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Participants will increase awareness about sexual orientation, gender identity, and how personal biases impede care and ultimately identify how to develop an environment that is LGBT user effective. This training was approved for two renewal hours (CASAC, CPP, CPS) and two initial hours (CPP, CPS) through New York State’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports (NYS OASAS). As an IC & RC member board, OASAS accredited courses were granted reciprocal approval by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee. Many other states offered reciprocity.

    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!

In partnership with the New England Association of Recovery Court Professionals, the New England ATTC hosted a webinar titled, “Peer Support: Why Your Program Needs It” by subject matter expert Abby Frutchey. The slides are available for download.

Talking To Change: A Motivational Interviewing Podcast, hosted by Glenn Hinds and Sebastian Kaplan, is a series of conversations exploring Motivational Interviewing (MI) and its influence on supporting individuals and groups as they make positive health and lifestyle changes. Talking to Change: An MI Podcast Episode 73: MI and Hope in Alaska, with Sarah Niecko, PhD In this episode, Dr. Sarah Niecko of the University of Alaska Southeast joins the podcast to talk to Glenn and Sebastian about the transformative potential of motivational interviewing and the healing power of culture, resilience, and hope. Topics covered include: transforming burnout through hope and love, adapting to a new world through curiosity and compassion, embodying the MI spirit, MI spirit directed inward before radiating it forward, language as a way to rediscover identity, and her experiences creating a new integrated behavioral health program.

The audio recording from the webinar, “Peer Support: Why Your Program Needs It” (described above) is also available for download.

Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based, conversation model for evoking and enhancing intrinsic motivation to change behaviors. In this video-conversation, participants will discuss the core components of this model and practice using the skills of Motivational Interviewing, particularly in the context of substance use behavior change(s). Prior knowledge of Motivational Interviewing is not required. This learning community is open to everyone engaging in conversations about behavior change - educational degrees or credentials are also not required.   This three-part training series was approved for six renewal hours (CASAC, CPP, CPS) and six initial hours (CPP, CPS) through New York State’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports (NYS OASAS). As an IC & RC member board, OASAS accredited courses were granted reciprocal approval by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee. Many other states offered reciprocity.

Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based, conversation model for evoking and enhancing intrinsic motivation to change behaviors. In this video-conversation, participants will discuss the core components of this model and practice using the skills of Motivational Interviewing, particularly in the context of substance use behavior change(s). Prior knowledge of Motivational Interviewing is not required. This learning community is open to everyone engaging in conversations about behavior change - educational degrees or credentials are also not required.   This three-part training series was approved for six renewal hours (CASAC, CPP, CPS) and six initial hours (CPP, CPS) through New York State’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports (NYS OASAS). As an IC & RC member board, OASAS accredited courses were granted reciprocal approval by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee. Many other states offered reciprocity.

Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based, conversation model for evoking and enhancing intrinsic motivation to change behaviors. In this video-conversation, participants will discuss the core components of this model and practice using the skills of Motivational Interviewing, particularly in the context of substance use behavior change(s). Prior knowledge of Motivational Interviewing is not required. This learning community is open to everyone engaging in conversations about behavior change - educational degrees or credentials are also not required.   This three-part training series was approved for six renewal hours (CASAC, CPP, CPS) and six initial hours (CPP, CPS) through New York State’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports (NYS OASAS). As an IC & RC member board, OASAS accredited courses were granted reciprocal approval by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee. Many other states offered reciprocity.

Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive technology that creates a simulated experience. Unlike traditional media, such as television or computer screens, VR offers a three-dimensional (3D) experience. One of the remarkable aspects of VR is Social VR, which allows individuals to interact with each other in 3D virtual spaces in real-time. This interaction is facilitated through the use of 360-degree immersive content and head-mounted displays, providing a sense of presence and realism in virtual interactions. In this session, Sarah E. Clingan, Ph.D., Associate Project Scientist at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, delves into the current state of VR technology, particularly focusing on its application in treating substance use disorders. The presentation explores how VR can be utilized in therapeutic settings, offering insights into both the proven benefits and potential applications of VR that have yet to be fully explored or tested. This exploration includes examining how VR can simulate various environments and scenarios, which could be instrumental in developing new treatment strategies for substance use disorders. Download slides | Download citations handout | View recording

Talking To Change: A Motivational Interviewing Podcast, hosted by Glenn Hinds and Sebastian Kaplan, is a series of conversations exploring Motivational Interviewing (MI) and its influence on supporting individuals and groups as they make positive health and lifestyle changes. Talking to Change: An MI Podcast. Episode 72: Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and MI with Victoria Kress, PhD, and Rachel O'Neill, PhD In this episode, hosts Glenn and Sebastian talk to Drs. Kress and O'Neill about non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and how MI fits into conversations with people who exhibit NSSI. They cover how to engage effectively with people who exhibit NSSI, how to reframe "attention seeking" as an effort to connect, the clinician's experience of working with someone who exhibits NSSI, harm reduction and safety planning, blending MI with narrative therapy, pre-session intention setting for clinicians, change talk in the context of NSSI behaviors, and how to go beyond behavior change to help your client.

