Thursday, August 28, 2008
8:30-10 a.m.
Methamphetamine Dependence & Mental Health: A Closer Look
Richard Rawson, UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs
The Methamphetamine Treatment Project (MTP) is a multi-site initiative to study the treatment of methamphetamine dependence. The project is jointly implemented by the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP), and the Matrix Institute on Addictions. The goal of the project is to generate knowledge regarding how a new comprehensive treatment protocol developed by Matrix can be effectively transferred to the community drug treatment system. The project is funded by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
Drug, Mental Health and Domestic Violence Courts: Innovative Ways to Deliver Justice
Liberty Aldrich, Center for Court Innovation
Over the past decade, hundreds of experimental courts have sprung up across the country, testing new solutions to problems like addiction, domestic violence, child neglect and quality-of-life crime. These "problem-solving courts" include specialized drug courts, domestic violence courts, community courts, family treatment courts, mental health courts, gun courts and others. While each of these initiatives target a different problem, they all use the authority of courts in new ways - to improve outcomes for victims, communities and defendants. And, in the process, they all seek to shift the focus of courts from simply processing cases to achieving tangible results like safer streets and stronger families. This amounts to a significant departure from business as usual in the courts - an institution that is not known for embracing change lightly. Instead of embracing the tradition of judicial isolation, judges in problem-solving courts become actively involved in their communities, meeting with residents and brokering relationships with local service providers. Perhaps most importantly, instead of being passive observers, citizens are welcomed into the process, participating in advisory boards, organizing community service projects and meeting face to face with offenders to explain the impact of their crimes on neighborhoods.
Inconvenient Truth: The Need for Effective Management and Ethical Leadership
Denise Hurst, Hurst Strategic Management
Thirty five years ago, Peter Drucker wrote that “responsibility for social impacts is a management responsibility.” Unfortunately, far too few have stepped up and accepted this role. Consider: One in 10 people across the globe had to pay a bribe last year. Here in the U.S., more than 2 million homes have been or soon will be foreclosed upon; not coincidentally, the FBI is investigating 14 companies for possible fraud or insider trading in connection with subprime loans. Meanwhile, each day, 24,000 people worldwide die from hunger or related causes—even though we have enough food to feed them. “Our problem,” Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus has concluded, “is one of management, not lack of resources.” Clearly, a great distance has opened up between our obligations—to be effective managers and ethical leaders—and our actions. This is the Responsibility Gap. It is the gap between what we know and what we do; between what we’ve inherited from the prior generation and what we will leave behind for our children; between what we know is right and what we actually produce. The Drucker Institute is seeking to spark a worldwide movement—a movement on the scale of the fight against global warming—to close the Responsibility Gap. The Plenary Presentation includes evidence that illustrates the Gap, stories of organizations that are helping to close it, and core values—based on the teachings of Peter Drucker —that are inspiring a new generation of ethical leaders and effective managers.
The Science of the Positive: Working to Prevent Underage Drinking and Driving
Hamilton Beazley, St. Edwards University
Nicole Holt, Texans Standing Tall
Youth Panel
This session will explore the latest scientific research on adolescent development and its relationship to alcohol use; what that relationship means for understanding, preventing and reducing underage drinking; and why a comprehensive, developmental approach is necessary to protect adolescents from alcohol use. It will also examine the effects of alcohol on the developing adolescent brain—which lends a new urgency to prevention efforts—and how and why prevention is the collective responsibility of all the social systems within which adolescents operate: families, schools, communities, and government. After this session, participants will leave with an understanding of the relationship between alcohol use and adolescence as a developmental stage; the complexity of adolescent alcohol use influenced by normal maturational changes; multiple social and culture contexts; genetic, psychological, and social factors specific to each adolescent; and environmental factors that influence the availability and appeal of alcohol; and, appreciate that underage alcohol use is not inevitable.
8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Skills Building Workshop
Personality Disorders Co-Occurring with Substance Abuse
Michele Packard, Sage Training and Consulting
The most recent NIAAA epidemiological study has shown high rates of co-occurrence between substance abuse and personality disorders. Project Match demonstrated that clients with co-occurring disorders have worse treatment outcomes. This workshop will focus on identification of the personality disorders seen most often in a CD setting. Participants will learn to identify two traits of each personality disorder that are likely to undermine sobriety, if left unrecognized and untreated.
10:30-12 p.m.
