Session Descriptions
Monday, July 17, 2023 – INSPIRE
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Texas Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Basics
Daphney Augustin, Sarah Melecki, Suzie Brady,
Melissa Rodriguez & Kenneth Placke
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) launched the Texas Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (T-CCBHC) initiative in 2016. The T-CCBHC initiative aligns the goals of CCBHCs within the current Medicaid and behavioral health environment in Texas and demonstrates a commitment to using CCBHCs as a best practice for service delivery in behavioral health settings. The T-CCBHC model is based on federal principles with specific features designed to meet the needs of Texas’ delivery system.
This workshop provides information on what will be covered in the T-CCBHC track this conference and on the state history of CCBHC. During the session, the Integrated Care Strategy team will discuss the T-CCBHC background, program, and service requirements. We will discuss ways to integrate primary care screenings and Substance Use Disorder care into mental-health care settings clinically and administratively, with the goal of improving overall health outcomes.
1:00 – 2:30 PM
KEYNOTE
Opening Keynote: The Addicted Lawyer, Tales of The Bar, Booze, Blow, & Redemption
Brian Cuban
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
The keynote speaker was living a lie. With a famous last name and a successful career as a lawyer, he was able to hide his clinical depression and alcohol and cocaine addictions – for a while. Today, as an inspirational speaker in long-term recovery, the speaker looks back on his journey with honesty, compassion, and even humor as he reflects both on what he has learned about himself and his career choice and how the legal profession enables addiction. His demons, which date to his childhood, controlled him through failed marriages and stays in a psychiatric facility, until they brought him to the brink of suicide. That was his wake-up call. This is his story.
2:30 – 2:45 PM
Break
2:45 PM – 3:45 PM
PLENARY: Mental Health
Addressing the Silent Epidemic of Childhood Grief and Traumatic Loss
Julie B. Kaplow, PhD, ABPP
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
Given this country’s staggering number of COVID-related deaths and recent mass shootings, we are now facing a silent epidemic of grief, which will have a lifelong impact on the many children who have lost loved ones to COVID and other causes. Across the nation, over 300,000 children have experienced the death of at least one parent or caregiver to COVID, with the majority among Black and Hispanic families. Many of these families faced racial health disparities and higher rates of bereavement due to violent loss even before the pandemic, making them more vulnerable to the psychological impact of COVID-related deaths. The sudden death of a loved one is the strongest predictor of poor school outcomes (e.g., poor grades, school dropout) in youth, above and beyond any other form of trauma, including physical abuse or sexual abuse. If left unaddressed, traumatic losses in childhood can lead to a wide range of challenges in adulthood, including relationship difficulties, substance use, prolonged grief disorder, depression, and suicide risk. This presentation will describe specific bereavement-related challenges that youth typically face after a death, including in the aftermath of traumatic loss, and review evidence-based practice elements that can help to address the unique needs of grieving youth.
PLENARY: Substance Use Disorder
America’s Decades-Long Overdose Crisis and the Radical Transformation
of the Illicit Opioid Market: Implications for Public Health
Jon E. Zibbell, PhD
RTI International
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
America’s overdose epidemic continues to produce unprecedented levels of morbidity and mortality. This presentation takes a longitudinal view of the epidemic as a 20-year evolution from prescription opioids and heroin to illicit fentanyls and stimulants. This evolution has involved substantial increases in the illicit drug supply, epitomized most recently by a torrent of fentanyls, illicit stimulants, and novel psychoactive substances (e.g., xylazine) making their way into urban and rural areas alike. Many affected areas include communities already plagued with inequality, poverty, and racism, with residents increasingly vulnerable to drug addiction and poor health outcomes.
This presentation will portray the characteristics of a changing drug supply as a social determinant of health to demonstrate how the illicit drug market exerts influence on consumers’ drug preferences and health outcomes. For example, the recent increase of xylazine in illicit fentanyl markets is contributing to adverse health outcomes, such as atypical overdoses and novel and chronic wounds. Community-based strategies for identifying emerging drugs in local drug markets and for responding to chronic wounds will be considered, and current strategies for pinpointing at-risk neighborhoods and disseminating information on drug composition to impacted persons will be offered. Ethnographic observations and in-situ conversations with people who inject drugs are also presented to demonstrate how consumers themselves are responding to volatile market forces and sharp fluctuations in product purity and potency that increase overdose risk.
