Products and Resources Catalog

The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC. The April 2024 issue spotlights content celebrating National Minority Health Month and Alcohol Awareness Month. It also features links to upcoming trainings focused on supporting Black students experiencing racial trauma, harnessing AI for substance misuse prevention, and process improvement. Make sure you're subscribed to our email contact list so you never miss a month of The Great Lakes Current newsletter, and thank you for reading!  

This annotated bibliography is a collection of resources related to racism, anti-racism and advancing health equity for Black, Indigenous and other People of Color and other marginalized communities affected by unhealthy substance use and SUD/SUD treatment using a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) framework. It includes recent and classic/landmark papers on racism and SUD/SUD treatment, anti-racist strategies and approaches, advancement of health equity, issues relevant to particular racial groupings, and issues related to various disciplines/roles in healthcare (medical, nursing, social work, etc.). It also includes resources related to health disparities, SDOH, and DEI in the provision of substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery. This project is a collaboration between AMERSA, the Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network Coordinating Office (PTTC NCO), and the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network Coordinating Office (ATTC NCO).

This  Black History Month, let's pause to recognize the remarkable achievements, unwavering strength, and outstanding triumphs of the Black community. It's also a time for us to recommit to cultivating an environment of inclusiveness, fairness, and opportunities for all. By recognizing and elevating diverse voices, we enrich our workplace and the vitality of our organizations, communities, and society. Take advantage of MATTC’s FREE Culturally & Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) training to improve your organization’s quality of services provided to all individuals, which will ultimately help reduce health disparities and achieve health equity. More information is found in the flyer attached! Please email [email protected] for additional information. 

    In this virtual panel presentation, the 2024 Hall of Fame Award Recipients from the Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment, and Recovery will participate in a panel presentation discussing the importance of providing culturally-responsive care and ways practitioners can be more effective when working with African American clients.     LEARNING OBJECTIVES: By the end of this presentation, you will be able to: Work more effectively with African American clients Better provide cross-cultural care when working with African American clients Be guided by research on best practices when providing culturally-responsive care in your work with African American clients Articulate effective harm reduction strategies for African Americans with substance use disorders     PANELISTS:    Corrie Vilsaint, PhD Dr. Vilsaint is the associate director of recovery health equity at the Recovery Research Institute and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on addiction recovery capital, reducing discrimination among individuals in recovery, and racial health equity in remission and recovery. Dr. Vilsaint’s research is supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism, and her work as a community psychologist has been awarded by the American Psychological Association.     Fred Dyer, PhD, LADC Dr. Dyer is a practitioner, presenter, consultant, and writer specializing in providing culturally responsive treatment for African American adolescents, emerging adults, and emerging adult refugees. Dr. Dyer has over 100 scholarly publications on the treatment of mental health, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders for African American adolescents and emerging adults. He is also the executive director of Hope Recovery Center and a recipient of the key to the city for Laurel, Mississippi—an honor award to him by the city’s mayor in recognition of his innovative consultations and trainings on culturally responsive services for African American teenage girls in the justice system.     Chyrell Bellamy, PhD, MSW Dr. Bellamy is a professor at Yale University's Department of Psychiatry, and she also serves as director of the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, director of the Peer Support Services and Research, director of the Yale Lived Experience Transformational Leadership Academy, director of the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health. Dr. Bellamy also co-designs and conducts community-based participatory research with communities of color and people living with psychiatric Illness, substance use disorders, HIV, homelessness, and incarceration histories. Her research also focuses on healthcare disparities, sociocultural pathways of recovery, and the development of culturally responsive interventions.   Representative La Shawn Ford Representative Ford is the representative of the 8th District of Illinois. He is founder of The Westside Heroin and Opioid Taskforce which serves as an innovative strategic model for creating recovery-oriented systems of care in underserved communities across the nation. The taskforce has mobilized over 33 organizations to work together in the community to reduce overdose and promote recovery on the west side of Chicago. These partners include persons with lived experience; the formerly incarcerated; recovery community organizations, substance use disorders and mental health treatment providers; mobile treatment providers; hospitals; and harm reduction specialists. Last year, the taskforce's work resulted in 2,000 fewer emergency calls for overdose thanks to the training it provided to over 3,300 community residents on the distribution and use of Narcan. The Westside Heroin and Opioid Taskforce was awarded the winner of the 2023 SAMHSA Behavioral Health Equity Challenge. Thanks to his dedicated service and contributions to the behavioral healthcare field, Representative Ford was named as the recipient of the Illinois Chapter of NAADAC's Advocate of the Year award and the Nelson Mandela Award for Justice.    Dr. Felecia Pullen Dr. Pullen is a qualitative researcher exploring structural racism's impact on attaining recovery capital for people of color with histories of drug use. Her research has resulted in the creation of MRCAT, an assessment tool for professionals who develop recovery plans in partnership with clients. Dr. Pullen is also the president and CEO of three organizations: Let's Talk Safety, a not-for profit teen led prevention program; The Pillars, Manhattan's first OASIS-funded recovery community and outreach center; and The SAFETY Net, a teen-designed club house in Harlem. Dr. Pullen's policy advocacy and activism has been widely recognized. She has also delivered numerous workshops on culturally responsive recovery.         MODERATORS:   Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC Mark Sanders is the Illinois state project manager for the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC and PTTC. He is an international speaker and behavioral health consultant whose presentations and publications have reached thousands throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, West Indies, Lithuania, and Guam. Mark is the recipient of four lifetime achievement awards, including NAADAC’s prestigious Enlightenment Award, the National Association for Addiction Professionals’ 50th Anniversary Legends Award, the Illinois Certification Board's Professional of the Year Award and Jessica Hayes Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Barbara Bacon Award for outstanding contributions to the social work profession as an alumnus of Loyola University of Chicago.    Kisha Freed, BA Kisha serves as an outreach program coordinator with CHESS BHE-TAC and has co-authored multiple blog series with Mark Sanders for the Great Lakes ATTC’s Counselors Corner blog. She is a certified professional coach with a special emphasis in emotional intelligence and mindful leadership. Utilizing her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Kisha has worked in her community helping people to get in touch with suppressed emotions through the creative arts, such as poetry writing, storytelling and hip hop and emotional intelligence online workshops. She is also an event host, public speaker, and performing spoken word poetry. She resides in Huntsville, AL with her two sons and two-year old granddaughter.     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.

