During the 2007 legislative session funding was appropriated toward establishing and operating the Los Lunas Substance Abuse Treatment and Training Center. Slated to open in the fall of 2010, the Center is designed to provide essential, state-of-the-art substance abuse treatment services to residents of Valencia County and the entire state and will include community based outpatient services, resident treatment for women with their children and telehealth and training support.  The Human Service Department (HSD) through the Statewide Entity as contracted with the Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative is managing the funding the project and Partners in Wellness willl manage and operate the center. The Behavioral Health Collaboratives, Consortium for Behavioral Health Training and Research (CBHTR) will also be housed in the facility and provide cutting-edge training opportunities for behavioral health professionals.

To begin building momentum for the facility, CBHTR is holding two events in Los Lunas.  The first is June 25th and is a day-long evidenced-based practice workshop bringing national speakers to New Mexico to share information about programming working throughout the country.  The second event is planned for Fall 2009.  This one is focused on Valencia County and interested professionals working within behavioral health, corrections, the judicial system and community organizations, introducing them to the Center and how services will be accessed. 

Please join us on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at

UNM Valencia Campus for our first FREE workshop. 

Registration required by June 22.

Our Special Guest Presenters

David Farabee, PhD is research psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles and Director of the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP) Juvenile Justice Research Group. Prior to this he served as lead analyst for criminal justice research at the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (1992-1995), and as assistant professor of psychiatry and research scientist at the University of Kentucky Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (1995-1997). Dr. Farabee is currently principal investigator of several state and federally funded research projects examining intervention strategies for substance abusing and criminal justice populations. He has published in the areas of substance abuse, adult and juvenile crime, HIV/AIDS, and offender treatment, was co-editor of the books Treatment of Drug Offenders (2002; New York: Springer) and Treating Addicted Offenders: A Continuum of Effective Practices, Volumes I and II  (2004, 2007; New York: Civic Research Institute), author of, Rethinking Rehabilitation: Why Can’t We Reform Our Criminals? (2005; Washington, D.C.: AEI Press), and is co-editor of the Offender Programs Report.

Angela Hawken, PhD is assistant professor of economics and policy analysis at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. She teaches graduate classes in research methods, statistics, applied methods for policy analysis, crime, and social policy. Dr. Hawken's research interests are primarily in illicit drugs, crime, and corruption. She conducted the statewide cost-benefit analysis of California's Proposition 36, and is the principal investigator of the randomized controlled trial of Hawaii's swift-and-certain-sanctions model (HOPE), with funding from the Smith Richardson Foundation and the National Institute of Justice. Her ongoing international research includes a study of methadone delivery in the country of Georgia, with funding from the Soros Foundation, and she is studying corruption and gender issues in Afghanistan and the Asia-Pacific region, for the United Nations.  Hawken has lived and worked in South Africa, the United States, Georgia, and Afghanistan.

Kevin Knight, PhD is the associate director for criminal justice studies at the Institute of Behavioral Research (IBR) at Texas Christian University.  In addition to co-editing two books titled Treating Addicted Offenders: A Continuum of Effective Practices (Vols. I and II), he has published several articles that center on evaluating substance abuse treatment process and outcomes, as well as, on the development of evaluation systems for correctional settings.  Dr. Knight currently is serving as the Southwest Research Center principal investigator on the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJDATS) project, a large NIDA-funded cooperative agreement designed to improve correctional treatment.  He has worked closely with criminal justice agencies and data systems at national, state and regional levels in the U.S.  Dr. Knight also serves on journal editorial boards, including serving as co-editor of “Offender Substance Abuse Report,” and participates in advisory activities for a variety of organizations that address substance abuse and related policy issues.