CENTRAL EAST: Our 8th annual Keeping It Real conference will be held September 30 – October 2, 2009 at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland.  This conference will provide cutting-edge information on issues related to HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and substance abuse.  All outreach works, substance abuse counselors, and other related healthcare personnel who work with the drug-addicted and HIV/AIDS/HCV population are encouraged to attend.
The conference will cover the seven Outreach Competencies developed by the Center for HIV, Hepatitis, and Addiction Training and Technology (CHHATT). 
The three tracks for the Breakout sessions will be:
> Skills training: Research-based approached for outreach, prevention and treatment of the diverse population served by the HIV/AIDS outreach worker. This will include workshops and presentations on topics such as the following: a) Addressing specific needs of special populations, especially those at risk, such as women, MSM, youth, elderly and specific ethnic groups; b) Motivational Interviewing and communication skills; c) Outreach and prevention of Infectious diseases, such as Hepatitis, TB, HIV/AIDS; d) DEBIs
> Self Care for the outreach/prevention worker. Evidence-based techniques and processes will be presented in a series of workshops focusing on keeping the outreach/prevention workers and counselors’ healthy and available for clients. This track will include topics such as: a) Clinical supervision;b) Agency infrastructure for self care staff;c) Grief work to deal with the death of clients; d) Stress and time management.
> The latest research and evidence-based practices on outreach and intervention of injection drug use. This may include: a) Prevention strategies, based on programs that work; b) Rapid-testing – what’s new; c) Medicated assisted treatment;
Attendees will find this an informative and interactive forum providing the most up-to-date information and techniques available in the field. Registration is at www.ATTCnetwork/centraleast. Please contact:Kathleen Hauck, 240-645-1142, khauck@danyainstitute.org or Tamara Parris, 240-645-1146, tparris@danyainstitute.org.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On September 15, 2009, the Pacific Southwest will co-sponsor an event in partnership with Drug Abuse Alternatives Center, Kaiser Permanente, Sonoma County Office of Education, Sonoma County Dept of Health Services, Sonoma County Human Services Department, UCLA ISAP, and North Bay Bohemian-Maverick Media. The evening workshop is entitled Introduction to Motivational Interviewing and will be held at the Mary Agatha Furth Center, in Windsor, California. After completing this event, participants will be able to understand the Stages of Changes and the MI micro-skills (OARS - open ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, summarizing). For more information, please contact Beth Rutkowski at brutkowski@mednet.ucla.edu.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On September 16, 2009, the Pacific Southwest will co-sponsor an event in partnership with Drug Abuse Alternatives Center, Kaiser Permanente, Sonoma County Office of Education, Sonoma County Dept of Health Services, Sonoma County Human Services Department, UCLA ISAP, and North Bay Bohemian-Maverick Media. The daylong workshop entitled Understanding Addiction Workshop: Prescription Drug Misuse and Alcohol Abuse and will be held at the Mary Agatha Furth Center, in Windsor, California. After completing this event, participants will be covering the scope of the problems among adolescents, young adults and older adults Review of the extent of the problem regionally and nationally; impact on the brain; various classes of prescription abuse and how these drugs compare across substances; various behavioral treatments for prescription drugs and alcoholism; the latest medical treatments for alcoholism. For more information, please contact Beth Rutkowski at brutkowski@mednet.ucla.edu.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On September 21 , 2009, the Pacific Southwest ATTC, together with the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs will co-sponsor a daylong research to policy meeting entitled The Substance Abuse Research Consortium 40th Semi‐Annual Meeting, Improving Addiction Treatment in California: Guidelines for Treatment and Evidence‐Based Practices. The event, which is coordinated by UCLA ISAP, will be held at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, in Sacramento, California. After completing this event, participants will be able to define at least five of the evidence-based practices; describe at least two policy recommendations for implementing evidence‐based practices in addiction treatment; and finally list at least three main findings from a national study of strategies to promote evidence‐based practices. For more information, please contact Chris Vigiano at cvigiano@ucla.edu.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: Arizona State University’s Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy is pleased to announce the Fall Motivational Interviewing (MI) Academy, Wednesday, September 30 – Friday, October 2, 2009 at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Biltmore in Phoenix, AZ.The Fall Motivational Interviewing Academy will be led by CABHP’s Dr. Robert Rhode who has been teaching and learning about MI since 1986 and is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). Participants will learn and/or improve their Motivational Interviewing (MI) skills through the use of videos, role-play, exercises, scoring of recorded tapes and homework. Workshop attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in follow-up coaching calls at no extra charge. Dr. Rhode will provide feedback and support as participants use their skills with clients or supervisees. As participants must submit a tape for review prior to participating in the MI Academy each trainee will receive a FREE digital recorder. In addition, a select group of participants will be offered the opportunity to take part in the National Change in Practice ATTC Network study. For more information, please contact Linda Williamson at Linda.Williamson@asu.edu.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: Arizona State University’s Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy (CABHP) will be sponsoring and presenting at The Art of Recovery Expo on September 19, 2009. The Expo is a celebration for Recovery Month. Art of Recovery’s keynote speaker is Christopher Kennedy Lawford. The event is being held in Downtown Phoenix at the Convention Center at Third Street near Washington. CABHP will be premiering the two new Meth DVD’s produced by UCLA’s ISAP – Human Impact and Windows to Recovery. For more information, please contact Linda Williamson at Linda.Williamson@asu.edu.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC held a three-day Summit on Recovery & Public Policy on August 27-29, 2009. The event was held in Kansas City, Missouri, at the Hilton Kansas City Airport Hotel. This event brought two groups together: Mid-America ATTC’s Advisory Council and 30 Recovery Stakeholders from the region (6 from each state). Events during the Summit were planned to bring the two groups together and to allow for separate meetings for specific training and meetings. On Day One of the Summit, Thursday, August 27, the sixty-five participants met for lunch, welcome and orientation. Thursday afternoon all were together for the training, “What’s Recovery Got to Do With It?” The focus of this four-hour workshop was why the language we use to talk about addiction and recovery is vitally important 1) in educating the public about addiction as a public health issue and 2) in making recovery the over-arching focus of treatment. Pat Taylor, Executive Director of the national advocacy organization, Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) and Mike Barry, CEO, People Advocating Recovery (PAR) located in Louisville, Kentucky, were co-trainers. On Friday morning, August 28, the Mid-America ATTC Advisory Council met for their annual face-to-face meeting. A primary topic of discussion was Recovery Oriented Systems of Care. The Recovery Stakeholders spent Friday in an all-day training titled “Faces and Voices of Recovery Message and Media Training.” During the morning session Pat Taylor and Mike Barry provided coaching for participants. In the afternoon, trainers coached participants individually during practice interviews to prepare them for sharing their recovery stories. A few interviews were video-taped and discussed by the group as they worked to improve their delivery. Friday evening the Recovery Stakeholders met in state groups to begin to layout state-specific plans for recovery projects and events. The planning process for states continued Saturday morning. Mid-America ATTC has committed to providing a level of support and technical assistance for these future projects. Mid-America Faces & Voices of Recovery Regional Coordinator Judie Didriksen collaborated with Mid-America ATTC in coordinating the event. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

MID-AMERICA: As part of its one-year ATTC/American Indian Health Board (AIHB) supplemental CSAT project Mid-America ATTC provided the second demonstration training on the Mid-America ATTC curriculum, Foundations of Substance Use, Abuse and Dependence. On July 28 & 29 the two-day workshop was presented to 13 participants representing 10 Oklahoma tribes. The training took place in Oklahoma City, OK. Those who took part in the demonstration were asked to give feedback at the end of each day to provide the curriculum writers with information on how to best adapt the curriculum to reflect American Indian culture and practices. Feedback from the first demonstration training held in November 2008 is also being used in developing the new curriculum. The end product will be a culturally appropriate foundational substance use curriculum that can be used in a number of venues with a variety of audiences. An introductory section will provide a cultural and historic overview of American Indians in North America. Interactivities will provide participants an opportunity to become aware of how American Indians experience substance use in their community. For this project Mid-America is working with the Oklahoma City Area Indian Tribal Health Board (OCAITHB). The cultural expert contracted to work on this project is Rockey Robbins, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Counseling Psychology Department a the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK and a member of the Cherokee Nation. Mid-America ATTC Director Pat Stilen is the editor for the curriculum. A pilot on the new curriculum is scheduled for November 18-19, 2009 in Oklahoma City, OK. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC was a co-sponsor of the 2009 Midwest Conference on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse held August 12-14 at the Hilton Frontenac in St. Louis, MO. Debbie Rockford, Mid-America ATTC Project Manager, served on the conference planning and program committees, exhibited at the conference for both Prairielands ATTC and Mid-America ATTC and worked at the registration table. This year’s theme was Roads to Recovery. The conference served providers from Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Over 200 persons attended. Keynote speakers included H. Westley Clark, MD, JD, MPH, CAS, FASAM; Marc Potenza, MD, PhD; and Michael T. Flaherty, PhD. For more information contact Debbie Rockford at rockfordd@umkc.edu or 816.482.1175.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC conducted two workshops in Kansas with Central Kansas Foundation Treatment Center as the host organization. These workshops were held July 20 and 21 in Salina, Kansas. The two trainings were selected from a list of six possible workshops by the host organization: 1) Best Practices in Co-occurring Disorders Treatment (6 hours); 2) Promoting Awareness of Motivational Incentives: Using Motivational Incentives in Addiction Treatment (3 hours). Heather Gotham, PhD; Pat Stilen, LCSW and Jan Wrolstad, MDiv were the trainers. 30 persons attended the workshop on July 20 and 24 persons attended on July 21. These workshops were conducted as part of a series entitled, “Addiction Ed Training by Design.” In response to the need for workforce development in rural and frontier areas of the region, Mid-America ATTC is providing trainings to selected rural provider organizations in AR, KS, MO, NE, and OK. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC conducted two workshops in Nebraska with the Nebraska substance abuse training contractor, Training for Addiction Professionals (TAP) as the host organization. These workshops were held July 22 and 23 in Grand Island, Nebraska. The two trainings were selected from a list of six possible workshops by the host organization: 1)Treatment Planning M.A.T.R.S.: Utilizing the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to Make Required Data Collection Useful (6 hours); 2) Practices in Co-occurring Disorders Treatment (3 hours). Pat Stilen, LCSW and Jan Wrolstad, MDiv were the trainers. 16 persons attended the workshop on July 22 and 8 persons attended on July 23. These workshops were conducted as part of a series entitled, “Addiction Ed Training by Design.” In response to the need for workforce development in rural and frontier areas of the region, Mid-America ATTC is providing trainings to selected rural provider organizations in AR, KS, MO, NE, and OK. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC conducted two workshops in Missouri with Lafayette House as the host organization. These workshops were held August 18 and 19 in Joplin, Missouri. The two trainings were selected from a list of six possible workshops by the host organization: 1) Treatment Planning M.A.T.R.S.: Utilizing the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to Make Required Data Collection Useful (6 hours). 2) Foundations of Substance Use, Abuse and Dependence (6 hours). Pat Stilen, LCSW and Jan Wrolstad, MDiv were the trainers. 17 persons attended the workshop on August 18 and 10 persons attended on August 19. These workshops were conducted as part of a series entitled, “Addiction Ed Training by Design.” In response to the need for workforce development in rural and frontier areas of the region, Mid-America ATTC is providing trainings to selected rural provider organizations in AR, KS, MO, NE, and OK. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On September 24, 2009, the Pacific Southwest ATTC, SAMHSA, and the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs will host a Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Training for trauma, emergency department, and primary care personnel in Los Angeles, CA at the UCLA’s Ronald Regan Medical Center. At the conclusion of this training, participants will be able to describe the rationale for using SBIRT in medical settings, utilize screening procedures for identifying patients engaged in at-risk substance use behaviors and utilize brief intervention strategies and techniques to motivate patients to change their at-risk behavior and/or seek treatment. For more information, please contact Grant Hovik at ghovik@ucla.edu.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC held a workshop on the NIDA/ATTC Blending Product, Treatment Planning M.A.T.R.S.: Utilizing the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to Make Required Data Collection Useful on July 22 in Grand Island, Nebraska. Pat Stilen, LCSW and Jan Wrolstad, M.Div. were the trainers. 16 persons attended the workshop. This workshop was conducted as part of a series entitled, Addiction Ed Training by Design. In response to the need for workforce development in rural and frontier areas of the region, Mid-America ATTC is providing trainings to selected rural provider organizations in AR, KS, MO, NE, and OK. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC held a workshop on the NIDA/ATTC Blending Product, Treatment Planning M.A.T.R.S.: Utilizing the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to Make Required Data Collection Useful on August 18 in Joplin, Missouri. Pat Stilen, LCSW and Jan Wrolstad, M.Div. were the trainers. 17 persons attended the workshop. This workshop was conducted as part of a series entitled, Addiction Ed Training by Design. In response to the need for workforce development in rural and frontier areas of the region, Mid-America ATTC is providing trainings to selected rural provider organizations in AR, KS, MO, NE, and OK. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

NIDA Initiative Activities