  The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   The February 2024 issue features content from the Great Lakes ATTC celebrating Black History Month, including our upcoming 2024 Black History Month Panel Presentation. It also features a new educational brief on health equity in crisis systems, upcoming prevention trainings on drug trends in the region, and updates to the Classroom WISE curriculum for 2024. As always, you will also find links to all upcoming events and trainings hosted by the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC!   Make sure you're subscribed to our email contact list so you never miss a month of The Great Lakes Current newsletter, and thank you for reading!

  The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   The January 2024 issue features the third installment of the Counselor's Corner blog series: Integrating Spirituality and Counseling with African American Clients, information on the Opioid Response Network's 2022-2023 regional summits, and a call for applications for the upcoming HEART (Healing Ethno And Racial Trauma) Training for Behavioral Health Providers Serving Hispanic & Latinx Communities intensive training series. As always, you will also find links to all upcoming events and trainings hosted by the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC!   Make sure you're subscribed to our email contact list so you never miss a month of The Great Lakes Current newsletter, and thank you for reading!

The purpose of the listening sessions was to gather information from family members and loved ones of people with substance use challenges to better understand family members’ experiences supporting and seeking support for their loved one who is using substances; to ask what questions family members have about supporting their loved one who is using substances; to ask who or what is providing support for family members; and the unmet needs for support for family members. Version 1 of this report in February 2023, which described the process and findings from the initial round of listening session in 2022. Version 2 of this report describes the process and findings of additional follow up community outreach in 2023 to enhance the first phase of this consultation process: including a new round of listening sessions with family members and loved ones of people who use substances.  This project is in collaboration with the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence and National Hispanic and Latino ATTC.

July 2023 Dialogue – Addiction: We Live it Every Day (DEI) | MHTTC: Improving LGBTQIA2S+ Youth Outcomes | Prevention: National BIPOC Mental Health Month: Culture, Community, & Connection | ORN: BIPOC Communities and Families | Regional Spotlight: 2023 Syndemic Solutions Summit. Additional sections include behavioral health observances, virtual training and webinar events, Region 3 news, and new publications/resources. The Dialogue is designed to inform behavioral and mental health professionals of news and upcoming events in the HHS Region 3/Central East region. This electronic newsletter is disseminated bi-monthly on the first Tuesday. You are encouraged to provide us with any feedback or submit articles and topics for discussion in future issues of the newsletter, [email protected].   Sign up to receive the Dialogue and our weekly training bulletin in your mailbox.   Visit the Dialogue Archives.