Criminal Justice
Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System, (Part 1)
Scott Walters, UT School of Public Health
Contact with the criminal justice system is the first opportunity for treatment for many people who are affected by substance use disorders. This workshop will offer practical information for substance abuse treatment counselors and people working in the criminal justice system on how to recognize whether someone has a substance use disorder and how to motivate him or her to begin recovery. It will address major treatment issues and specific treatment needs and strategies for individuals in particular criminal justice settings. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 44: Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System was produced to help substance abuse treatment counselors address issues that arise from their clients’ status in the criminal justice system and to aid personnel in the criminal justice system in understanding and addressing the challenges of working with offenders with substance use disorders. The TIP provides recommendations and best-practice guidelines to counselors and administrators based on the research literature and the experience of seasoned treatment professionals. It covers the full range of criminal justice settings and addresses both clinical and programmatic areas of treatment. Copies of the TIP will be provided to each participant.
Counseling Essentials
New Medications for the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: What’s Effective and What’s Promising
Dr. John Keppler, Department of State Health Services
A presentation on new effective medications that decrease relapse and reduce craving in the chemically dependent patient. This will be followed by a description of “promising” medications that are currently available for the CD patient. A description of patients who might benefit from their utilization will be included.
Treatment
Cultural Adaptation Initiative: Providing Evidence-Based Practices to Populations of Color
Rick Ybarra, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health
The development of evidence-based practices (EBPs) has been a major force in improving the quality of mental health services. The movement toward EBPs emphasizes using treatment approaches that have research support. Treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT) which have been shown to be efficacious in numerous treatment studies across researchers are considered more likely to yield positive outcomes for clients than treatments without such data. Although providing EBPs for people of color with mental illnesses would appear to be a logical way to increase the quality of care received and its outcomes, this approach has been controversial. There is not sufficient data available to determine whether cultural adaptations are superior to standard EBPs. However, given the significant ethnic/racial differences in how people conceptualize mental illness, recognize their own distress, communicate their distress to others, seek help, and participate in treatment, it seems likely that culturally adapted services are more likely to yield greater positive outcomes for ethnic minorities. Cultural Adaptation: Providing Evidence-Based Practices to Populations of Color is the first initiative in the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health’s Cultural Competence priority area. In July 2006, the Foundation announced awards of more than $2.9 million over three years to five Texas community based organizations (CBOs) to adapt the delivery of EBPs to be compatible with the cultures of the populations of color served by these CBOs. Presentation will cover program components of Cultural Adaptation Initiative, grant sites, population served, EBPs implemented, examples of cultural adaptations, and outcomes and lessons learned from the project.
Prevention
A Soft Place to Fall: Facilitating Campus-Based Support Groups
Noel Love, Rising Tide Consultants
This session is for those interested in setting up support groups at school that help students thrive at school; academically and/or socially. Ranging from the logistics of setting up a group to the specific facilitator skills needed, this session will prepare participants to return to campus with knowledge of how to best set these groups up. Specific groups are determined by the needs seen by the counselors.
Youth and Family
The Impact of Alcohol and Drugs on Parenting Skills and Styles
Vincent Peter Hayden, Turning Point, Inc.
Research has shown several parent-related factors that influence generational drug use. This presentation will identify effective parenting practices and predictors of negligent parenting practices. It will identify the indicated effects that drug use has directly on parenting practices. In addition there will also be discussion on the influence and impact of infrequent communication, time spent together, poor discipline practices, adolescent drug-related knowledge, attitudes and perceived norms.
Improving the Workforce
Street Survival for the Professional
Mark Buck, NAPPI, Inc.
Are you one of the hundreds of professionals in Texas that travel into the community to do your job? If so, you face many situations that are potentially dangerous. These situations put you in potential danger from a range of sources. These include the neighborhoods you do work in, to the client’s living environment. This workshop will give you 5 tools you can use to stay safer in all situations; four ways to avoid being attacked; show you how you can increase your chance of survival when facing someone who is threatening you with a knife or a gun, and asks: should you carry a weapon?
Non-Profit Leadership
Organizational Development: Advancing the Practice of Management
Denise Hurst, Hurst Strategic Management
The Breakout Session is the follow-on to the earlier Plenary Session entitled "Inconvenient Truth: The Need for Effective Management and Ethical Leadership." This session focuses on actions that individuals can put to work to close the Gap in their companies and communities. It includes methods for identifying the responsibility gap within an individual’s own span of influence and control, focusing first on what needs to be done and then on identifying the actions to take to produce the ethical and effective result required. The session teaches the systematic application of Peter Drucker’s concepts and equips managers and leaders to take action that will ultimately strengthen their companies and their communities.
