The Take 10! Transforming Care for Women with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) and their Families series discusses current issues and challenges confronted by diverse women presenting with substance use, SUDs, and who are in recovery. Women experience SUD in ways that are distinct from men. Historically, access to treatment for women has been limited, a disparity that persists today. Studies show that when women begin treatment for SUDs, they frequently arrive with more severe medical, behavioral, psychological, and social struggles compared to men. For these reasons, there is a need for gender-specific services.

Topic 8 (Overview Session): Considerations for Treating LGBTQ+ Women with SUDs

This 30-minute overview session will introduce participants to the emotional, physical, and socioeconomic factors that uniquely impact women during treatment, and especially how these factors relate to SUDs treatment for LGBTQ+ women.

Learning Objectives

This overview session will address considerations for SUDs treatment for LGBTQ+ women with a special focus on the following information:

• Women’s treatment history and current aspects of women-centered treatment in the United States, with a focus on the Midwest
• The link between trauma, substance use, and other co-morbidities in women
• Trauma-informed and culturally responsive approaches for specific racial/ethnic women in recovery
• Effective clinical strategies, interventions, and resources that help improve engagement, retention, and completion of treatment programs

CERTIFICATES:

Registrants who fully attend this event or training will receive a certificate of attendance via email within two weeks after the event or training.

Trainer:

The majority of De'An Roper PhD, LCSW-S, 20+ year clinical career has been in community mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Dr. De'An Roper worked with multiple leadership teams to develop an innovative community-based program for people with co-occurring disorders and criminal justice involvement to reduce the number of people with law enforcement involvement and the county jail. Program goals were to decrease emergency room pressure and align systems of care with matched treatment needs. She had a primary role in the clinical development and training of community clinicians for this program. Throughout my clinical career, my role was program development in complex environments as well as teaching and training SUD and mental health clinicians. In addition, Dr. Roper redesigned the largest SUD residential treatment program for Dallas County Community Corrections. The redesign was based on turning a previous therapeutic community into an evidence-based program, delivering the most up-to-date criminal justice SUD treatment interventions available in the field. Her experience in developing criminal justice SUD treatment programs and training the clinicians helped me to understand that treatment is more complex than a one size fits all treatment philosophy, which dominates SUD community treatment programs. I understand the intersection of all of our identities is a complex road.  Dr. Roper has special training in working with LGBQ and Transgender people and also with women. She can help with relationships, coming out issues, family problems, addictions, Depression, Bipolar disorder, career changes, trauma and parenting concerns.

The Great Lakes A/MH/PTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.