Recording: Black History Month Panel Presentation Featuring 2023 Hall of Fame Recipients of The Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment, and Recovery   DESCRIPTION: Join the Great Lakes ATTC and the 2023 Hall of Fame recipients of the Online Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment and Recovery for a panel discussion about substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, culturally appropriate service delivery, and recovery in African American communities. The panelists will share their expertise and years of experience on these topics with an emphasis on defining recovery in African American communities, understanding culturally specific approaches to working with African Americans with SUDs, practicing effective cross-cultural counseling, and learning how the entire African American community can serve as a recovery community.     LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Participants will learn: How to anchor recovery in African American communities A working definition of recovery in African American communities Culturally specific approaches to working with African Americans with SUDs How to build rapport with African American clients in a cross-cultural counseling relationship     PANELISTS:  

  The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   The February 2023 issue honors National Black History Month by sharing resources and content from the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence and SAMHSA that focus on how social determinants of health have affected the health and well-being of African Americans, as well as the importance of providing culturally responsive behavioral health services. This issue also features exciting, new training opportunities sponsored by the Great Lakes PTTC, the ATTC Network's Pearls of Wisdom blog series, and the final article of the Power of Music series by Mark Sanders and Kisha Freed.  As always, The Great Lakes Current provides links to all the upcoming events and trainings for the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   

The November 2022 Dialogue contains articles on: Addiction: Multiple Pathways to Recovery | Mental Health: Coping After a Death by Suicide | Prevention: SAMHSA’s 19th Annual Prevention Day | ORN: African American History Month, and Regional Spotlight: Beyond Bars. Additional sections include upcoming training and webinar events, behavioral health observances, new resources, and Region 3 news. The Dialogue is designed to inform behavioral and mental health professionals of news and upcoming events in the HHS Region 3/Central East region. This electronic newsletter is disseminated bi-monthly on the first Tuesday. You are encouraged to provide us with any feedback or submit articles and topics for discussion in future issues of the newsletter, [email protected].   Sign up to receive the Dialogue and our weekly training bulletin in your mailbox.   Visit the Dialogue Archives.

Presenter: Jovan Hollins, MBA, D/E/I Consultant March 2022 Pillars of Connection is a team built to connect all of us to our humanity. PoC specializes in leadership perspectives, and helping organizations and career professionals develop skills and tools to connect with each other for the greater good of humanity. This will happen by looking internally, serving externally, celebrating our differences, and creating a sense of belonging. In this session, we will connect on the importance of understanding self-awareness, getting knowledge of those whom you serve, developing skills to build trust and engage, as well as finding ways to take action or advocate for change. Awareness, Knowledge, Skills, Action/Advocacy are the pillars in which we create the frameworks for deeper connections, and fighting systems of oppression. Our desire to serve our clients equitably and identify opportunities for more diverse teams will be a support to overall success.  About the speaker:  Mr. Hollins is the Chair of Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, helping his organization develop processes and strategic plans to align D/E/I mission and vision to the organizations overarching strategic plan. Before starting a D/E/I development consulting firm, Jovan worked 2 years as a Vice President of Operations for the largest privately held Home Health Organization. Before joining corporate America, Jovan was an Air Force Academy graduate and officer in the United States Air Force. Upon a successful start to his career in the Air Force and aerospace engineering, Jovan began facilitating courageous conversations on race equity.  After attending Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management for his MBA, Jovan has found ways to add value as a transformational leader in both D/E/I, and as an executive operational specialist. Download slides | View recording Webinar categories: Specific populations, Workforce development

Treatment & Recovery in African American Communities: Panel Discussion with 2022 Recovery Hall of Fame Inductees   Presented by The Online Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment, and Recovery.    Each year, the Online Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment, and Recovery inducts several addiction treatment professionals into the museum’s Hall of Fame. In this panel presentation, four of the recent inductees share their insights on how to work more effectively with African Americans with substance use disorders.   Panelists:     Michael Askew           Rev. Jan Brown        Dr. Mary Roberson    Roland Williams Click here to learn more about our panelists and the rest of the 2022 Hall of Fame inductees.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES Learn strategies for working more effectively with African Americans seeking recovery. Understand the importance of applying culturally-specific approaches to working with African Americans with SUD’s. Help African American clients maintain ongoing recovery.     WEBINAR MODERATOR   Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, is the Illinois State Project Manager for the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC. Mark is a published author, trainer, educator, and mentor, as well as the founder of the Online Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment, and Recovery and the co-founder of Serenity Academy of Chicago, the only recovery high school in Illinois. Mark is the 2021 recipient of the NAADAC Enlightenment Award, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the field.