3:45 – 5:00 PM
TRACK: Treatment and Recovery
Listening to the Voices of Those with Lived Experiences
Facilitated by Dr. Sachin Kamble
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
People with lived experience will provide personal input on crucial issues and challenges impacting them on a daily basis. The goal of this panel is to provide an opportunity for people with lived experiences to help educate attendees on how communities can better meet their needs. Obtaining feedback and input from those with lived experience can help deepen levels of involvement, independence, and effectiveness. Panelists will share their stories and what they are doing currently to demonstrate what recovery means to them. Panelists will also respond to questions from attendees related to the recovery process, the impact of trauma on recovery, post-traumatic growth, dealing with stigma, harm reduction, and what they’d like behavioral health practitioners to consider in supporting recovery.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
The Health Information Exchange Landscape in Texas
George Gooch and Katherine Lusk
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
This session will cover changes in healthcare delivery dynamics and the impacts of not sharing clinical data in a safe and secure manner. A brief overview of policies that are driving interoperability on a regional and national level will be provided, closing with an overview of strategies and opportunities for data sharing.
Tuesday, July 18, 2023 – INNOVATE
8:30 – 9:30 AM
KEYNOTE
Walking in Excellence
Sheila Craig, MA, Director of Civil Rights
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
Walking in excellence compels leaders to create a shared vision that inspires opportunities, encourages collaborative partnerships, and nurtures an environment that is humane, culturally respectful, and promotes well-being.
9:30 – 10:00 AM
Break
10:00 – 11:30 AM
TRACK: Integrated Care
Music is Medicine: Integrating Music into a Clinical Practice
Joseph Gorordo
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
Music is a powerful force that impacts emotions, the brain, and the body. This presentation will educate attendees on the benefits of incorporating music into any practice and give attendees several simple techniques to implement.
TRACK: Prevention
Youth and Substance Use: Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery
Dr. Lori Holleran Steiker
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
The speaker will review critical considerations when working with youth with substance use issues, substance misuse and disorders. Evidence-based interventions will be discussed as well as the full ecosystem of care. Practices and groups will be explored.
TRACK: Treatment
Considerations in Assessment and Treatment
Apryl Alexander
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
Considerations in assessment and treatment, cultural humility is the ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are more important to the client. Awareness of implicit biases and the cultural competence of practitioners are essential in ethical treatment and risk management. Participants will become informed of cultural considerations in assessment and treatment. This workshop will assist participants in identifying cultural factors during assessment to better inform treatment and risk-management recommendations.
TRACK: Recovery
Unpacking Harm Reduction: Nuts and Bolts
Kim Sue, MD, PhD
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
This breakout session will allow learners to ask questions about harm reduction, how it is practiced and incorporated into clinical practice with specific examples, troubleshoot barriers to harm reduction implementation, and identify opportunities for facilitation of harm reduction in their local practice setting and with communities, including people who use drugs.
TRACK: Staff Development
Current Ethical Dilemmas in Clinical Practice
Darius Campinha-Bacote
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
Ethical dilemmas are, for some, openly discussed between practitioners. However, many other practitioners may feel uncomfortable even broaching the topic, in fear that they may be judged for their viewpoint. Through the use of the game “Jeopardy,” the aim of this training is to create a space where ethical dilemmas can be discussed in a non-judgmental environment. The hope is to create awareness, and foster more comfort in openly discussing ethical dilemmas when they inevitably arise.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Best Practices in Assisting People with Obtaining Psychiatric
Advance Directives & Legally Authorized Representatives
Laurie Hallmark
ROOM: 1.130 Longhorn
This training will provide an overview of psychiatric advance directives )PAD), including what they are, why they are important, and how they complement recovery, improve provider/client relationships, and reduce engagement with law enforcement, hospitalizations and homelessness. The session will also address the role of legally authorized representatives (LAR) and the relationship between the LAR and the PAD.
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Lunch on Own
12:00 – 1:00 PM
HHSC Round Table Discussions
HHSC Staff: Quality Management (QM), IDD Contract Management Unit (CMU), Medicaid Unit
Atrium
1:00 – 2:00 PM
TRACK: Integrated Care
Dealing with Trauma with Youth
Apryl Alexander, PsyD, UNC Charlotte
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
The speaker’s current research projects include examining outcomes of childhood victimization in college students and juvenile justice-involved youth. She will discuss how assessment tools can be used to evaluate racial and cultural trauma to engage in better psychological practice. Further, she also provides community presentations on incorporating trauma-informed practices into various systems, including correctional and educational settings.