La hoja informativa provee información sobre la importancia del servicio de navegación de pacientes y su propósito de guiar a la persona a través del sistema de salud. Se le apoya en la identificación del o los diagnósticos, tratamientos y seguimiento de condiciones médicas, incluyendo el trastorno por uso de sustancias. Proveyendo asistencia en la programación de citas, pruebas médicas y en obtener ayuda financiera, legal y social, de ser necesarias. La finalidad de la navegación de pacientes es la eliminación de barreras para lograr la atención adecuada en los servicios de salud que recibe la persona.

Contingency management is the evidence-based behavioral intervention associated with the most robust evidence for effectively treating individuals with a stimulant use disorder (StimUD). Contingency management provides monetary incentives (such as gift cards) for meeting treatment goals, including stimulant non-use as measured by negative point-of-care urine drug tests (UDTs), rewarding individuals for changing their behaviors. Substance use offers a powerful, immediate reinforcement. Contingency management confronts this challenge by offering immediate financial awards that can help activate the brain’s reward system, thus encouraging the replacement of stimulants with the incentive to achieve a dopamine release. This 90-minute webinar is designed to provide a broad overview of contingency management for treating individuals with a stimulant use disorder (StimUD). Ample time will be provided for group discussion and audience Q&A.   Learning Objectives: At the end of the course, participants will be able to: -Describe at least three (3) patterns and trends regarding the scope of stimulant use in the Western U.S. and beyond. -Identify at least three (3) acute and three (3) chronic effects of psychostimulant drugs on the brain. -Formulate a list of the four (4) essential elements of an evidence‐based, protocol‐driven contingency management program to address stimulant use. -Specify two (2) barriers to implementing contingency management and two (2) strategies to address the barriers.  

  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.

Despite the demands of a profession in the health and behavioral health care disciplines, providers are dedicated to their craft and enjoy a deep satisfaction from helping others. But with the job are pressures and at times unanticipated factors that can increase susceptibility to exhaustion leading to compassion fatigue and other occupational hazards, referred to as “the cost of caring for others.” The adverse effects of compassion fatigue can decrease the provider’s emotional and physical well-being, influence the quality of care they provide for their clients, and have a profound effect on service delivery and person-centered care with communities served. This interactive webinar will help to identify often elusive work-related conditions that promote empathy strain, self-assessment tools and practical prevention strategies for self-care and means to resiliency and wellness for us, the people helping people. This training was approved for three renewal hours (CASAC, CPP, CPS) and three initial hours (CPP, CPS) through New York State’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports (NYS OASAS). As an IC & RC member board, OASAS accredited courses were granted reciprocal approval by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee. Many other states offered reciprocity.

by Raymond Crowel, PsyD, Clinical Director, The Danya Institute  In March 2020, COVID-19 made its presence felt literally around the world. Within weeks, our lives were upended, as businesses shuttered their doors, schools closed, and our social connections were severed. The same was true for substance use and recovery programs when outpatient addiction treatment, medication-assisted treatment, and residential treatment programs closed. In the early months, both face-to-face services and AA/NA support networks were nonexistent. Successful substance use recovery requires access to treatment, connection to people, and a strong community that supports recovery. Limited access to treatment and services, paired with isolation, anxiety, and depression caused by the pandemic, proved to be devastating for many people in recovery. Relapse and overdose rates jumped in the first year of the pandemic, destroying the progress that was beginning to be made in combating the opioid abuse epidemic. In addition, many vulnerable people turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with the chronic stress, loneliness, loss of work, and grief. Lastly, the drug trade in fentanyl exploded. The result was a dramatic spike in overdoses and substance use-related emergency department visits. While the COVID-19 pandemic has become less deadly, substance abuse has not. The ongoing trauma from the pandemic, untreated relapses in recovery, limited treatment capacity, and increasing potency and availability of illegal drugs contributed to more than 100,000 deaths in 2022 (NIDA). The pandemic forced substance use treatment systems to think of creative ways to continue to support recovery. Peer Recovery Specialists, trained in outreach and connecting with persons ready to begin their recovery process, shifted to disposable cell phones and virtual support services and support groups. Flexible Federal and state government policies allowed medication-assisted treatment programs to provide more walk-up and take-home dosing. The entire substance abuse and mental health service system migrated to telehealth services to provide safe access to ongoing treatment. Online networks and virtual referral processes made identifying and matching treatment providers with those seeking treatment easier.  As residential programs reopened, providers implemented masking, testing, safe distancing, and sanitation processes to protect residents and staff from COVID-19. Many such practices put into place during the height of the pandemic have remained in place, permanently altering how services are delivered.  Sadly, our rates of addiction, overdose, and death by overdose remain high. Although education, prevention, and treatment efforts are back to near pre-pandemic levels, still more needs to be done to save the lives of the many still struggling with addiction. At a minimum, we need: More treatment professionals, including Peer Recovery Specialists and credentialed foreign-trained professionals.   Integrated approaches to healthcare that consider both mental health and substance, along with social determinants of health. Increased adoption of harm reduction efforts, including the widespread distribution of Naloxone, needle exchanges, and fentanyl test kits, as well as supervised consumption sites.   COVID-19’s legacy is one of suffering and rising to the challenge. We are hopeful that the enduring legacy will be a stronger system of care for behavioral health, built with the same determination brought to combatting COVID-19.   