  View the recorded webinar here: https://youtu.be/E5C8hNVaBBc    Presented By: Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC February 3, 2022   DESCRIPTION Frederick Douglass escaped slavery to become a national leader in the abolitionist movement. Malcolm X overcame a troubled childhood and a prison sentence to gain prominence as one of leading civil rights activists in the U.S. Both Douglass and Malcolm X offer lessons and implications for counseling African Americans with substance use disorders today.   You can read more on this topic in the article, "Lessons from the Recovery Legacies of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X" by Mark Sanders. 

The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC. The February 2022 issue features Black History Month, the Counselor's Corner blog, and a complete calendar of events.   

Monthly e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.  January 2022 issue features: African American Online Museum of Addictions, Treatment and Recovery: 2022 Hall of Fame Inductees Counselor's Corner blog Training calendars -- January 2022  Subscribe to the Great Lakes Current: click here.  .

The September 2021 Dialogue contains articles on: Addiction: Exploring Equity-Grounded Leadership and Recovery Stories | Mental Health: Saving Young Black Lives: Reversing Suicide Trends [Podcast] | Prevention: The Importance of Suicide Prevention and Recovery Services | ORN: Recovery Rising | Spotlight: Suicide Prevention Month. Additional sections include upcoming training and webinar events, behavioral health observances, new resources, and Region 3 news. The Dialogue is designed to inform behavioral and mental health professionals of news and upcoming events in the Central East states. This electronic newsletter is disseminated bi-monthly on the first Tuesday. You are encouraged to provide us with any feedback or submit articles and topics for discussion in future issues of the newsletter, [email protected]. Sign up to receive the Dialogue in your mailbox.

    The Great Lakes ATTC offers this training for behavioral health professionals in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, Oh, and WI. This training is offered in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.   DESCRIPTION: Behavioral health programs that thrive in the future will be those that do the best job of creative an inclusive organization. Staff appreciation, feelings of inclusion, and happiness have a direct impact on quality client care. In this skill-building virtual presentation, participants will learn why cultural humility is a more realistic goal than cultural competence. Topics will include how to help your co-workers feel appreciated, how to have a discussion of differences, microaggressions, micro-insults, and micro-invalidations; and a six- step strategy to repair damage if you insult a co-worker. Join this webinar to learn how to be a diversity change agent in the workplace and create an inclusive organization.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Repair damage if you inadvertently commit a microaggression or insult in the workplace. Help co-workers feel appreciated regardless of differences. Be a diversity change agent. Create an inclusive organization.       TRAINER Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, is the State Project Manager for the Great Lakes ATTC. Mark is also an international speaker, trainer, and consultant in the behavioral health field whose work has reached thousands throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Caribbean and British Islands.

The July 2021 Dialogue contains articles on: Addiction: NIH Studies Mobile Clinics for HIV and SUD Treatment and Recovery Stories | Mental Health: Looking Back While Moving Forward: National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month | Prevention: BIPOC Mental Health Month | ORN: Compassion Fatigue | Region 3 Spotlight: WV Behavioral Health Workforce and Health Equity Training Center. Additional sections include upcoming training and webinar events, behavioral health observances, new resources, and Region 3 news. The Dialogue is designed to inform behavioral and mental health professionals of news and upcoming events in the Central East states. This electronic newsletter is disseminated bi-monthly on the first Tuesday. You are encouraged to provide us with any feedback or submit articles and topics for discussion in future issues of the newsletter, [email protected]. Sign up to receive the Dialogue in your mailbox.

The Counselor's Corner blog series brings timely tips and inspiration for counseling professionals. The first posts in our series feature guest blogger Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC. Mark shares insights he's gained over 30 years in the field as a clinician and trainer. 

