June 15, 2020

Dear Stakeholder,

The City of Philadelphia has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and has been actively preparing plans and responses to prevent community spread within the Philadelphia region. The Behavioral Health Training & Education Network (BHTEN) has reviewed the city’s planning guide and aligning preventative measures with the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHIDS).

As a preventive measure to ensure the health and safety of all BHTEN stakeholders, the cancellation of all scheduled classroom training events has been extended from March 16, 2020 – August 31, 2020. Registered participants will receive cancellation notifications via email. BHTEN will provide refunds or training credits for those who registered for upcoming paid trainings. As soon as classroom trainings are rescheduled, BHTEN will post on the website and send out registration information through our mailing list.

In lieu of classroom trainings, BHTEN will hold weekly webinars via Zoom. Webinars will include a series on topics related to behavioral health and COVID-19, a cyberbullying series, targeted ASAM topics, orientation to psychiatric rehabilitation, and overdose reversal. Webinar details and registration information will be published through the BHTEN listserv, on the BHTEN website, and via DBHIDS Communications.  To sign up, visit our website at: www.bhten.com.

In this ever-evolving situation, we will continue to monitor the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s recommendations and will post updates on scheduled trainings on our website and social media handles.

We appreciate your flexibility and patience in this matter, as the health and safety of our staff and training participants is paramount.

Sincerely,

The BHTEN Team