Program

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ONSITE PROGRAM
For In-Person Attendees – Program lists Room Locations
(you will be provided program onsite)
For Virtual Attendees – Room Locations and Stages are the same.

Problems logging in day of? We have staff standing by to assist. For quickest response, email support@swift-solutions.org. Include your name and phone number.

Monday, August 8

Opening Keynote Session: 8:30 – 10:30 am

Welcome – Agency Remarks
Trina Ita, MA, LPC
Associate Commissioner of Behavioral Health Services
Health and Human Services Commission

Update from SAMHSA
Traci M. Murray, PhD, MPH, RN, NHDP-BC, CPH
Lieutenant Commander (LCDR), USPHS
Assistant Regional Administrator, SAMHSA Region VI

The Power of Connection and Embracing Change
Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC
On The Mark
This has been quite the year! The combination of COVID 19, an economic recession and community unrest has increased mental health challenges, violence in homes and communities and drug overdose deaths. This presentation focuses on strategies for building community in the midst of traumatic catastrophe. We discuss: 6 strategies for helping clients and staff experience greater connections; 7 strategies for helping clients decrease isolation, depression and anxiety during challenging times; how to maintain recovery in the midst of traumatic catastrophes and during difficult times. A model of thriving in the midst of change will also be presented.
Objectives:

  • Identify five strategies for helping clients and staff experience greater connections
  • List seven strategies for helping clients decrease isolation, depression and anxiety during challenging times
  • Describe how to maintain recovery in the midst of traumatic catastrophes

Break with Exhibitors: 10:45 – 10:45 am

Concurrent Sessions: 10:45 am – 12:15 pm

Track: Diversity and Inclusion
They Don’t Give a Care About Us
Tanya N. Rollins, MSW
Inspiring Voices – Equity and Inclusion Consulting, LLC
They don’t give a care about us… persons of color were saying this before the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 and are still saying it. Michael Jackson wasn’t just singing a song when he released the song, They Don’t Care About Us. Organizations are sending this message and impacting the physical and mental health of staff and families of color when organizations do not acknowledge racial trauma. Consistently racial trauma is not discussed as part of the larger trauma discussion. As intergenerational unresolved trauma continues to impact communities of color, trauma models should be expanded to adequately include historical and current experiences of racism. This presentation will explore various types of racism and traumatic responses experienced in everyday life and their long-lasting mental health effects like flashbacks, anxiety and depression.
Objectives:

  • Articulate definition of racial trauma
  • Identify types of racial trauma and  common reactions to racial trauma
  • Identify ways to begin healing from trauma

Track: Prevention
Enhancing Environmental Prevention Efforts:
Selecting and Implementing Environmental Strategies in Texas
Rodney Wambeam, PhD
Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center
The purpose of this training is to move communities to a broader and more comprehensive approach to prevention that includes environmental strategies. It means to inspire participants while developing specific action steps for choosing and implementing environmental prevention efforts. It is an interactive training, where participants work together to develop new skills.
Objectives:

  • Describe the environmental prevention approach
  • Identify the major differences between individual-based prevention and environmental-based prevention
  • Create a plan for environmental change

Track: Treatment and Recovery
Multiple Pathways of Recovery
Haner Hernandez PhD, CPS, CADCII, LADCI
FXB Center for Health and Human Rights / Harvard University
This session will explore how SUDs and Mental Health challenges disproportionately impact individuals, families and entire communities.  Participants will learn about the multiple pathways of recovery and their role in providing and promoting  options, choices, and agency of the people we serve.  Moreover, this training will be grounded in the need to lead with and build equity.
Objectives:

  • Describe disproportionate impact of SUDs and Mental Health
  • Understand and describe at least 5 pathways of recovery and the need to provide options and choices and
  • Describe equity and at least 3 strategies and techniques

Track: Special Populations
Breaking Intergenerational Patterns of Trauma,
Addiction and Dark Secrets in Families
Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC
On the Mark
Attendees will learn strategies to help break intergenerational patterns of trauma and addiction in families. A partial list of topics includes: trauma and other risk factors for intergenerational patterns of addiction in families; unique risks for children of parents with substance use disorders; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum disorder as a risk factor and intervention strategies; the impact of siblings on the intergenerational transmission of addiction, parenting practices and cultural rituals which help Break intergenerational patterns of addiction and traumatic stress disorders; addressing dark family secrets as an intervention strategy; the role of schools, counselors, trauma specialists, addictions treatment facilities, persons in recovery and the entire community in breaking intergenerational patterns of trauma, addictions and dark family secrets.
Objectives:

  • Identify six risk factors for intergenerational patterns of addiction;
  • List seven risk factors for children of parents with substance use disorders (SUD’S);
  • Describe ways to increase resilience among children of parents with SUD’s, thus decreasing the risk of addiction

Lunch on Your Own: 12:15 – 1:30 pm

Plenaries: 1:30 – 2:30 pm

Ethics in the Clinical Relationship
Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC
On the Mark
This interactive, skill-building workshop will address ethics in the clinical relationship. A partial list of topics covered includes: 8 principles that can help with ethical decision making; Counselor ” unfinished business ” and ethical violations; Countertransferance as a gift to avoid ethical dilemmas; establishing healthy boundaries; Preventing ethical dilemmas by addressing burnout and compassion fatigue. This promises to be a fun learning experience.
Objectives:

  • List eight principles that can guide ethical decision making
  • Recognize how to utilize countertransference as a gift to prevent ethical dilemmas

Taking Care of You First
Deborah Antich, CFP, CMA, RSPS
Deborah Antich Consulting
The past couple of years have presented unique challenges for everyone (understatement of the century… right?). We have experienced long-term collective trauma, without a guidebook on how to cope. As a helping professional, not only are you trying to navigate the world around you, but you are also trying to help others navigate it.  The work you do requires a ton of caregiving, but who’s taking care of you? Self-care is especially important for helpers – we cannot help others without first taking care of ourselves. We are needing self-care tools more than ever right now. Self-care is intentional, builds resiliency, improves our ability to cope, and helps us foster connections.
Objectives:

  • Identify how self-care promotes mental wellbeing
  • Identify potential barriers to self-care

Break with Exhibitors: 2:15 – 3:15 pm

Plenaries: 2:15 – 3:15 pm

There Has Always Been Drinking in America
Alcohol, History, Culture and What It All Means for Prevention
Rodney Wambeam, PhD
Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center
Americans drink to celebrate and to mourn. We toast a new addition to our family, an engagement, a marriage, a new job, and a life well-lived. We open a bottle to break bread with friends, to watch sports, to pray, and to drown our sorrows. But we also suffer from addiction, violence, motor vehicle crashes, and death, all at the hands of alcohol. This keynote explores America’s cultural relationship to alcohol, from the thirteen colonies and prohibition to today’s music and movies. In prevention, we often focus so intently on our communities and strategies that we fail to step back and look at the much, much bigger picture of the cultural and historical context of what we are trying to accomplish. Using humor and examples from history, movies, music, television, and more, Dr. Rodney Wambeam provides the larger context of what it means to prevent the misuse, abuse, and devastating consequences of a substance that has always been part of the American experience.
Objectives:

  • Describe the role alcohol played in early America when alcohol was considered safer than water
  • Identify past prevention efforts that focused upon a moral approach to prevention and why they “failed”
  • Examine how popular culture (movies, television, music, social media, and more) help to define how Americans use and feel about alcohol

Community-Based Youth Suicide Prevention:
Connecting Schools and Community-Based Providers
Jonathan Singer, PhD
Loyola University, Chicago
This presentation provides an overview of existing evidence-based practices for prevention programming, upstream prevention, suicide screening and risk assessment, referral to community-based services, hospitalization and reentry, and postvention to address grief, loss, and subsequent suicide risk. It also addresses the need for culturally relevant planning and response and explores some of the racial and ethnic differences in prevention and postvention responses.
Objectives:

  • Identify how to respond to youth suicide risk
  • Describe racial and ethnic differences in prevention and postvention responses

Break with Exhibitors: 3:45 – 4:00 pm

Afternoon Keynote: 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Collaborations and Community Engagement
Haner Hernandez PhD, CPS, CADCII, LADCI
FXB Center for Health and Human Rights / Harvard University
This session will explore the development of silos and how they impact access to quality services and inequities.   Participants will learn about the need to develop and maintain true collaborations with other organizations and programs.  The session will emphasize true partnerships with communities and the need to formalize collaborations and partnerships.

