VIRTUAL-Thursday, April 3, 2025, 9:00AM-12:00 PM- Illness Management & Recovery (IMR) Training Overview with Kerrin Westerlind, LICSW

VIRTUAL-Thursday, April 3, 2025, 9:00am-12:00pm-$109 including CEUs

Illness Management & Recovery (IMR) Training Overview

Kerrin Westerlind, LICSW

The trainer will walk participants through an overview of the Illness Management and Recovery practice including the importance of integrating a recovery-oriented philosophy into their practice.

IMR is an Evidence-Based Practice, with numerous adaptations, that has been around for almost twenty years. It was created for people who experience symptoms related to Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Schizoaffective, and Depression.  IMR is a manualized treatment that supports people in setting personalized goals, and application of various skills learned in the eleven topic areas covered in the treatment. Practitioners use a variety of best practices that support this process in IMR, including Psychiatric Rehabilitation, CBT, Motivational Enhancement and Educational strategies.

IMR is a model based on empowerment, as the materials and structure help people envision their future with hope and possibility. IMR teaches participants skills in problem solving, goal setting, and self-management strategies.

Open Sky Community Services uses a model of IMR in which practitioners also develop and work on their own IMR goal.  With over 15 years of applying IMR in this manner, trainers can walk you through this adaptation and structures to support it.  Our trainer emphasizes a balance between personalized, creative interventions and fidelity to the practice and aims to help all participants develop their unique style as an IMR practitioner. 

Following this training the participants will understand:

• The core ingredients of the IMR practice.
• The main take-home messages of the practice.
• Key elements of fidelity to the IMR model.
• Examples of what the IMR looks like in practice.
• Ideas on providing this treatment in various settings.

Your Trainer:

Kerrin Westerlind, LICSW, is the Director of Evidence Based Practices at Open Sky Community Services.  For more than a decade, Kerrin has assisted interdisciplinary teams in the implementation of Evidence Based and Best Practices.  

Kerrin is an expert in Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) and has been involved in this practice since 2005.  She has overseen the implementation of IMR services in residential and supported housing programs with diverse populations, adapted materials for various populations and has provided consultation on using adaptations of IMR with adolescents, those who are justice-involved and individuals who are dually diagnosed with a mental health and a substance use disorder.   She has provided training and consultation on IMR and its adaptations to specific populations to various agencies in Massachusetts, throughout the United States and at National Conferences.

Additionally, Ms. Westerlind has training and leadership experience in implementing multiple modalities for working with people who experience psychosis, including CBT for Psychosis and Recovery Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R).  

Kerrin’s interests extend to using trauma informed care principles in culture transformation, to promote healing, growth, and resilience for those using and providing services.   She is currently working with others from all around the Open Sky community to advance the agency’s efforts in becoming a fully trauma informed and responsive organization. 

Kerrin is passionate about providing person-centered, recovery-oriented practices, and training others in the provision of these treatment models.  Her experience in the mental health field includes over 20 years of work in a range of settings from residential, supported housing, day treatment, outpatient, community-based services for adults and adolescents and clubhouse model. Her interests have led her to serve on the MassPRC (Massachusetts Psychiatric Rehabilitation Collaborative) Board of Directors, since 2018.