        The history of formerly enslaved black people in the United States and their descendants have a unique place in the United States. While slavery is often thought of as a thing of the past, the institution was a far-reaching financial cornerstone and slaveholding states had an outsized influence on the nation’s formative years. The trauma of slavery, its social stratifications, and the rationalizations for its existence has been perpetuated by other social assaults such as Jim Crow, domestic terrorism through organizations such as the Klu Klux Klan, and discriminatory housing policies from the federal government. In understanding the entrenched, pervasive nature of these issues, it is imperative to draw upon the contributions of historians and sociologists.    The ongoing impact of these events contributes to present-day social determinants of mental health for African-Americans such as black disproportionate exposure to poor academic opportunities, families, and communities disrupted by mass incarceration, exposure to violent communities, and the stressors of incessant micro and macro-aggressions. Additionally, the rationale for the justification of slavery, the inferiority of blacks, is one that remains prevalent in American messaging, whether it be through the educational system, from politicians, or through media representations. In this presentation, a structural competency approach will be applied to explore the ongoing impacts of slavery and institutional racism, the ways in which these issues can impact patients and clinicians, and the medical and mental health professional's role and responsibility in not only being aware of but combatting these issues.      Objective 1: Understand the historical and present-day context of structural racism and its role in the social determinants of health Objective 2: Describe the implications of population mental health including assessment, diagnosis and treatment Objective 3: Identify actions that can be taken by public servants to identify and address the mental health ramifications of structural racism. ======================================       Sarah Y. Vinson, M.D., F.A.P.A. is a physician who specializes in adult, child & adolescent, and forensic psychiatry. She is the founder of the Lorio Psych Group, an Atlanta, GA-based mental health practice providing expert care and consultation. Dr. Vinson is also the founder of Lorio Forensics, which provides consultation in a wide variety of cases in criminal, civil, and family court cases. After graduating from medical school at the University of Florida with Research Honors and as an Inductee in the Chapman Humanism Honors Society, she completed her general psychiatry training at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School. While there, she also received specialized training in trauma through the Victims of Violence Program. She then returned to the South to complete fellowships in both child & adolescent and forensic psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. In addition to providing mental health care services such as psychotherapy, consultation, and psychopharmacology through her private practice, Dr. Vinson is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine. Just two years after joining the faculty she was honored as Psychiatry and Faculty of the Year in 2015. She is also Adjunct Faculty at Emory University School of Medicine. She has been elected and/or appointed to national and statewide office by her professional peers. She is the Past President of the Georgia Council on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Treasurer of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association. Additionally, she is an Advisor for the Judges Psychiatry Leadership Initiative.  She has been a speaker at national conferences including the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Annual Meeting, and The National Urban League Annual Meeting. Dr. Vinson has received numerous awards in recognition of her service and leadership including the University of Florida College of Medicine Outstanding Young Alumna Award and the APA Jeanne Spurlock Minority Fellowship Alumni Achievement Award.

The March 2021 Dialogue contains articles on: Addiction: Recovery Stories in the African American Community | Mental Health: Supporting Youth Mental Health During COVID-19 | Prevention: Substance Use Prevention and Preventing Problem Gambling | ORN: Faith-Based Toolkit | Spotlight: Black Mental Wellness & NIH's UNITE initiative to end Structural racism. Additional sections include upcoming training and webinar events, behavioral health observances, new resources, and Region 3 news. The Dialogue is designed to inform behavioral and mental health professionals of news and upcoming events in the Central East states. This electronic newsletter is disseminated bi-monthly on the first Tuesday. You are encouraged to provide us with any feedback or submit articles and topics for discussion in future issues of the newsletter, [email protected]. Sign up to receive the Dialogue in your mailbox.

  Monthly e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC. February 2021 issue features include Counselor's Corner article on the recovery legacies of Frederick Douglass and Malcom X, a state spotlight on Ohio, news about the new Peer Recovery Center of Excellence, and a calendar of upcoming trainings. 

This Month of February​ Latino Behavioral Health Supports ​Black History Month by ​Highlighting 3 Afro-Latinx professionals​. Join us in honoring our colleagues!​ Este mes de febrero celebramos el mes de la Historia Afroamericana Como profesionales Latinos de Adicción ​y Salud Mental,​ Nos gustaría apoyar esta ocasión destacando ​a tres Afrolatinos(as).​ ¡Acompáñenos a honrar a nuestros(as) colegas!​ Este mês de fevereiro, celebramos o mês da História Afroamericana Como profissionais Latinos Abuso de Substâncias e Saúde mental, ​ gostaríamos de apoiar esta ocasião destacando três afro-latinos(as). Junte-se a nós para homenagear nossos colegas!!​ #BlackHistoryMonth #mesdelaHistoriaAfroamericana ​#mêsdaHistóriaAfroamericana​ #NHLATTC #NHLPTTC #NLBHA