Today’s sessions run from 10:20 – 4:50 pm with a 90 minute break for lunch (provided) from 12:30 – 2:00 pm. Each Institute has an assigned letter from A to F. You will select ONE Institute and remain in that session for the entire day.

7:30 – 8:30 am

Registration/Continental Breakfast

Pre-registered conference attendees may pick up their name badge and conference packet at the registration desk. Conference registration for individuals not pre-registered can be completed at registration on a space-available basis. Facility maps, general information, and conference materials will also be found at registration.

8:30 – 10:00 am

Welcome and Keynote

Welcome: Pamela S. Hyde, JD, Cabinet Secretary,

New Mexico Human Services Department

OPENING KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

A Place in the Community & Beyond: The Reality of Recovery, Social Inclusion and Wellness

David Shern, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Mental Health America, Alexandria, VA

When Rosalyn Carter was asked about the biggest change between the 1980 Presidential Commission on Mental Health and President Bush’s Commission in 2003, she said that it was the reality of recovery. We now expect that persons with mental illnesses can and will recover from their illness. Early research by Courtney Harding, PhD (1987) and others challenged the belief that severe mental illness is chronic and that stability is the best one could hope for. They discovered there are multiple outcomes associated with severe mental illness and that many people did progress beyond a state of mere stability. Due to this pioneering work, and the efforts of other scholars throughout the world who replicated these studies, we now know that recovery is a reality and we have identified several key ingredients that promote recovery. Utilizing the concepts of illness, disability, and recovery, this presentation focuses on the evidence-based and promising practices that should be available through the New Mexico behavioral health system. Attendees will be challenged to put this knowledge to work in New Mexico so that everyone can participate fully in their community and in managing their health and well being.

10:20 – 12:30 pm

CONCURRENT INSTITUTES A -F

12:30 – 2:00 pm LUNCH(provided)

 2:00 – 4:50 pm

CONCURRENT INSTITUTES(Continued)

A. The Transformative Experience: New Mexico and the Nation - Today and Tomorrow

Presenters: Linda Roebuck, MSSW, Chief Executive Officer, New Mexico Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative with Bill Belzner, MA, Deputy CEO, New Mexico Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative; Wanda Finch, LICSW, Public Health Advisor, SAMHSA/CMHS Community Support Programs Branch, Rockville, MD; Bill Hudock, SAMHSA; LaVerne Miller, Esq., Director, Howie T. Harp Peer Advocacy Center, New York, NY; Leslie Schwalbe, MPA, MHT-SIG Advisor/Consultant, Center for Mental Health Services, SAMSHA, Tempe, AZ;

Mary Ann Shaening, President, Shaening and Associates, Inc.

In July of 2003, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health's final report, "Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America" called for transforming the mental health service delivery system in the United States by focusing on providing meaningful, consumer- and family-centered services; and focusing on helping consumers learn to successfully cope with life challenges by facilitating recovery and resilience rather than just managing symptoms.

 

Join program management staff from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and leadership from the New Mexico Collaborative as they conduct an Institute on key elements in the change process leading to the transformation of behavioral health systems. The New Mexico behavioral health system transformation is perhaps the most ambitious transformation in progress in the United States. Learn about New Mexico's experience over the past four years; specifically, in creating an environment for transformation, conducting system redesign, gaining community input and support throughout the state, and managing a performance contract with a statewide entity while implementing dramatic program change. SAMHSA staff will also provide a broader context and view of transformation from the experiences of other states that have embarked on similar processes.

Participants will learn

• elements of transformation within the New Mexico behavioral health system.
• current national trends in transforming behavioral health systems to improve outcomes.
• future trends in transformation and how they may affect the New Mexico system over time.

B. Integrated Systems of Care for Persons with Co-occurring Psychiatric & Substance Use Disorders

Presenter: Richard Kruszynski, MSSA, LISW, LICDC, Director of Consultation and Training, Ohio Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Coordinating Center of Excellence, Cleveland, OH

This Institute is tailor-made for programs and administrators who are interested in the implementation of evidence-based practices in New Mexico. It includes an overview of how evidence-based practices have been successfully implemented in other states. Attendees will participate in an extended discussion of how New Mexico can utilize fidelity models for implementation of effective co-occurring disorder treatment in outpatient treatment, including Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) and Comprehensive Community Support Services (CCSS). The fidelity model, a research-informed implementation instrument, provides a structure for organizational self-analysis and improvement. The Institute also provides a detailed description of the structural, funding and staffing components which must be in place to make and sustain effective system change on a macro and micro level.

Participants will learn

• how to identify the components essential to change on a program level.
• how to use state government and program structures to support ongoing utilization of evidence-based practices.
• to develop and maintain clinical quality in an under-funded system.

C. Many Paths to Follow: What Our Own Research Can Give Us – Best Tribal-Based Practices to Address Native American Addictions & Mental Health

Presenter: Caroline M. Cruz, BS, CPM, CPS, Prevention Specialist, Oregon Department of Human Services, Salem, OR 

In 2003, the Oregon Legislature blazed a new trail, mandating the implementation of evidence-based practices for all behavioral health prevention and treatment services in the state. The legislation creating this mandate set aggressive benchmarks for spending on these practices across several state agencies, including the Oregon Department of Human Services-Addictions and Mental Health Division.

Native Americans have been engaged in traditional practices which have been shown to be effective in their own communities, even though many have not been “validated” by western methodologies. Thus, the Oregon Legislation presented both a challenge and an opportunity around the funding of traditional services for behavioral health consumers.

In response to this opportunity, the Oregon Department of Human Services, through Ms. Cruz, developed the knowledge, skills and abilities to validate traditional practices of tribes utilized for behavioral health consumers within the state, utilizing tools that are predicated on a culturally relevant perspective.

In this workshop, Oregon’s Tribal Liaison presents the history and current status of this initiative. The measurement tools developed by the state and tribes are explained as well as how these tools can be transferred to other programs.

 

Participants will learn

• the efforts currently underway to validate the outcomes of Native American traditional practices.
• the historical challenges in adopting non-native practices in Native American communities.
• to successfully apply tools to measure the outcomes of community-specific practices.

 

D. Wraparound for Individuals, Families and Youth with Serious Behavioral Health Disorders

Presenter: Mary Grealish, MEd, Community Partners, McMurry, PA 

The Wraparound process has shown great promise as an effective way to help people whose behavior has jeopardized or may jeopardize their ability to live safely and independently in their homes and communities. Wraparound is a family centered, community-oriented, strengths-based, highly individualized planning process aimed at helping people achieve important outcomes by helping them meet their unmet needs both within and outside of formal human services systems, while they remain in their neighborhoods and homes, whenever possible. Or, in other words: Wraparound is a practical form of compassion, organized in a sensible way. Wraparound plans work because instead of knee jerk, "everybody gets the same" approaches, individuals who participate have a plan that reflects their cultures, preferences, priorities and hopes for both the present and the future. In this Institute, participants will hear about how communities all over the country have implemented Wraparound and will have an opportunity to ask questions and discuss possible barriers.

Participants will learn

• to define the Wraparound process in terms of its values and principles.
• how to implement Wraparound.
• at least five individualized, strength-based plans.

E. Supportive Housing Institute: Strategies for Success

Moderator: Marti Knisley, MA, Director of the Community Support Initiative, Technical Assistance Collaborative, Boston, MA; Presenters: Susan Curran, BA, Program Consultant, Louisiana Permanent Supportive Housing Program, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Navarre, FL; Christy Repress, MSW, Director of Programs and Development, Pathways to Housing, Washington DC; Andrea White, LMSW, Chief Program Officer, Center for Urban Community Services Housing Resource Center, New York, NY

This Institute provides the professional practioner with the knowledge, skills and abilities to implement supportive housing and Housing First in their communities. Supportive housing is a successful, cost-effective combination of affordable housing with services that help people live more stable, productive lives. Housing is coupled with social services such as job training, alcohol and drug abuse programs and case management. Evidence-based practices and national studies indicate that independent, decent, safe and affordable community-based housing linked to flexible client-driven community-based supports is desired by consumers as an essential ingredient to foster and support their own journeys towards recovery and resiliency.

The Housing First model, developed in the U.S. in the early 1990s in response to the large growth in the homeless population in urban areas, refers to supportive housing programs specifically designed to help homeless people get off the streets and into housing. It is a nationally proven approach to solving homelessness, reducing high cost medical expenditures, incarceration, residential treatment centers and public safety costs. It emphasizes direct placement into permanent housing and a service approach that does not necessarily require sobriety or treatment compliance. Therefore, consumer use of behavioral health services or programs is not a condition of ongoing occupancy.

Participants will learn

• how to write individual supportive housing plans.
• tenant rights and responsibilities.
• the skills for successful landlord/tenant negotiations.

F. Integrating System Components: Resisting Distractions and Embracing Change

Presenters: Mario Hernandez, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Child & Family Studies at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL with Marie Morilus-Black, LCSW-R, Family Voices Network Director, Erie County Department of Mental Health, Buffalo, NY; Cynthia Brundage, MSW, LCSW, Program Manager, Children's System of Care, Placer County Department of Health and Human Services, Auburn, CA; Sharon Hodges, PhD, Department of Child & Family Studies at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 

To ensure the development of an integrated and comprehensive system of care, planners and implementers must focus as much on the connections among system components as they do to the development of each of the system parts. The sheer number of demands competing for attention means that system stakeholders must cultivate strategies to keep focused on the whole and resist distractions while embracing change.

This Institute addresses strategies for holistic system development that support integrating system components in order to develop effective system of care. Thinking holistically about system change supports system development by building the capacity of system partners to develop shared vision, stay focused on priorities, and provide individualized and flexible responses to the needs of children and families.
 

The Institute also looks at important lessons learned about integrated system of care implementation in broad strategic areas including holistic thinking, recognizing the importance of context, the role of theories of change, informed decision making, and the concept of leveraging change. Examples of theory of change development will be presented by experienced system developers who have used this approach to support visualization, description, and operationalization of system implementation efforts. In addition, strategies for how evaluators and system implementers can facilitate a community process in which key stakeholders work together to plan an integrated approach to system change are discussed. Finally, local perspectives on the critical factors of system development are presented along with specific system building strategies that you can apply in your community.

 

Participants will learn

• the value of thinking holistically.
• strategies for being concrete about values, flexible in system response, and proactive in
  system development.
• the importance of linking system development strategies to the strengths and needs of
  local populations.
• strategies for creating a shared vision that is concrete enough to operationalize and powerful enough to inspire and guide you through the rough times.
• the value of engaging the community in the change process.
• critical factors that support system development.

Program Content: The information, comments, and opinions expressed in the workshops and general sessions as well as the content of any material utilized or distributed during the programs do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Behavioral Health Collaborative, conference sponsors, or Kesselman-Jones, Inc. Therefore, no organization endorses nor assumes responsibility for the concepts expressed during these programs.