Objectives:

  • Describe the development of silos and their impacts
  • Describe the need for formal collaborations and partnerships
  • Describe their role in working with diverse groups of people and organizations

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Morning Keynote: 8:30 – 10:00 am

Supporting Children and the Community in the Aftermath of Crisis
Chance Freeman
Health and Human Services Commission AND

David J Schonfeld, MD, FAAP
Director, National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Crises have the potential to cause short- and long-term effects on the psychological functioning, emotional adjustment, health, and developmental trajectory of children. This session with provide practical suggestions on how to identify common adjustment difficulties in children in the aftermath of a crisis and to promote effective coping strategies to mitigate the impact of the crisis as well as associated bereavement and secondary stressors.  This information will be relevant to a wide range of personal, family, and community crises, including mass shootings, natural disasters, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic.  Examples from over 30 years’ experience in responding to major school and community crisis events will be provided.
Objectives:

  • Describe the importance of psychological first aid and basic supportive services to promoting adjustment after a crisis
  • Outline the common symptoms of adjustment reactions in children and adolescents that may occur in response to a crisis

Break with Exhibitors: 10:00 – 10:15 am

Concurrent Sessions: 8:30 – 10:30 am

Track: Prevention
Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Jessica Cance MPH, PhD
and Sara Hairgrove
RTI International
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. ACEs can include violence, abuse, and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems. Toxic stress from ACEs can change brain development and affect how the body responds to stress. ACEs are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance misuse in adulthood. However, ACEs can be prevented. 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.
Objectives:

  • Define adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
  • Describe how ACEs are related to behavioral health outcomes

Track: Treatment and Recovery
On Demand Treatment Be Well Texas
Jennifer Sharpe Potter, PhD, MPH
UTHC – San Antonio
A new statewide addiction medicine treatment option, Be Well Texas, has launched virtual services for those seeking recovery from substance use disorders and mental health challenges. In partnership with UT Health San Antonio, services are delivered under the supervision of board-certified physicians in addiction medicine and psychiatry. They include substance use disorder assessment, psychiatric evaluation, evidence-based counseling, medication management, peer recovery support, case management, and pharmacy and lab services throughout Texas. Be Well Texas is the first addiction medicine virtual clinic established by UT Health San Antonio and is the first of its kind in Texas with a no-pay option. Attend this session to learn more about the program and the results.
Objectives:

  • Describe the benefits of the Be Well Texas Virtual Services available to Texans seeking recovery from substance use disorders and mental health challenges

Track: Special Populations
Supporting the Grieving Child and Family
David J Schonfeld, MD, FAAP
National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Virtually all children experience the death of a friend of family member at some point in their childhood.  Even though bereavement is a normative experience, a significant loss can have a significant impact on children’s psychological adjustment, academic achievement, and personal development.  This presentation will provide insight into how children come to understand and adjust to a loss and practical suggestions on how adults can talk with children and provide needed support.
Objectives:

  • Describe how to initiate conversations with children and their families related to deaths of family members and friends
  • Identify the role of guilt in impacting adjustment to a loss

Track: Social Determinants of Health
LGBTQ+ (Sexual & Gender Minority) Health Disparities
Bonzo Reddick, M
Mercer University School of Medicine
An interactive session that reviews terminology, affirming language, clinical care, and institutional policies that can create a supportive and health environment for sexual and gender minorities.
Objectives:

  • Identify and appropriately utilize LGBTQ and affirming terminology
  • Describe the ways in which LGBTQ bias affects healthcare and medical education

Track: Skill Building
Social Norms Campaign: An Approach to Behavioral Change – Part 1
Mitchell Moore, LCDC, ACPS, SAP, ADC, BAT5
MBM Enterprises
A Social Norms Campaign is one way to clarify or correct certain misperceptions of norms and promote positive social norms or behavior. When we create social norms campaigns, we don’t have to tell anyone to stop making a harmful decision. Instead, we can make the less harmful option a much clearer option for them to consider.
Objectives:

  • Define the purpose of using a social norms campaign and list steps to plan a school or community based campaign

Lunch on Your Own: 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Concurrent Sessions: 1:00 – 2:30 pm

Track: Diversity and Inclusion
The Power of Resilience
Quevarra Moten, EdD
The Moten Way LLC/ Quevarra Speaks
There’s never been a more pivotal moment in the history of mental health for service providers and caregivers to need personal and professional resilience.  Through the current climate of our world  it has become increasingly difficult to push through the challenges.  How do we find the strength and courage to stand personally and professionally on the shoulders of resilience? Although resilience can often be the end goal of making it through roadblocks or adversity, it can also be fuel used to power next steps. If you have been struggling with resilience and what comes next, then this session is for you. This session will take participants through a personal journey of transforming resilience into power.
Objectives:

  • Describe Strategies to RESET the response to roadblocks
  • Identify ways to approaching adversity more constructively
  • Demonstrate how to use resillence as power

Track: Prevention
Prevention Chats: Statewide Community Listening Sessions
Adam Kindred, MPH
Health and Human Services Commission AND
Kelle Falls
CARE Consulting Group
Current research on Social Determinants of Health, risk and protective factors, resiliency, health equity, and population health call for prevention approaches that acknowledge complex, underlying community and societal factors. From March 2021 through August 2021, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Prevention and Behavioral Health Promotion Unit (PBHP) with Community Advocacy Research and Evaluation Consulting Group, Inc. developed and implemented an online survey and held 25 virtual community listening sessions (“P-Chats”) to connect with community members across Texas. This provided opportunities to gather community feedback to inform state strategic planning to better meet the needs of Texas communities. This session will provide insight into the development and execution of the P-Chats project and explore the implications for prevention, behavioral health promotion, treatment, and recovery strategies in Texas.
Objectives:

  • Describe the background and methodology for the Prevention Chats (P-Chats)
  • Identify 1-2 of the Key Findings from the P-Chats and report recommendations

Track: Treatment and Recovery
An Aligned Health, Safety and Justice Response to the Opioid Crisis: Treatment and Recovery
Brandon Del Pozo, PhD, MPA, MA
Rhode Island Hospital and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
As Texas faces the worst opioid overdose crisis in its history, evidence shows that aligning the goals, methods and metrics of public safety and public health offers promise as the most effective response. This session will survey the situation, assess the evidence, and offer strategies for innovation, action, reform, and collaboration.
Objectives:

  • Describe an evidence base effective responses to the opioid crisis
  • Identify how state and local public health and public safety entities can use this evidence to design an effective collaborative response

Track: Special Populations
How HHSC Is Meeting Veteran and Military and Their Family Needs
Courtney Harvey, PhD
HHSC Mental Health Statewide Coordinator
& Associate Commissioner
Service members, veterans, and their families have healthcare and other social needs like anyone else. A difference in this population is that military and veteran culture often shapes their lens regarding seeking help, particularly, mental health treatment. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) administers two mental health programs for veterans: the Mental Health Program for Veterans and the Texas Veterans + Family Alliance Grant program. In addition, HHSC has many partners working together to prevent suicide among veterans. Attend this session to learn more about these efforts and understand how to become involved.
Objectives:

  • Describe the Mental Health Program for Veterans and Texas Veterans + Family Alliance Grant program
  • Describe the state’s efforts to prevent suicide in the veterans’ population
  • Identify how to partner with HHSC and providers to better serve the veterans population

Track: Skill Building
Social Norms Campaign: An Approach to Behavioral Change – Part 2
Mitchell Moore, LCDC, ACPS, SAP, ADC, BAT5
MBM Enterprises
A Social Norms Campaign is one way to clarify or correct certain misperceptions of norms and promote positive social norms or behavior. When we create social norms campaigns, we don’t have to tell anyone to stop making a harmful decision. Instead, we can make the less harmful option for them to consider.
Objectives:

  • Define the purpose of using a social norms campaign and list steps to plan a school or community based campaign

Break with Exhibitors: 2:30 – 2:45 pm

Concurrent Sessions: 2:45 – 3:45 pm

Track: Diversity and Inclusion
Inclusion and Diversity Nothing about Us without Us
Tina Elaine Simpson
Spindletop
This session will discuss challenges peers face in the workforce with being included in general. We’ll discuss how to become a valuable part of the treatment team by being the voice for our peers. What Peers do and how our experience strength and hope adds value to the companies that hire them.
Objectives:

  • Recognize the value of peer specialists in the workplace
  • Identify the strength of peer specialists in treatment

Track: Prevention
Current Drug Trends in Texas
Jessica Cance MPH, PhD
and Sara Hairgrove
RTI International
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss national, state, and local trends in substance use and associated consequences.
Objective:

  • Describe trends in substance use and associated consequences in Texas

Track: Treatment and Recovery
Secret Ingredients to Reaching Youth: Peers and Systems of Care
Sherry Rumsey, LPC and Youth from Across Texas
Health and Human Services Commission
Youth peer support links youth with behavioral health needs to young adults who have lived experiences within youth serving systems. Youth peer providers complete specialized trainings to learn to use their experiences to support others. This session will provide an overview of youth peer support as an emerging practice. We will discuss the unique role of youth peer providers and how they support youth and young adults with mental health challenges. A moderated panel of peer support specialists and youth will discuss the benefits and challenges of adding youth peer providers to behavioral health teams. Texas System of Care is currently supporting local system of care communities in the implementation of youth peer support.
Objective:

  • Recognize the value of youth peer support in the behavioral health system

Track: Special Populations
HIV/HCV/Substance Use intersection
Justin McClenny
By the end of this course, participants will be able to describe intersections of Substance Use and HIV/HCV, discuss developments in prevention, testing and treatment, and identify HIV/HCV risk factors for people who use substances. This course reviews the latest statistical information related to HIV/AIDS from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, and Texas Department of State Health Services. Trends are examined in the larger context of health disparities currently impacting communities. This course discusses the advantages and challenges related to new methods of prevention and advancements in testing and treatment. This training takes a special look at the connections between HIV/HCV and substance use and considers approaches for discussing risk with clients.
Objectives:

  • List three connections between substance use and HIV/HCV
  • Describe behaviors that eliminate or reduce HIV/HCV risk

Track: Skill Building
Foundation of the Trauma-Responsive Model
Scott E. LePor, DO, Medical Director
Texas Juvenile Justice Department
Developmental neurobiology is foundational to the life trajectory of every individual and guides us to effective therapies and models for meaningful human connection, healing, and growth. Understanding how abuse, neglect, and relational dysfunction impact the brain and how utilizing evidence-based restorative models to equip those in need with tools and experience for improving mental health and self-regulation are foundational for successful trauma-responsive models.
Objectives:

  • Describe the foundational science of trauma-informed care and how interpersonal neurobiology through secure attachment brings optimal healing, growth, and connection for those who come from difficult places.

Break with Exhibitors: 3:45 – 4:00 pm

Keynote Session: 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Improve Health Equity through Collaboration,
Accountability, and Coalition Building
Bonzo Reddick, MD
Mercer University School of Medicine
A comprehensive overview of how organizations can begin the process of achieving health equity for various historically marginalized groups. The session will discuss both systemic and personal (individual changes that can promote health equity. It will also highlight the importance to clinical care and medical care.
Objectives:

  • Contrast systemic vs. individual biases and explain how contribute to health inequities.
  • Describe how current paradigms fail to promote a social determinants of health approach to health promotion.
  • Identify examples of how interdisciplinary collaboration and can improve the health of populations and allow us to better care for communities.

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Morning Keynote: 8:30 – 9:30 am

Cyberbullying, Facebook Profiles, Kim Kardashian, and Lady Gaga Goes Gaga:
How Children & Teenagers Are Affected by Old and New Media
Victor Strasburger, MD
University of New Mexico
Children and adolescents now spend more than 6 hours a day with a variety of different media.  How does that affect their attitudes and behavior, and what can health professionals do about it?  This talk will discuss the latest research in the field on the impact of media on babies, children, and adolescents, illustrated with abundant examples of both pro-social and potentially harmful media.  In addition, a brief section will involve media training for health professionals about health-related issues important to them – how to talk to newspaper reporters, radio interviewers, and appear on TV.  Topic areas will include media violence, substance abuse, sex and sexuality, and the importance of the Internet, social networking sites, and cell phones.
Objectives:

  • Describe the nature of current media for infants, children, and adolescents (topic areas = sex, birth control advertising, body self-image, obesity, eating disorders, social networking, sexting, cyberbullying)
  • Define the impact of a variety of media on children and teens and how such effects were determined by research
  • Identify how the adverse effects of media can be mediated by parents and by school media literacy programs.

Break with Exhibitors: 9:30 – 10:00 am

Concurrent Sessions: 10:00 – 11:30 am

Track: Diversity and Inclusion
Size Diversity Competency Training
Chelsea Fielder-Jenks, LPC-S, CEDS-S
Healgood Holistic Counseling Center
The healing arts and sciences is a primary source of sizeism, which leads to poor health outcomes and makes individuals less inclined to seek the care they need. As healing professionals, it is our ethical duty to build competency – this includes expanding our knowledge of sizeism and doing our part to reduce any discrimination based on body size.
Objectives:

  • Provide at least 3 reasons why it is ethically important for healing professionals to be competent in size diversity
  • Identify resources to assess and challenge their own level of implicit size bias
  • Describe at least 3 ways to move toward a size inclusive healing practice

Track: Prevention
Suicide Safe Care: Understanding Suicide’s Impact and How to Help
Tammy Weppelman, LPC-S and Laura Gold, LCSW-S
Health and Human Services Commission
“If we want a world where people feel like their lives are worth living, we can’t have a society that says that some lives are worth more than others.” Anonymous “Behind every statistic is a tear.” Jerry Reed, Senior Vice President for Practice Leadership, Education Development Center (EDC) In 2020, 45,940 people in the United States died by suicide; 3,920 of these individuals were from Texas. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in our state and is the second leading cause for people 10 to 34 years old. On average, one person dies by suicide every two hours in Texas. Suicide, therefore, affects all of us, so how we talk about suicide matters. Data and the importance of looking at it from a culturally-informed lens will be presented, as well as evidence-based prevention, intervention, and postvention tools, including treatments for thoughts of suicide. Trainings for specific populations, as well as an overall description of the state’s suicide prevention team and their efforts will be discussed. Resources will be provided to all participants at the end of the presentation.
Objectives:

  • Distinguish between safe and unsafe ways to talk about suicide
  • Identify at least one best practice intervention for individuals thinking about suicide

Track: Treatment and Recovery
Any Positive Change: From Harm Reduction to Recovery
Jenna Sheldon, Certified MAT Advocate Trainer
UT Austin School of Social Work
This interactive presentation will facilitate workforce abilty to distinguish harm reduciton as a part of, rather than apart from, recovery. We will examine the social norms that influence attitudes and explore the overlap of harm reduction principles across the continuum of care, with a focus on recovery support services and reductoin of morbidity/mortality.
Objectives:

  • Describe basic principles of harm reduction.
  • Verbalize overlapping principles between recovery and harm reduction.

Track: Special Populations
System of Care Values within the Children’s Mental Health System
Liz Pearson, Lillian Nguyen, Sherry Rumsey, LPC
Health and Human Services Commission
This presentation includes best practices for engaging stakeholders and emphasizes the importance of collaboration on the individual, community and system level in order to center efforts around meaningful engagement with individuals and families resulting in better outcomes for the youth.  Presenters will provide information on local resources available for families through the Local Mental Health Authority/Local Behavioral Health Authority and how System of Care values are applied to promote best practices in our local communities. The audience will be encouraged to contemplate their involvement in community collaborations and how to improve outcomes for this population.  This presentation will also include a panel from local organizations that have implemented the System of Care framework in their local communities.
Objectives:

  • Describe mental health service array for children in Texas and how systems of care are implemented across Texas
  • Identify best practices on effective collaboration for children and families and name agencies and partners to bring to the table
  • Describe local collaborations and take away steps to implement the system of care framework in your area

Track: Social Determinants of Health
Trauma Informed Care: The Juxtaposition of Diversity and Trauma
Darius Campinha-Bacote, PsyD, HSP
Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center and Transcultural C.A.R.E. Associates
When looking through the lens of trauma, individuals may respond differently depending on his/her diversity variables, and/or the experiences from his/her background. This training focuses on having a deep discussion utilizing current literature to best approach individuals from differing backgrounds, and ways in which intervention techniques can be catered to a diverse population.
Objectives:

  • Deconstruct diversity variables existent in an individual
  • Describe the appropriate trauma assessment to use when working with diverse populations
  • Identify culturally competent psychological interventions for diverse populations who have experienced trauma

Track: Skill Building
Supporting People with MH and IDD
Valerie Murietta and HHSC Staff
Individuals with a dual diagnosis of intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health (IDD/MH) benefit from individualized supports that enhance and promote community involvement and autonomy. This presentation will include integrated approaches to best support people who have a dual diagnosis.
Objectives:

  • Describe person centered practices when supporting people with a dual diagnosis
  • Identify new strategies that promote the integration of IDD and MH Services that will benefit those with a dual diagnosis

Lunch on Your Own: 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Concurrent Sessions: 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Track: Diversity and Inclusion
HIV and HCV Basics
Justin McClenny
By the end of this course, participants will be able to describe basic facts about HIV & HCV, will be able to list three list three common symptoms of HIV & HCV, and describe four behaviors that eliminate or reduce the risk related to HIV and HCV. This training also reviews facts counselors need to know related to HIV & HCV and current statistical trends.
Objectives:

  • List basic facts about HIV and HCV transmission
  • List three common symptoms of HIV and HCV
  • Describe four behaviors that eliminate or reduce risk related to HIV and HCV

Track: Prevention
What Do Alcohol Sales Have to Do with Neighborhood Safety?
Nicole Holt, CEO
Atalie Nitibhon, Director of Programs and Strategy
Texans for a Safe and Drug-Free Youth
When neighborhoods have a lot of places that sell alcohol, they also experience more violent crime compared to neighborhoods with fewer alcohol outlets. Studies also show that this tends to disproportionately affect communities of color and low-income neighborhoods because alcohol outlets are oftentimes concentrated in these areas. This presentation will provide an overview of alcohol outlet density and its impact on prevention efforts, Texas specific data, and what communities and prevention professionals can do to address these issues.
Objective:

  • Define alcohol outlet density and its relation to prevention efforts, community health and safety.

Track: Treatment and Recovery
LMHA/LBHA Role and Reducing and Preventing Justice Involvement for Individuals with MH, SUD, Cognitive and/or Developmental Differences
Catherine Bialick and Libby Burleson-Porras, LCSW-S
Health and Human Services Commission
Part one will look at Local Mental Health Authorities and Local Behavioral Health Authorities (LMHAs/LBHAs) and their importance as providers of mental health services in the community. The role and function of LMHAs/LBHAs as well as the population served, clinical need and assessment, service array, special programs and how to access services will be examined in part one of this session. LMHAs and LBHAs provide community-based services including outpatient mental health services, community-based hospital services, substance use disorder services, and crisis services including Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams, Veterans mental health, jail diversion, and peer support. Part two will look at law enforcement and emergency medical professionals as frontline responders to mental health crises and behavioral health emergencies. They play a critical role in diverting individuals with mental health and substance use disorders at-risk of arrest from the criminal justice system. However, too often, their behavioral health needs go unaddressed. In this session, both sides of the coin will be explored. Panelists will share innovative programs to reduce and prevent justice involvement for individuals with mental health and substance use disorders as well as discuss first responder wellness and resiliency.
Objectives:

  • Describe the role, population served, and community services provided by LMHA/LBHAs
  • Describe how first responders prevent and reduce justice-involvement for people with mental health and substance use disorders.
  • Describe innovative programs currently utilized by some jurisdictions.

Track: Special Populations
The Importance of Peer Support as a
Resource for Resiliency in the Military Culture
Arlene Perez, LMSW
Veterans Mental Health Department, Texas Veterans Commission
This presentation will provide an overview of the importance of resilience in the military culture for the service member and their families and offer the opportunity for the audience to connect to their local Peer Services Coordinator.
Objectives:

  • Define resilience and what it looks like in the military.
  • Describe resilience can help build skills for individuals and their families as they transition to civilian life.
  • Identify peer support services available to Service Members, Veterans, and their families through the Military Veteran Peer Network.   

Track: Skill Building
Virtual Interventions: Best Practices
Laura Terry, PhD, MSSW
UTA School of Social Work
Due to the pandemic, telehealth has become a vital tool for our field. Although there are both pros and cons to delivering services via telehealth, it seems to be an avenue of service delivery that is here to stay. Information presented will include both important considerations that have been published in the literature, as well as our own experiences in converting our prevention and intervention services from in-person to telehealth, including ethical and privacy concerns. There will also be time for participants to ask questions and share.
Objectives:

  • Identify both positive and negative aspects of delivering services via telehealth.
  • List strategies to minimize the impact of the negative aspects of telehealth.

Break with Exhibitors: 2:00 – 2:15 pm

Concurrent Sessions: 2:15 – 3:15 pm

Track: Prevention
Alcohol to Go – Where Do We Go From Here?
Nicole Holt, CEO
Atalie Nitibhon, Director of Programs and Strategy
Texans for a Safe and Drug-Free Youth
Data show that young people are drinking alcohol, and that most underage drinkers access alcohol through social settings. While we’re never in a static environment with our prevention efforts, alcohol policies started changing more and faster during COVID than they have in the past 30 years. The pandemic has 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 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 use and access to alcohol, how alcohol-to-go and home delivery of alcohol could exacerbate the issue, and specific action steps for assessing and addressing the problem.
Objectives:

  • Define alcohol to go.
  • Identify next steps they can take to identify and address problems.

Track: Treatment and Recovery
Reentry Peer Specialists: A Trauma Responsive Practice
Sandra Smith, PhD, PRSS, RPS
Mental Health Resource of Texas (dba Via Hope)
Via Hope announced the creation of a new Reentry Peer Specialist training and certification in August 2018. The certification created a new professional opportunity for formerly incarcerated persons to use their lived experience to help others. The intent was to directly address the significant barriers to becoming a whole person; this includes employment, trauma, and other reentry barriers that many people face after release from incarceration. Reentry Peer Support has the potential to dramatically transform the behavioral health workforce. Unlike other reentry training models, the Via Hope training emphasizes the trauma individuals experience before, during, and after incarceration. The Reentry Peer Specialist credential also offers formerly incarcerated individuals an opportunity to further their own recovery while providing support and hope to other people who may be trying to find their own way through reentry and recovery. The credential is issued by the Texas Certification Board. Via Hope continues to focus on the implementation of this workforce into correctional facilities and broader system change related to incarceration and community reentry.
Objectives:

  • Define recovery from a re-entry perspective
  • Describe trauma and recidivism Intervention

Track: Special Populations
Moving Families from the Third Wheel
to the Driver’s Seat in Systems of Care
Donna Fagan, MLCFP
UT Austin – Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health
View family engagement through the lens of a mother/grandmother who worked alongside her children and grandchildren in navigating mental health and trauma services and supports in Texas. She will shine a light on meaningful ways to engage families, rising above the status quo and learning real ways to immediately engage families in decision-making roles in system-level policies, procedures, and priorities. Participants will also learn the characteristics of positive family engagement and be able to identify practical ways that they can make families full partners at a system level.
Objectives:

  • Describe three characteristics of positive family engagement
  • Identify three ways that they can engage families

Track: Social Determinants of Health
A Community-Driven Approach to Substance Use Recovery for Women and Children
Lisa Cleveland, PhD, APRN, CPNP, IBCLC, FAAN
UTHSC – San Antonio
During this session, participants will learn about a community-driven approach to supporting the recovery of women and children impacted by substance use. This initiative represents a novel partnership between state and city agencies, an academic health science center, local non-profits, healthcare systems, and elected officials. Due to the success of this care model, replication is currently underway in other Texas communities with plans for national scalability.
Objectives:

  • Describe the impact of perinatal substance use on families and communities. 
  • Explain the role and importance of community stakeholder input in addressing this public health issue. 
  • Discuss a community driven approach to building supportive substance use recovery for women and children. 

Track: Skill Building
Medicaid 101
Kacie Cardwell
Health and Human Services Commission
This training is designed to help staff understand the structure and history of Medicaid, services and waivers that support community living, and successful appeal strategies. The training is designed to give attendee knowledge to support consumers in their community.
Objectives:

  • Describe ways to explain Medicaid to staff and consumers.

Final Break with Exhibitors: 3:15 – 3:30 pm

Closing Keynote Session: 3:30 – 5:00 pm

Closing Remarks
Sonja Gaines
Deputy Executive Commissioner for Intellectual and Developmental Disability and Behavioral Health Services
Health and Human Services Commission

Future of Healthcare: Embracing Change
Darius Campinha-Bacote, PsyD, HSP
Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center and Transcultural C.A.R.E. Associates
Change happens, whether we ask for it, or it is pushed upon us. With that in mind, how do we, as a community, embrace that change, without knowing what may happen in the future?  This conversation will focus on ways that we can attempt to embrace the unexpected, and challenge the participants to be better versions of themselves within the context of behavioral healthcare. Without change, we do not grow, and with change, we may grow into something that we may not recognize. Let’s have a discussion regarding ways that we can positively impact the ever-changing field of behavioral healthcare, and find ways to adjust to these adaptations.
Objectives:

  • List ways to better utilize telehealth.
  • Describe how to adopt an appropriate work-life balance.