News

Spotlight on Laurel County Health Department: Advancing Tobacco Treatment and Community Collaboration

In spring 2025, the Laurel County Health Department led a three-part professional development series, Strategies in SUD Treatment and Behavioral Health, to promote connection, education, and collaboration among community partners. The series brought together health professionals, service providers, and community members to strengthen efforts in behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and prevention.

BH WELL Newsletter 2025 - Quarter 2

Celebrating Student Success in the Work Learning Program

After the spring semester ended, BH WELL hosted celebrations for the students in Eastern State Hospital’s (ESH) Work Learning Program (WLP). Hosted on the units where the student employees work, the end-of-semester celebrations brought together WLP participants and their colleagues to recognize the hard work and dedication of their peers who work hard on the unit as Mental Health Assistants (MHAs) and off the unit as students.  

Graduate Spotlight: Claudia Robertson, OTD

As Claudia Robertson wraps up her Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program at Eastern Kentucky University, we want to recognize her contributions to the BH WELL team. Her passion for promoting health and well-being through meaningful activities has shaped both her clinical path and her research focus.

Graduate Spotlight: Mady Cline, DNP

Graduate Spotlight: Madelyn Strong-Cline, BSN, RN, DNP-PMHNP

The BH WELL team is proud to recognize Dr. Madelyn Cline as she graduates from UK with her Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) with a focus on the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Practitioner concentration (PMHNP). Dr. Cline has been a long-standing partner and BH WELL team member since her time as an undergraduate, contributing to a wide range of projects and consistently showing dedication to advancing mental health care.

Graduate Spotlight: Shane Landis, BSN

At BH WELL, we are proud to spotlight one of our undergraduate research interns, Shane Landis, as he graduates from UK with his Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Shane has been an invaluable part of our research team, and we are excited to celebrate his achievements and the bright future ahead of him.

BH WELL Newsletter 2025 - Quarter 1

Visiting Scholar Spotlight: Dr. Qingfang Liang

Okoli Serves as CGUST Visiting Scholar in Taiwan

Dr. Chizimuzo T.C. Okoli is serving as a visiting scholar at the Chang Gung University of Science and Technology (CGUST) in Linkou, Taiwan during Spring 2025. Dr. Okoli’s goals while at CGUST include:

1.      Presenting lectures and workshops on mental health literacy, research methods, and topics in the global nursing profession.
2.      Supporting faculty and students in scholarly writing and research publications.
3.      Collaborating on research on biological, psychological, social, and spiritual environments which affect mental health and illness.

Okoli Strengthens Partnership with Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau

Dr. Chizimuzo T.C. Okoli visited the Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau on January 17, 2025, to strengthen the existing relationship with the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. During the visit, Dr. Okoli met with two of BH WELL’s earliest visiting scholars (2015), ‘Cecelia’ U Wai Ang and ‘Selwynne’ Cheong Wan, who are both Assistant Professors at the Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau.

Visiting Scholar Spotlight: Hua Kang

2024 Behavioral Health Tobacco Treatment Awardees Celebrated 

The Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning’s (BH WELL) behavioral health tobacco treatment awards were presented virtually Dec. 4 at the BH WELL Tobacco Treatment Workshop: Normalizing Tobacco Treatment in Mental and Behavioral Health Settings. This year, awards honored one behavioral health organization and one individual working to make an impact in reducing tobacco burden in their community.

BH WELL Open House at Eastern State Hospital

The BH WELL research team hosted an open house event at their new office space in the Eastern State Hospital research suite on November 21st from 11AM-1PM and 4PM-6PM. Dr. Zim Okoli gave a short address at noon.

Chizimuzo "Zim" Okoli Able to Explore Mental Health with Global Perspective through the Fulbright Specialist Program

Dr. Okoli participated in the Fulbright Specialist Program this summer. Learn more about his experience in UKnow

Partner Spotlight: Laurel Co. Health Department

The Laurel County Health Department (LCHD) has seen great success in their mission to “prevent, promote, and protect the public health of its citizens by providing quality health education, preventive health care, and environmental services.” This includes their work to address tobacco treatment and tobacco free policy efforts within behavioral health organizations in their community.

Tailoring Messages about Behavioral Health Care Tobacco Treatment

Imagine if you entered your favorite barbershop or hair salon only to find there was one haircut from which to choose. Or, suppose you wear a size 5 shoe but are told only size 8 shoes are sold. You just need to make it work.

While this approach might work for breathing air or drinking water, there are only very few other situations where a prescriptive, one-size-fits-all approach works. 

Graduate Spotlight: Zainab Almogheer, PhD

Congratulations to Dr. Zainab Almogheer, for graduating from the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Nursing (CON) with her PhD in Nursing. Almogheer successfully defended her dissertation, “Intentions to Seek Mental Health Services of Nursing Students in the United States: The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Distress” on April 2, 2024. She explains that engaging in her research was driven by her own experiences as a nursing student living with mental health challenges. 

Shane Landis Inducted into Delta Psi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau

Graduate Spotlight: Kristi Richmond, DNP

Congratulations to Kristi Richmond, DNP, on her graduation from the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Nursing (CON) with her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Dr. Richmond’s project, “The Effects of Employee Recognition Program for Clinical Registered Nurse Retention at Eastern State Hospital.” aims to assess the affect of targeted employee recognition program implemented at Eastern State Hospital (ESH) on RN satisfaction as strategy to increase retention. 

Graduate Spotlight: Kevin Bryant, DNP

Congratulations to Kevin Bryant, DNP, BSN, on his graduation from the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Nursing (CON) with his Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Dr. Bryant’s project, “The Impact of an Educational Training to Front-line Nurses and Providers to Reduce Seclusion and Restraint: Assessing Knowledge, Practices, and Attitudes” explores effect of web-based educational intervention on front-line nurses knowledge, practices, and attitudes concerning use of seclusion and restraint of patients within psychiatric in-patient facilities. Dr.