TRACK: Prevention
Importance of Community Education on Overdose Prevention
Callie Crow, Drew’s 27 Chains
1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
For this speaker, training people on the life-saving possibilities of naloxone is personal. A nonprofit she founded, Drew’s 27 Chains, is named after her son, Drew, who died of an opioid overdose in June 2020. It’s called Drew’s 27 Chains because its first event was a disc golf charity event in which baskets were made of chains. The 27 commemorates Drew’s age when he died. The nonprofit performs trainings for police and fire departments and other organizations on how to use Narcan. The police officer who had responded to Drew’s health emergency had Narcan on his belt, but did not use it. Instead, he waited until paramedics arrived to treat him. In the seven minutes that took, Drew went into cardiac arrest and ultimately died.
TRACK: Treatment
Harm Reduction and Fentanyl
Jon E. Zibbell, PhD
RTI International
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
In 2016, the number of overdose deaths involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF) surpassed heroin and prescription opioid deaths in the United States for the first time, with IMF-involved overdose deaths increasing more than 500 percent across 10 states from 2013 to 2016. IMF is an extremely potent synthetic opioid that is regularly mixed with heroin and often sold to unwitting consumers. Community-based organizations have started to distribute fentanyl test strips (FTS) as a strategy to identify IMF in street purchased products. This session will discuss the association between FTS use and changes in drug use behavior and perceived overdose safety among a community-based sample of people who inject drugs (PWID) in the United States.
TRACK: Recovery
State Resources to Reduce and Prevent Justice Involvement for
People with Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders
Catie Bialick, Emily Dirksmeyer, Chelsea Sells
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
Texas faces a growing challenge in the number of people with mental illness in the justice system. The best available data indicates that approximately 39 percent of people in Texas’ county jails have been in contact with, or received services from public mental health within the last three years. Combined with the number of people waiting for inpatient competency restoration services—more than 2,400 as of April 2023—a picture emerges of state and local behavioral health and justice systems that are over-burdened and resource constrained.
Practical tools exist to support justice and behavioral health system leaders and practitioners who are working to improve outcomes for this population.
Presenters will:
– Discuss the importance of cross-system collaboration and provide tangible strategies audience members can implement in their counties to support justice-involved individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders.
– Present resources available to counties to support strategic planning, cross-system coordination, and program implementation (e.g., Sequential Intercept Model Mapping Workshops, Learning Collaboratives, and Tailored Trainings and Technical Assistance).
– Share state and federal funding opportunities to support local behavioral health and justice-system stakeholders in developing and sustaining programs to address this population.
TRACK: Staff Development
Working in Recovery: A Path to Empowered Employees
Joseph Gorordo
ROOM: 1.130 Longhorn
Early recovery can be an extremely stressful time for anyone. For individuals returning to their work post-treatment, there are unique challenges that require attention by employers. This session will take the providers’ perspective and: review how to deal with social stigma; discuss non-stigmatizing language; provide an overview of employment rights; and review the “Three Knows” guidelines for return-to-work experiences.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Getting the Most Out of Continuous Quality Improvement Plans
Jess Pollard
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is a deliberate, defined process which is focused on activities that are responsive to community needs and improving population health. It is a continuous and ongoing effort to achieve measurable improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, performance, accountability, outcomes, and other indicators of quality for state and local program levels. Attend this session to determine how to get the most out of your CQI.
2:00 – 2:15 PM
Break
2:15 – 3:30 PM
TRACK: Integrated Care
The Intersectionality of Trauma: Cultural Considerations
Darius Campinha-Bacote
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
When looking through the lens of trauma, individuals may respond differently, depending on their diversity variables and/or the experiences from their background. This training focuses on having a deep discussion using current literature to best approach individuals from differing backgrounds, and ways in which intervention techniques can be catered to a diverse population.
TRACK: Prevention
Military Trauma-Informed Care
Donn Hipp, MA, LPC-S, LCCA
Veterans Mental Health Department
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
This program introduces attendees to the nine principles of trauma-informed care. It will help attendees recognize the signs of trauma, how to work with veterans experiencing symptoms, and provide a framework for these interventions. These nine trauma principles are universal and can be applied to other populations.
TRACK: Recovery
HHSC Housing Panel of Experts
Liz Pearson Spearheading
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) supports agencies serving individuals with mental health, substance use, or co-occurring disorders experiencing housing needs in communities across Texas. This presentation will cover Adult Mental Health’s current housing programs across the state.
TRACK: Staff Development
Ethics in Telehealth
Joseph Gorordo
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
Through the course of COVID-19, there was a rapid shift to telemedicine. This tool for connectivity has created a number of new considerations when it comes to the ethical practice of all helping professions. This presentation will help orient and provide a framework for thinking about ethics when providing tele-services.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Incorporating Community Needs Assessment Results into Policies and Procedures
Jane King
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
Every great CCBHC implementation begins with a Community Needs Assessment. This session will clarify the “Golden Thread” of how to translate the findings into practical application of the model.