Community Issues
Smokers and Smokeless Tobacco
Dr. Vaughan Rees, Harvard School of Public Health
Industry acquisition data, marketing strategies and media reports were analyzed to assess cigarette companies’ intentions for promoting smokeless tobacco (SLT) products. Nicotine and nitrosamine analyses were conducted on Camel Snus (RAI), Taboka (PM), Marlboro Snus and Marlboro Moist Snuff products to determine their addictive and toxic potential. Industry and media sources indicate that increased market share and the public relations benefits of being associated with less harmful products are primary reasons for involvement in the SLT market. In conclusion, new SLT products are being marketed to promote combined use with cigarettes, rather than encouraging smokers to switch to them to reduce harm. Aggressive marketing and low nicotine levels appear intended to promote combined snus and smoked tobacco use. This may undermine the reduced harm potential of SLT and increase tobacco use and associated health outcomes. This data demonstrates the need for continued surveillance of the SLT market and emphasizes the need for government regulation of SLT products.
1:30-3 p.m.
Criminal Justice
Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System, (Part 2)
Scott Walters, UT School of Public Health
Counseling Essentials
What’s New in Addictive Disease and the Brain
Dr. John Keppler, Department of State Health Services
Basic neuroanatomy and neurochemistry followed by brain function in the chemically dependent patient. The genetics of Chemical Dependence and the affects of the major classes of drugs upon the brain and body.
Treatment
Hepatitis C (A&B): Basic Knowledge, (Part 1)
Brad Lindgren, Texas HIV Connection
This course is designed to provide persons who work with substance abusers with a foundation of knowledge on all the different strains of viral hepatitis - Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E and G. The course covers the transmission, symptoms, treatment and vaccine availability of each virus, with a special emphasis on Hepatitis B and C. Descriptions of standard precautions are also provided for facilities addressing Hepatitis issues. HIV and Hepatitis co-infection and treatment options are briefly addressed, as are the implications of hepatitis infection to substance users. This course is primarily informational in content; it does not focus on skill building or theoretical issues related to counseling.
Prevention
Building Idealism: Promoting a Positive Future
Mary Freede, Tanglewood Research Inc.
Adolescence is a challenging stage of life. Research shows that youth who have positive ideals for their future, and see risky behaviors as getting in the way of achieving them, are less likely to participate in those behaviors. While some kids still have high aspirations and ideals for themselves, others feel a sense of loss or hopelessness.
This interactive workshop will provide hands-on activities shown to help young people identify ideals important for their future, to motivate and encourage them to achieve their ideals, and to identify how high-risk behaviors would interfere with getting the future they want.
Youth and Family
Gang Awareness, (Part 1)
Marc Fomby, Speaker/Consultant
What makes a gang a gang? This workshop will discuss street gangs, their latest trends, and current behaviors. Individuals who are interested in preventing young people from joining gangs and understanding more about gang activity should attend. This informative and interactive course will cover the basics of gangs and explore current trends. Participants will closely examine the customs of the traditional street gang and learn about their rituals, organization, colors, and practices. New information on MS-13, the Hispanic gang that’s quickly spreading across the country and some of their activities will also be discussed.
This training offers practical information that shows correlation to gangs, guns, violence, and substance abuse. In an effort to help educate the youth of today about hazards related to gangs and the impending use and/or sale of illegal narcotics, the session is conducted on a level whereby transference of information is evident. You will leave armed with information that is immediately beneficial.
Improving the Workforce
Facing the Ethical Dilemma: The ABCDs of Ethical Thought, (Part 1)
Jeff Georgi, Duke Addictions Program
As professionals, we often find ourselves in situations which “do not feel right.” Such concerns seem to be raised more often these days as the legal boundaries of confidentiality are challenged and interpreted differently under various circumstances. Who is being helped? Who might be getting hurt as a result? This workshop provides an overview of a four stage level of ethical decision making which forces individuals to move beyond the specific situation and examine their own professional codes of behavior and clarify which have preeminence. This workshop will allow the participants to review specific case examples as well as embark on an internal journey of self-reevaluation and definition.
