MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC—Since 2004 Mid-America ATTC has provided the impetus behind the Annual Bi-State American Indian Symposium. The purpose of this annual event is to encourage system changes which support urban American Indian wellness so services are provided in culturally appropriate ways and gaps in services to American Indians are reduced. Plans are well underway for this year’s Symposium scheduled for Tuesday, November 10, 2009. The theme is Hope, Harmony and Justice: Improving Services to the Urban American Indian. All presenters at the Symposium are American Indians enrolled with federally recognized tribes. The keynote presenter for this year’s Symposium is Don Coyhis, a leader recognized by many Indian nations and the federal government as an American Indian cultural expert and spokesperson for the Red Road Approach to addiction prevention and treatment. The audience at the Symposium is primarily non-Native persons who provide health, substance abuse treatment, mental health and social services to the urban American Indians in the Greater Kansas City Area. There are four tracks of break-out sessions: 1) Substance Abuse & Mental Health, 2) Health, 3) Law and 4) Education. A Mid-America ATTC staff member chairs the planning committee and Mid-America ATTC provides the venue, secures presenters, exhibits at the event and conducts the evaluation. Approximately 200 to 300 persons attend each year. Other co-sponsors include: American Indian Council, University of Kansas Medical Center, Jackson County Health Department, Kansas City Missouri Health Department, Missouri Department of Mental Health Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. For more information contact Jan Wrolstad at wrolstadj@umkc.edu or 816.481.1150.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC’s 2009 Leadership Institute Commencement and Project Presentation event was held September 30, 2009 at the Hilton Kansas City Airport Hotel. Protégés from the five-state region presented on their projects and personal leadership development to peers, mentors, agency directors and supervisors. Mentors had an opportunity to offer final accolades and words of encouragement to their protege. As a result of the evaluation conducted by Senior Project Manager Heather Gotham, Ph.D. with 2008 mentors and protégés, there was a stronger emphasis given this year on individual leadership development in addition to projects. This slight change in emphasis was evidenced during the presentations as protégés shared about specific leadership competencies they worked on and how those changes have affected their direct reports and their agencies. Challenges and successes were shared as well as gratitude for support received from mentors and agencies. Agency supervisors and directors who were in attendance offered their gratitude for the investment this program made in the participant from their agency and the resultant increased leadership potential in the agency. For more information contact Deborah Rockford at 816.482.1175.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On October 13, 2009 in Santa Barbara, CA, 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) half-day tTraining for trauma, emergency department, and primary care personnel. 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.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On October 16, 2009 in Red Bluff, CA, the Pacific Southwest ATTC, UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, CA Department of Alcohol & Drug Programs, County Alcohol and Drug Program Administrators’ Association of California, the Pacific Region Node and CA/AZ Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network, and Tehama County Health Services Agency, Drug and Alcohol Division will host the California Addiction Training and Education Series (CATES) training on Emerging Trends - Addressing the Prescription Drug Abuse Problem at the Red Bluff Community Center. At the conclusion of this training, attendees will understand the scope of prescription drug abuse and list major at-risk populations; identify three major categories of prescription drugs and at least two effects of each category on the user. As a result of this training, individuals will recognize various strategies to prevent prescription drug abuse, and list at least three medication-assisted or behavioral approaches that can be used in the treatment of prescription drug abuse. For more information, please contact Chris Vigiano at cvigiano@ucla.edu.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On October 22, 2009 in Fairfield, CA, the Pacific Southwest ATTC, UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, CA Department of Alcohol & Drug Programs, County Alcohol and Drug Program Administration of California, the Pacific Region Node and CA/AZ Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network, and Solano County Substance Abuse Services will host the California Addiction Training and Education Series (CATES) training on Emerging Trends - Addressing the Prescription Drug Abuse Problem at the Board of Supervisors Chambers. At the conclusion of this training, attendees will understand the scope of prescription drug abuse and list major at-risk populations; identify three major categories of prescription drugs and at least two effects of each category on the user. As a result of this training individuals will recognize various strategies to prevent prescription drug abuse, and list at least three medication-assisted or behavioral approaches that can be used in the treatment of prescription drug abuse. For more information, please contact Chris Vigiano at cvigiano@ucla.edu.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On October 23, 2009 in Alhambra, CA, the Pacific Southwest ATTC, UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, and the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, Alcohol and Drug Program Administration will host a special lecture entitled, ADPA Lecture Series: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. This lecture will focus on the significance of FASDs as a major public health problem, risk factors for alcohol use during pregnancy, current approaches to prevention, and evidence-based treatments for children with FASDs and their families. For more information, please contact Chris Vigiano at cvigiano@ucla.edu.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On October 30, 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 at UCSF’s Community Medical Center in Fresno County, CA. 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.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST: On October 28, 2009 in Los Angeles, CA, the California Opioid Maintenance Providers, Pacific Southwest ATTC, and UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs will host a daylong Symposium entitled, Sixth Annual Training and Education Symposium. This Symposium will focus on: 1) LA County Challenges and Opportunities, 2) Treatment Issues for Pregnant Women, 3) CSAT’s View of Prescription Drug Misuse: Problems and Solutions, 4) Hepatitis C Treatment Considerations, and 5) Ethical Issues in Treatment. For more information, please contact Beth Rutkowski at brutkowski@mednet.ucla.edu.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC conducted two workshops in Arkansas with Horizon Adolescent Treatment Center as the host organization. These workshops were held September 22 and 23 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The two trainings selected from a list of six possible workshops by the host organization were:
> Best Practices in Co-occurring Disorders Treatment (6 hours);
> Best Practices in Adolescent Treatment (6 hours).
Heather Gotham, Ph.D. and Jan Wrolstad, MDiv were the trainers. 25 persons attended the workshop on September 22 and 18 persons attended on September 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 has provided trainings to selected rural provider organizations in AR, KS, MO, NE, and OK over the summer months. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC conducted two workshops in Oklahoma with Gateway Addiction Recovery Services as the host organization. These workshops were held September 16 and 17 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The two trainings selected from a list of six possible workshops by the host organization were:
> Best Practices in Co-occurring Disorders Treatment (6 hours);
> Treatment Planning M.A.T.R.S.: Utilizing the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to Make Required Data Collection Useful (6 hours). Pat Stilen, LCSW and Jan Wrolstad, MDiv were the trainers. 32 persons attended the workshop on September 16 and 23 persons attended on September 17. 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 has provided trainings to selected rural provider organizations in AR, KS, MO, NE, and OK over the summer months. For more information contact Pat Stilen at stilenp@umkc.edu or 816.482.1168.

MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ATTC sent three trainers to the recent Training of Trainers (TOT) on the newly updated NIDA-ATTC Blending Team buprenorphine curriculum, Buprenorphine Treatment: A Training for Multidisciplinary Addiction Professionals. Jan Campbell, M.D., Daniel Vinson, M.D., M.S.P.H., and Ignacio Alejandro (Alex) Barajas-Muñoz, M.S., attended the TOT which was held September 21 & 22 in Atlanta, GA. Trainers were Gregory S. Brigham, Ph.D., Chief Research Officer at Maryhaven in Columbus, OH, and Susan A. Storti, Ph.D., RN, CARN-AP, who currently serves as the Project Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Blending Research and Practice contract. The training was sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Southeast ATTC. Mid-America ATTC plans to contract with Dr. Campbell and Dr. Vinson to provide the training in the five-state region. Alex Barajas-Muñoz, Mid-America ATTC Project Manager, will co-facilitate these trainings. The first of these training is scheduled for February 5, 2010 in Lincoln, NE. For more information contact Alex Barajas-Muñoz at barajasmunozi@umkc.edu or 816.482.1199.

NIDA Initiative Activities