs and LMFTs, Provider #91987. 

Chaplains: This program may be used for continuing education credit for chaplains certified with the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc.

CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancellations must be made in writing no later than three (3) business days prior to the webinar and sent to [email protected] to receive a full refund. No refunds will be made after this date. Substitutions are encouraged and can be made by calling (916) 489-2222.

Registrants will receive a separate email from Zoom with their link to join the event.

ANY QUESTIONS? CCCC maintains responsibility for this course and its content. Please contact us at (916) 489-2222 or email [email protected] with any questions, to address a grievance, or to request special ADA accommodation needs.

PLEASE NOTE: After clicking the Register Myself button below you must scroll down and click the Proceed to Checkout button, even if your member price is $0. On the checkout page you must click the Submit Order button to complete your registration. Before your click the Proceed to Checkout button, be sure to complete the Program section if you want to earn the CEU. You will know your registration is completed if you receive a "thank you for your engagement" email from CCCC. If you do not receive this email, please contact us for assistance. Thank you!