3:30 – 3:45 PM
Break
3:45 – 5:00 PM
KEYNOTE
The State of Harm Reduction: Barriers and Opportunities
for Improving Care for People Who Use Drugs
Kim Sue, MD, PhD
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
This keynote session will introduce learners to the topic of harm reduction, including the philosophy and the practice, and will provide a broad overview of the history of harm reduction in the United States as well as current harm reduction strategies, including recent updates from the Biden administration. It will also cover practical tips and techniques for utilizing harm reduction principles and strategies from the clinic and beyond, as well as ways that learners can engage in local, state, and federal advocacy for harm reduction programming.
Wednesday, July 19, 2023 – INTEGRATE
8:30 – 9:30 AM
KEYNOTE
The Neuroscience of High Risk Behavior
Crystal Collier, PhD, LPC-S, Therapist,
Prevention Researcher, Educator
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
This keynote elucidates how substance use and other risky behavior affect healthy neurodevelopment; the role of genetics in addiction; the effect of environment; and implications for prevention and treatment in a school setting. The speaker will explain to clinicians how to teach the neuroscience of addiction to students, families, and utilize the information as a multi-tiered system of support in schools. The session will focus on protecting of executive functioning skills, empowering parents, supporting school administrators to implement consistent, brain-based prevention programming, and creating sound policy.
9:30 – 10:00 AM
Break
10:00 – 11:30 AM
TRACK: Integrated Care
Mental Health in Minority Community:
Shifting from Talking to Action
Darius Campinha-Bacote
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
Over the course of the previous decades, there has been a noticeable lack of people of color (POC) in professional mental health fields. Conversely, there has been a growing need for minority providers/practitioners throughout the United States. As a society, we have consistently talked about the problems surrounding the lack of ethnic representation in the healthcare field, and this presentation aims to discuss the solution(s). Through an interactive discussion, current literature will be examined, and action steps will be suggested.
TRACK: Prevention
Drug Trends Update
Jessica Cance, RTI
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss national, state, and local trends in substance use and associated harms.
TRACK: Treatment
Child-Focused Trauma Informed Care in Substance Use Treatment Facilities
Paula Garcia
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
The presentation will focus on the importance of providing trauma-informed care to the children of mothers receiving substance use treatment. It will cover why it is important to have a diversity of services geared towards improving children’s lives. It will also discuss how those services are implemented by a vast network of community organizations and multi-disciplinary teams.
The strength-based services geared toward children provided by Santa Maria include parent coaching, family therapy, play therapy, school-based prevention services, daycare services, and community-outreach programs. Specific programs, such as Caring for Two and Strengthening Families, provide babies and children with a safe and healthy start in life. The outcomes of these programs include increased quality of life, increased attachment between mother and children, and increased knowledge of parenting skills while in long-term recovery. The Caring for Two Program dives more deeply into how trauma impacts brain development in children. Master-level clinicians work to educate mothers on fostering resiliency and building protective factors in their children.
TRACK: Recovery
Places for Recovery in the Community:
Social Practice Beyond the Clubhouse
Brandon Wagner
ROOM: 1.130 Longhorn
For almost 70 years, Clubhouse programs have fostered mental-health recovery by creating communities of purpose. Social Practice, which describes the therapeutic mode of engagement happening in a Clubhouse, provides simple and transferable elements that could work in many types of organizations and spaces. Although well understood within the world of Clubhouse, Social Practice as a field of professional practice is as yet not fully formulated. We’ll connect Social Practice to historical and current models of recovery, and explore how to apply aspects of the model to other communities and populations. Join us to learn a bit about the Clubhouse Recovery model and the five elements of Social Practice. Chances are, you’re already following some of these principles in your programs.
TRACK: Staff Development
Strategies for Successful Supervision (Part 1)
Mitch Moore
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
Congratulations, You’re a supervisor! Now what? Now you’re introduced to the team and expected to motivate them to complete all their assignments. Wait! What? What’s your plan? As a supervisor, director, manager, or team lead, how do you get a new employee “up to speed” so that they are a productive member of the team? Who is responsible and who is accountable for program outcomes? How will staff be evaluated on the quantity and quality of their performance? How can you retain staff once they are contributing members of the agency? This workshop will briefly cover four areas of supervision: Defining your role as a supervisor, staff development, performance evaluation, and retention strategies. Supervisors will gain a better understanding of how to motivate staff and improve program outcomes.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Using Person-First Language
Ebony Flint & Bevin Croft
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
Person-centered practices are present when people have the full benefit of community living, and supports are designed to assist people as they work toward their desired life goals. Using person-first language, which emphasizes the person over their diagnosis or disability, is one of the first steps to creating a more person-centered environment and system. Person-first language can be used by all people in whatever personal or professional role they occupy to create a mutual understanding and communicate respect. In this session, two representatives from the National Center on Advancing Person-Centered Practices and Systems at the Human Services Research Institute will share how language can be used as a powerful tool to create person-centered change within organizations and better support people with behavioral health needs.
