OMAHA, Neb. - The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) is looking to better the future of healthcare across Nebraska with a new initiative knowns as Project PEACE.

The goal is to help primary care providers and physicians across the state treat behavioral health conditions.

“We wanted to create a program or project that would help providers in primary care and helping them build more foundational knowledge in behavioral health because they really are the front line care providers.”

Katrina Cordts is the Deputy Director for BHECN, which is housed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She says Project PEACE aims to equip those frontline providers with the tools to treat behavioral health conditions such as depression and anxiety. One of their main target areas - rural Nebraska.

“We really wanted to target rural areas with this project in particular,” Cordts said. “The need for behavioral health care is rising, more people are seeing treatment for behavioral health, which is fantastic, but there may not always be those behavioral health providers in those communities and often times the first stop is that primary care office.”

Project PEACE was assisted by Medica, as they provided $100,000 to build out the projects eight modules and start a workshop for those interested in learning more about behavioral health and how to treat it. Cordts says Project PEACE is open to anyone in health care and anyone interested in behavioral health.

The goal moving forward? Expansion.

“The goal down the line would be to expand the number of modules and opportunities that are available,” Cordts said. “Maybe even build out different tracks for child and adolescent concerns so we can target more training in those specific areas as well.”