NAMI Ask the Expert: Mind the Gap – Closing the Divide Between Psychosis and Psychotherapy in the U.S. Mental Health System

Thursday, May 8, 2025 | 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. ET

In a 2021 position statement, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration asserted that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (CBTp) “should be implemented within our mental health system and CBTp-informed care at a minimum should be implemented in primary care, correctional, forensic, and educational settings.” Around the same time, the American Psychiatric Association recognized that “medications are a complement to psychosocial treatment [like CBTp] and an equally important part of the overall care process.” The past five years have thus reflected a sea change in American psychiatric leadership promoting improved access for people with serious mental illness to psychotherapy that has been driven by research, education, and advocacy. Yet, in routine care settings across the United States, psychological treatments for serious mental illness continue to be inaccessible. In this Ask the Expert webinar, Dr. Sarah Kopelovich, who holds a professorship in CBT for psychosis and served as the lead author of the 2021 SAMHSA CBTp position statement, will review the cognitive-behavioral models that form the foundation of CBTp, provide an historical examination of its adaptation and dissemination in the US, and describe innovative efforts to implement and deliver CBTp as part of the treatment for serious mental illness, including engaging caregivers and allied disciplines in low intensity CBTp interventions, addressing structural impediments through implementation and policy work, and leveraging recent technologic advances to support professional development.

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Our Guest Expert

Sarah L. Kopelovich, PhD, ABPP
Sarah Kopelovich, PhD, ABPP is a forensically trained clinical psychologist who is board certified in behavioral and cognitive psychology. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and holds the first Professorship of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) internationally. Dr. Kopelovich serves as principal and co-investigator on federal, state, county, and foundation funded initiatives to develop, deploy, and evaluate strategies to implement evidence-based mental health practices, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis, Coordinated Specialty Care, and digital mental health interventions. She contributed to a recent systematic review of psychopharmacologic and psychosocial interventions for schizophrenia spectrum disorders through the Agency for Health and Research Quality, which served as the primary source document for the revised schizophrenia treatment guidelines published by the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Kopelovich is an executive member of the Washington State Center of Excellence in Early Psychosis and co-founder and current President of the North America CBT for Psychosis Network, the mission of which is to enhance access to high-quality CBT for psychosis across North America.