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Lunch on Own
12:00 – 1:00 PM
Roundtables
HHSC Round Table Discussions
Quality Management (QM)
IDD Contract Management Unit (CMU)
Medicaid Unit
ATRIUM
1:00 – 2:30 PM
TRACK: Integrated Care
Post Traumatic Growth: A Transformational Journey
Naomi Herrera
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
Post traumatic growth refers to “a positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances” – Calhoun & Tedeschi. It is important to note that although PTG is not universal, it is not uncommon and is one of the many paths to recovery. In this interactive workshop participants will have the opportunity to identify and define the 5 key components of post-traumatic growth (PTG): personal strength, new possibilities, relating to others, appreciation of life, and spiritual change while being guided on a trauma-informed journey. Because talking about trauma can be activating, the facilitators will incorporate grounding and presence practices throughout the presentation. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own recovery journey and identify places of growth individually and in small partner shares.
TRACK: Prevention
The Vaping Craze: Critical Analysis of Effects and Marketing
Crystal Collier, PhD, LPC-S, Therapist,
Prevention Researcher, Educator
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
The vaping and electronic cigarette craze has swept through our nation’s middle and high schools. Promoted as a “healthy” alternative to smoking, our children are subject to advertising that is simply false and misleading. In this presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to learn what the current scientific literature says about the real and unknown health effects of vaping. Emphasis will be placed on effective analysis of advertising messages as well as the risks associated with nicotine addiction. Practical, everyday solutions and clinical techniques will be discussed.
TRACK: Treatment
Positive Behavior Modification
Brook Bonneman
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
This presentation focuses on treatment related to behaviorist principles to modify unwanted behaviors. It will highlight extreme cases of self-harm, violence, and other undesired behaviors that are managed in a jail system. The approach is to highlight that we often attempt to modify behavior with negative reinforcement only and neglect the importance of positive reinforcement. The speaker believes that all behavior has meaning, even in these extreme cases, and the trauma-informed approach is to consider and understand this in order to implement positive reinforcement to extinguish dangerous and unwanted behaviors. However, these same ideas can be applied to other areas of life to highlight that this can be done in more moderate areas of practice as well.
TRACK: Recovery
CHW Core Competency Outreach
John Gonzales
ROOM: 1.130 Longhorn
The Certified Community Health Worker (CCHW) core competencies are fluid, providing outreach efforts to marginalized communities. There are eight core competencies that must be followed, to adhere to the values and principles of a CCHW. This session will impart knowledge on how to become a CCHW and how this certification assists in an outreach setting. The core competencies will shine light on the best practices of a CCHW and how to perform these functions effectively, to any CCHW performing any type of outreach. Outreach is an important role in the community and CCHWs can help anyone in the community. Outreach has been known as the “Grassroots for Social Work” and currently CCHWs are used to fulfill job functions within the eight core competencies of a CCHW.
TRACK: Staff Development
Strategies for Successful Supervision (Part 2)
Continuation of Part 1
Mitch Moore
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
This workshop will briefly cover four areas of supervision: Defining your role as a supervisor, staff development, performance evaluation, and retention strategies. Supervisors will gain a better understanding of how to motivate staff and improve program outcomes.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Addressing Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) in an Integrated Care Landscape
Dr. Alicia Kowalchuk
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
With over half of US adults consuming alcohol in the past 30 days, 20-25 percent drinking at risky levels, and one in 10 having an alcohol use disorder, it is important for integrated care providers to incorporate evidence-based prevention, screening, assessment, and management of alcohol use disorders in their services. In this session, we’ll learn about alcohol screening, brief intervention, referral and treatment within an integrated care setting using a case-based example and a video discussion.
2:30 – 2:45 PM
Break
2:45 – 3:45 PM
TRACK: Integrated Care
HIV/STIs Today: Treatment as Prevention (Part 1)
Alan Mauricio, San Antonio AIDS Foundation
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
Education on HIV/STls is important to everyone who is sexually active because it helps everyone stay healthy. HIV has been around since the 1980s and it is still here. However, it’s very different today from how it was over 40 years ago, and people with HIV are living healthier and longer lives. The session will cover what HIV is like today, including a brief overview of how HIV treatment is being used as prevention. Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U). The presenter will go over Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). The session will also include a discussion on other STls and stigma on HIV/STls. Community resources will be provided where teenagers, young adults, and adults can be tested and treated.
TRACK: Prevention/Treatment
Understanding ACEs
Jessica Cance
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on behavioral health outcomes such as mental illness and substance use.
TRACK: Recovery
Peer and Recovery Services in Texas
Juli Earley
ROOM: 1.130 Longhorn
Peer and recovery services are the non-clinical services and supports that facilitate the recovery journey of people with lived experience of mental health and substance use challenges. In 2022, organizations that offer peer and recovery services participated in a survey that explored what types of providers offer these services; the specific services offered; employment of peer specialists and peer specialist supervisors; funding sources; collaborations; and factors that support or act as barriers.
The findings suggest that a variety of providers offer these services across the state. Most of these organizations employ peer specialists. A smaller majority employ certified peer supervisors. Most organizations offer peer and recovery services aligned with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s domains of recovery. The organizations most often depend on state funding, followed by funding from individuals (e.g., donations and private pay for services), and foundations (e.g., contracts/grants or donations). The organizations reported a variety of collaborations, and these collaborations most often related to services. Most organizations identified these collaborations and their communities as sources of support. Local, state, and federal governments were reported to be sources of support as well as barriers. The availability of qualified staff was most often indicated as a barrier. This information will build awareness of peer and recovery services and help in identifying gaps and opportunities.
TRACK: Recovery
CHW Panel Discussion of Community Health Trends
John Gonzales and Justin McClenny
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
Panel discussion on trends related to community health in to marginalized populations. This discussion will be for participants to engage with the panel on critical health initiatives and communities in need of public service programs.
TRACK: Staff Development
Professional Dangerousness
Cody Hunt, DFPS
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
Professionals, particularly those in high-stakes professions such as child welfare advocates, emergency responders, clinicians, and social workers, are unwittingly susceptible to professionally dangerous behavior. This training will focus on what Professional Dangerousness is, why professionals are susceptible, and how to prevent it.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Aligning Mental Health and Substance Use Assessments to
Develop Treatment Plans (Session 1)
Kenneth Placke, Marie Salinas,
& Letisia Balderas-McDonald
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
The session promotes one team, one plan for one person including an individual’s natural supports. In a discussion of the standard processes to complete an intake assessment identified as biopsychosocial assessment, treatment plan development will be explored as a care coordination activity. Shared use of initial assessment information in the development of a treatment plan directing care coordination activities including follow-up and monitoring of treatment needs.
3:45 – 4:00 PM
Break
4:00 – 5:00 PM
TRACK: Integrated Care
HIV/STIs Today: Treatment as Prevention (Part 2)
Continuation of Part 1
Alan Mauricio, San Antonio AIDS Foundation
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
Education on HIV/STls is important to everyone who is sexually active because it helps everyone stay healthy. HIV has been around since the 1980s and it is still here. However, it’s very different today from how it was over 40 years ago and people with HIV are living healthier and longer lives. The session will cover what HIV is like today, including a brief overview of how HIV treatment is being used as prevention. Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U). The presenter will go over Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). The session will also include a discussion on other sexually transmitted infections (STls) and stigma on HIV/STls. Community resources will be provided where teenagers, young adults can be tested and treated.
TRACK: Prevention
Turn To Upstream Approaches
Stephanie Childs, Claire Jaimison,
Susan Kirtz, Devin Walton
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
In the Fall of 2022, the Texas Health and Human Service Commission’s (HHSC) Prevention and Behavioral Health Promotion Unit (PBHP) launched its annual substance use prevention media campaign. The campaign, known simply as “Turn To,” is a multi-pronged statewide public-awareness campaign focused on helping Texans understand and recognize the risk and protective factors that can contribute to substance use. This session will discuss the planning, development, execution, and evaluation of the statewide media campaign, and discuss lessons learned.
TRACK: Treatment
Substance Use Outreach: A Focus on Working with Women
Edith King, MA, LPC and Justin McClenny
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
This session will provide an overview of substance use outreach focusing on working with women. During this session, participants can expect to learn about barriers women experience when accessing substance use services, major components of outreach specific to women, and state funded substance use services available for women.
TRACK: Recovery
Harm Reduction with Corazòn
Claudia Delphin and
Madelein Santibanez,Harm Reduction Director
Corazon Ministries Inc.
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
San Antonio’s Drop-In Center and Outreach Initiative are guiding clients through the multiple pathways of recovery. Learn about the principles of harm reduction and practical strategies for promoting engagement with people with substance use, mental health, and dual diagnoses.
TRACK: Staff Development
Does Confidentiality Help or Harm Patients?
Joseph Parks, National Council for Wellbeing
ROOM: 1.130 Longhorn
Confidentiality is essential to the development of a trusting professional relationship between doctors and patients. Breaches of confidentiality can lead to legal action and to censure by the General Medical Council. Although the duty of confidentiality is owed to all patients, it is clearly important to people who may be at risk of harm. If people subject to abuse do not feel they can trust their doctors to keep their confidences, they may be less likely to visit them. Vital opportunities to help and support them may therefore be lost. This session will discuss the legal and ethical requirement to respect the choices of competent adults.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Aligning Mental Health and Substance Use Assessments to
Develop Treatment Plans (Session 2)
Continuation of Part 1
Kenneth Placke, Marie Salinas & Letisia Balderas-McDonald
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
The session promotes one team, one plan for one person including an individual’s natural supports. In a discussion of the standard processes to complete an intake assessment identified as biopsychosocial assessment, treatment plan development will be explored as a care coordination activity. Shared use of initial assessment information in the development of a treatment plan directing care coordination activities including follow-up and monitoring of treatment needs.
Thursday, July 20, 2023 – INTEGRATE
8:30 – 9:30 AM
TRACK: Integrated Care
Cognitive Adaptation Training: The Missing Piece to Integrated Care
Cynthia Sierra
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) is a psychosocial evidenced-based practice provided in the home environment of individuals with serious mental illness. CAT utilizes a manualized approach of environmental supports, such as signs, calendars, alarms, and the organization of belongings, to get around problems in cognitive functioning and improve success in everyday behaviors. CAT empowers the individual to establish and maintain their independence while living in the community and actively engaging in treatment. CAT practitioners take a partnership approach in skill-building and implementing interventions to develop functional habits. This collaborative approach allows the unique opportunity to view the individual’s strengths and areas of need while problem solving in real-life scenarios. As part of an integrated care team, the CAT practitioner helps facilitate the individual’s engagement in all areas of treatment. This presentation will describe previous research demonstrating its efficacy with various populations. The presentation will also provide free resources available through the Center for Excellence in Evidence-Based Practices to help clinicians and organizations implement and sustain CAT practices.
TRACK: Prevention
Emerging Trends with Alcohol-to-Go
Betsy Jones, TXSDY
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
Alcohol policies changed more and faster during COVID than they have in the past 30 years. The pandemic resulted in profound changes to how alcohol is sold and accessed in Texas. Throughout and since the pandemic, we’ve been reevaluating how to respond to the issue of increased access and how we, as coalitions, can work together to build capacity, evaluate concerns, and ensure our prevention efforts meet these changing needs. This presentation will share some of the current trends around youth access and dangerous products, how alcohol-to-go and home delivery of alcohol have changed the way Texans drink, and specific action steps for assessing and addressing the problem.
TRACK: Treatment
Fentanyl and Opioids NOW
Deborah Antich
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
The speaker shares her knowledge and experience gleaned from law enforcement agencies, her work with legislators and the Governor’s office, street dealers, and recovery coaches she supports across the state, as well as working with parents of overdose and youth in the community. Getting down to brass tacks, she shares her way of connecting with peers, school districts, and kids of all ages to have an open, frank, and hopeful conversation about not only fentanyl, but also other street drugs, medicine cabinet prescription drugs, and the trends we are seeing in locations all over Texas. This is an interactive discussion with opportunities for participants to ask questions, share input and get real answers in real time.
TRACK: Prevention
Health and Human Trafficking: The Role of the Health Provider
Laura Lederer
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
Human trafficking is a major public health problem, both domestically and internationally. Healthcare providers are often the only professionals to interact with trafficking victims who are still in captivity. The expert assessment and interview skills of providers contribute to their readiness to identify victims of trafficking. The purpose of this session is to provide clinicians with knowledge on trafficking and give specific tools that they may use to assist victims in the clinical setting. Definitions, statistics, and common healthcare problems of trafficking victims are reviewed. The role of the healthcare provider is outlined through a case study and clinical practice tools are provided.