Non-Profit Leadership
Diversity Series Part 1: Diversity Awareness
Le’Angela Ingram, The Ingram Consulting Group
Understanding differences across ages, races, ethnicity’s, genders, sexual orientations, life experiences, etc. is the key to building a workplace where all people are valued for their unique skills and talents. During this course, participants begin the process of dialoguing across differences. In the process, participants come to better understand themselves and their impact on others. Methods of building proactive diversity (i.e., proversity) are emphasized as a means of applying course learning to the organizational setting.
Community Issues
Mental Health and Substance Abuse: Update on Activities along the Texas Mexico Border
David Luna, HHSC Office of Border Affairs
This presentation will provide an update on Mental Health and Substance Abuse service activities along the border. Examples include services provided in colonias and rural communities; working with promotoras/community health workers; community partnerships and collaborations; strategic planning and contract issues; and legislative requirements targeting services along the border. Community models and best practices that have been effective in this area will be emphasized as well. Participants will also learn about the various training components that are utilized for border programs including cultural competency, customer service, and the recent implementation of a training curriculum for promotoras.
3:30-5 p.m.
Criminal Justice
Reuniting Criminal Justice Offenders with their Families
Vincent Peter Hayden, Turning Point Inc.
Never before in U.S. history have so many individuals been released from prison. More than 600,000 people – 1,600 a day – were released in 2003. Most of those released from prison today have serious social and medical problems. More than three-fourths of the inmates scheduled for release in the next year report a history of drug use. In California, it has been estimated that as many as 80 percent of ex-offenders remain jobless a year after being released from prison. Preparing ex-inmates for family roles and function has changed dramatically because ex-inmates’ and the families’ needs are more serious than in the past.
This presentation will discuss the many factor affecting ex-offenders’ struggle to reintegrate with their families, as well as the impact of a decline in outreach programs. The presentation will also identify and address the hindrances that keep ex-offenders from managing their roles within the family successfully. We will identify the common problems facing ex-offenders as they re-enter their communities, such as criminal record initiations, unemployment and housing.
Counseling Essentials
Treatment Options for the Young Heroin User
Calvin Holloway, Department of State Health Services
Dr. Jane Maxwell, UT Addiction Research Institute
Doug Denton, Homeward Bound
Michelle Hemm, Phoenix House
Becca Crowell, Nexus Recovery Center
Dr. Carlos Tirado, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Nexus Medical Director
There has been an outbreak in youths and young people in Dallas inhaling heroin. They call it “cheese heroin.” There has been little research in the last 25 years on how to treat young people who are dependent on heroin. Treatment programs in Dallas are using new evidence-based practices to treat this high-risk population. The panel members will discuss the need to combine new medications such as Suboxone, the use of motivational interviewing to encourage retention in treatment, and culturally relevant practices for this young Hispanic population. Given the increase in young heroin inhalers statewide, this session can provide the tools clinicians can use to treat this emerging high-risk population.
Treatment
Hepatitis C (A&B): Basic Knowledge, (Part 2)
Brad Lindgren, Texas HIV Connection
Prevention
Spark to a Flame: School Counselors and Early Intervention Teams
Noel Love, Rising Tide Consultants
This session looks at the research based developmental assets, their importance in a child’s development and ways the school can build them. Increased assets result in improved grades and behavior, decreased absenteeism and other at risk behaviors.
Youth and Family
Gang Awareness, (Part 2)
Marc Fomby, Speaker/Consultant
Improving the Workforce
Facing the Ethical Dilemma: The ABCDs of Ethical Thought, (Part 2)
Jeff Georgi, Duke Addictions Program
Non-Profit Leadership
Diversity Series Part 2: Managing Across Differences
Le’Angela Ingram, The Ingram Consulting Group
Managing diverse groups and increasing individual awareness of bias in the workplace is the focus of this training. Managing Across Differences has been developed for managers to surface and address individual attitudes and/or biases that could impact their ability to manage objectively. Participants are immersed in a variety of exercises that provide tools to enhance work across differences in the workplace setting. Attendees will develop a personalized plan for managing across differences.
Community Issues
Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence: A Match Made in Heaven
Kristen Howell, The Genesis Shelter
Many studies show a high rate of substance abuse and domestic violence. The relationship, however, is not cause and effect—but an overlap of two widespread social problems. Domestic Violence is a pattern of learned/controlling behavior and not the result of substance abuse. Abusers and victims alike frequently blame drugs or alcohol use for the violence. This session will provide information regarding the dynamics and links between Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence.