WyoCARE: New director, expanded mission

   A University of Wyoming program that once focused exclusively on providing resources to address substance abuse and tobacco prevention and violence elimination recently welcomed a new director to guide it toward an expanded mission covering a wide range of mental health, substance abuse and wellness  issues.

   Karen Robertson, a doctoral candidate in counselor education, joined WyoCARE (Wyoming Chemical Abuse Research Education) in April after enlightening conversations with supervising UW Counselor Education faculty member, Jane Warren, PhD.

   "She had an energy and vision similar to what I see for the potential of WyoCARE ," Robertson says of Warren's description of WyoCARE's future. "I  feel very supported and aligned in that we can improve and expand WyoCARE in a different and  more effective direction."

   That broader vision of WyoCARE centers on it becoming a resource for not only distributing brochures and other materials, but for training and support of community practitioners and others who have an interest in mental health/substance abuse education and awareness.

   "Every time we reach some one, and provide them with preventative education, information or training, that multiples the power of prevention when it goes to the next level," Robertson says.

   Developing an organization with the capacity to do that fits Karen's experience and interests well.

    "I have a lot of experience to draw upon, to use in mentoring and teaching," she says. "I'm able to give and teach from that place inside that's not just textbook that's real life experience."

   An enhanced web site, featuring a digital library allowing downloads of many brochures and other handouts, will be launched in the fall. This will allow broader and more immediate access to materials that would be otherwise expensive, and occasionally challenging, for individuals and organizations to obtain. Materials on the site will be searchable by topic and by intended audience -- particularly counselors and providers, parents and young people.

   Also evolving with WyoCARE will be training opportunities, some delivered on-site in Laramie and others delivered via distance technology to consumers around the state. In turn, Robertson hopes that these individuals including counselor education and other students at UW will be able to return to their communities and effectively share what they have learned.

   "We're re-creating every facet of the program," she says.

   Robertson credits graduate assistants Lay-Nah Blue Morris and Tanaya Moon Morris for maintaining core services during the recent director search. Both women, graduate students in counselor education, kept the program doors open and requests for information filled and headed to communities around Wyoming.

   Robertson is a licensed professional counselor with 24 years of experience. She has a private practice in Laramie and is co-owner of another Laramie counseling practice, Alliance for Growth.

   Karen also brings program development experience to WyoCARE. During her seven-year tenure with Delaware Hospice, she developed a program for grieving children that was featured on "Dateline NBC." She also was executive director of the Samaritan Counseling Center. Robertson began adjunct teaching for the UW Counselor Education Department, at the UW/Casper College Center, in 1998.

   In addition to her doctorate, which she anticipates completing in the fall, Karen holds a master's degree in counselor education from UW (1986).

Posted on Thursday, June 05, 2008