TRACK: T-CCBHC
Training Staff and Incorporating Peer Support, Recovery Coaching,
and Family Partner Support into the T-CCBHC Continuum of Care
Eric Estrada, Darrin Acker and Angie Jackson
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
As more organizations and communities look to Peer Support, they sometimes find themselves running into similar roadblocks. The barriers to recruiting, training, managing, and supporting Peers can seem overwhelming, but it shouldn’t be! Join this panel conversation, where speakers share lessons learned in supporting the entire Peer Support lifecycle, and learn about some valuable (and free) resources that can help remove the barriers to implementing Peer Support in your organization.
9:30 – 9:45 AM
Break
9:45 – 11:00 AM
TRACK: Integrated Care
Integrated Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment
Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC
On the Mark Consulting
ROOM: 1.138 Stadium
Participants will leave this presentation with tools that will enable them to achieve greater results with clients with co-occurring disorders. A partial list of topics includes: 20 strategies for increasing recovery rates; 10 strategies to help clients successfully complete treatment; The use of evidence-supported practice in increasing recovery rates; The use of recovery management principles to increase recovery rates; How workers can improve personal effectiveness with clients with co-occurring disorders; 10 strategies for increasing mutual aid involvement; improving recovery rates by increasing family involvement; and much, much more.
TRACK: Prevention
Suicide Prevention Strategies
Dr. J. Rocky Romero
ROOM: 1.108 Balcones
Suicide among youth in the USA has been, and continues to be, a public health crisis. Tragically, there have been persistent increases in youth suicide rates in recent years despite increased resources and efforts directed at this problem. Additionally, understanding the wide array of cultural contexts that dynamically influence risk and protective factors drives a pressing need for more research and interventions that are more culturally applicable to understudied and underserved populations that may be at highest risk. The goal of this session is to provide attendees with current information across key domains of youth suicide prevention and to share a New Mexico Program: #Suicide STOPIT NM.
TRACK: Treatment
Ending the Opioid Crisis with Schools
Darrien Skinner, Mary Anne Hettenhaus,
Doug Thornton, Lisa Cleveland
ROOM: 1.122 Lil Tex Auditorium
Every day, 128 people in the United States die after an overdose involving prescription or illicit opioids; one in four Texans has experienced an overdose or know someone who has. The Texas Targeted Opioid Response, a public health initiative by the Texas HHSC, will assemble a panel to explore the Texas-sized effort to reduce opioid misuse and overdose among youth through public health programs – early childhood intervention, expanding access to naloxone, and safe disposal of unused medication.
TRACK: Recovery
Overcoming Stigma and Generational Trauma in Behavioral Health
Deborah Antich
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
This is an interactive presentation where all participants get involved. The speaker seeks to engage the audience around generational trauma and how we carry past generations on our backs, or use past generations experiences to boost us up. Especially in a post covid work environment with things going “back to normal,” nothing is normal. We unpack generational trauma together as a group, with participants leaving with information that is relative to their own lives, as well as the lives of clients, coworkers and peers.
TRACK: Staff Development
Past, Present, and Potential: The Peer Specialist Workforce in Texas
Amy Lodge
ROOM: 1.140 Bevo
Peer specialists are an integral part of the behavioral health system in Texas. They work in a variety of settings where they impact people’s overall recovery, wellness, and wellbeing. Research has shown that peer specialist services are associated with positive clinical outcomes and may help to alleviate behavioral healthcare provider shortages. With the passing of HB 1486, peer specialist services have been codified into the Texas Administrative Code. In this presentation, we will explore the landscape of the peer workforce based on findings from surveys conducted with mental health and recovery support peer specialists in Texas. The topics include past and present numbers of certified peer specialists, demographics of the peer workforce, dissemination of peer specialists within the state, and employment experiences of peer specialists. We will offer recommendations for supporting and expanding the peer specialist workforce.
11:00 – 11:15 AM
Break
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
CLOSING KEYNOTE
Today’s Public Behavioral Health Delivery System
Joseph Parks, National Council for Wellbeing
ROOM: 1.102 Big Tex Auditorium
Poor access to behavioral health services is a serious obstacle to treatment. In some areas of the U.S., services are simply not available or affordable to the people who need them. People also may be unaware of services that are available. Discrimination is a problem as well. In 2020, less than half of adults and youth with mental health conditions and less than 10 percent with substance use disorders received treatment over the course of the year. Provider shortages are a major reason that access to treatment is limited, particularly in rural areas. It’s estimated that the U.S. needs an additional 7,400 mental health providers to meet current demand. Substance use treatment is in especially short supply: wait times for certain services can be weeks or months. People in urgent need of help with behavioral health issues sometimes spend hours, even days, waiting in the emergency department.