Talking To Change: A Motivational Interviewing Podcast, hosted by Glenn Hinds and Sebastian Kaplan, is a series of conversations exploring Motivational Interviewing (MI) and its influence on supporting individuals and groups as they make positive health and lifestyle changes. Talking to Change: An MI Podcast. Episode 71: MI and Harm Reduction, with Dr. Kasey Claborn In this episode, hosts Glenn and Sebastian talk to Dr. Kasey Claborn, a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of Social Work and Psychiatry at the University of Texas in Austin. They talk about Kasey’s early MI story, what community outreach is, what harm reduction is and how it and abstinence can be considered part of a continuum. Dr. Claborn also describes ways to train harm reduction workers in MI and how to apply similar principles to peer support. Finally, the group discusses barriers to harm reduction and how to overcome them, how to adapt MI for use in a harm reduction context, and what kinds of political aspects of harm reduction might come into play.  

Talking To Change: A Motivational Interviewing Podcast, hosted by Glenn Hinds and Sebastian Kaplan, is a series of conversations exploring Motivational Interviewing (MI) and its influence on supporting individuals and groups as they make positive health and lifestyle changes. Talking to Change: An MI Podcast. Episode 70: MI in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, with Dr. Jim Carter In this episode, hosts Glenn and Sebastian talk to Dr. Jim Carter, a licensed clinical psychologist who recently founded a specialized online clinic called OCD123. Dr. Carter talks about what obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is, how to help people with OCD, and how our minds work and alternatives for when we get stuck. The episode ends with the group performing and then debriefing a role play focused on helping a new father with fears of contamination/germs.

  The South Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center (SSW ATTC) collaborates with Faith Partners, Inc. a non-profit 501©3, which was founded in 1995 by religious leaders seeking ways to mobilize faith communities’ resources to address alcohol and drug issues in their communities. Faith Partners provides the leadership, training, educational materials and consultation to initiate, develop and sustain a faith communities’ efforts to address drugs and alcohol and its impact on their members. Faith Partners provides an individualized plan to start an effective team effort to address the needs of the whole faith community. As part of the process of building capacity and identifying the unique needs and goals of each faith community around the development of their ministry, Faith Partners utilizes community surveys at several points in time. Following is a practical guide developed by the South Southwest ATTC with best practices for engaging the entire faith community in the survey process.

We recognize that the holidays are a difficult time for many. Mid-America ATTC developed a holiday toolkit: How to Thrive During the Holiday Season. It includes tips for people in recovery and for those who support people in recovery, harm reduction techniques for those who want to cut back during the holidays, self-care ideas, LGBTQ+  and recovery resources, and more!  Author: Darla Belflower Editors: Bree Sherry, Catie Holmes, and Jenny Ho

  The Great Lakes Current is the e-newsletter of the Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC.   The December 2023 issue shares recorded content on wound care and xylazine, social media basics for preventionists, an infographic on providing behavioral healthcare to people living with HIV, and SAMHSA's tips for supporting your mental health through the holidays. 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 New England ATTC, in partnership with RICARES, held the next monthly installment of the Recovery Science and Harm Reduction Reading Group series. We discussed a paper titled, “Predictors of Retention and Drug Use Among Patients With Opioid Use Disorder Transferred to a Specialty "Second Chance" Methadone Program” by Moses and colleagues. A summary of the discussion is available for download.

New England ATTC Senior Trainer, Haner Hernandez, PhD, served on the development team for SAMHSA’s National Model Standards for Peer Support Certification. This Spanish version of the national model standards was prepared in response to President Biden's 2022 Unity Agenda and outlines model standards for substance use disorder, mental health, and family/youth peer support certification. The entire toolkit is available for download.