May 2018

Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee:

Dr. Minkoff worked with the non-federal members of ISMICC to contribute input to the agenda and content of the first ISMICC meeting of 2018, to be held on June 8.   This included preparation of a one-page document outlining how the non-federal members could best support the ongoing implementation of the recommendations in the ISMICC report.

Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute:  

Dr. Cline and Dr. Minkoff participated in the MMHPI semiannual staff meeting held at the Horseshoe Bay Resort outside of Austin on May 16-17. This exciting event provided an opportunity for MMHPI staff working on many different projects to come together and share energy and information, and to better coordinate efforts.  Dr. Minkoff and Sam Shore made a presentation to the group on the findings and recommendations from the Houston Endowment funded project to assess the substance use disorder delivery system for Harris County (Houston), and how those recommendations are contributing to MMHPI input to the currently ongoing work of the Texas House Select Committee on substance use disorder.

Follow MMHPI at www.texastateofmind.org

CALM:   ZiaPartners (Drs. Cline and Minkoff) and TriWest had the second two day on-site visit with CALM in Santa Barbara County, CA on May 9-10. This highly successful event provided an opportunity for ZiaPartners to contribute to the implementation of an internal reorganization of the agency that provided the beginning steps to the creation of a structure that reinforces the importance of the provision of clinical supervision and allows for a focus on clinical performance and staff engagement across the agency.   The meeting opened a dialogue between senior administration (Executive Team) and program managers and set the stage for the development of a quality improvement Action Team for the agency that would provide a mechanism for formal staff engagement in problem-solving and improvement activities. Work was done on launching a pilot to eliminate barriers in the intake and engagement process, taking next steps in clarifying the elements of the agency’s supervision plan, and redoing the employee handbook. Next on-site meeting will be held in October.

Texas Association of Addiction Professionals – Houston Chapter: Dr. Minkoff presented on May 4 on Welcoming, Integrated Services for Individuals with Co-occurring Disorders at the TAAP Annual Conference. The presentation was well received and provided a framework for front-line counselors to be able to proceed through the “12 Steps of Co-occurring Competency” (link on our website) to be able to improve their ability to deliver integrated services to their current clients who have a high prevalence of co-occurring mental health issues.

New Jersey Co-occurring Disorders Psychopharmacology Conference: On May 21, Dr. Minkoff presented to over 100 attendees on psychopharmacologic interventions for co-occurring disorders, at Rutgers University in Piscataway, NJ. The conference attendees were very excited about the opportunity to immediately implement some of the information provided in their current efforts to work with individuals with opioid use disorders as well as individuals with serious mental illness and a variety of co-occurring conditions.   The New Jersey state co-occurring technical assistance and training team that sponsored the event indicated an interest in a follow-up consultation to support the implementation of co-occurring services statewide.

Tennessee Co-occurring Strategic Initiative: On May 22-23, Dr. Minkoff provided the first of three regional 2-day TA sessions to support the work of individual provider organizations to make progress toward co-occurring capability in Tennessee. This regional event was held in Nashville, to engage both mental health centers and addiction provider organizations in central Tennessee. The agencies that attended each had individual meetings with Dr. Minkoff to focus on the results of their COMPASS-EZ self-assessments and how to utilize those to develop achievable and meaningful action plans to improve co-occurring capability within their current services and resources.

For more information visit Tennessee Co-occurring Disorders Collaborative

Vermont Co-operative for Practice Improvement and Innovation (VCPI): Dr. Minkoff participated with the VCPI Leadership Team in helping to develop the transition plan for VCPI to move out from under Southern New Hampshire University to its new “parent” at Northern Vermont University. This provides an exciting opportunity for VCPI to have more support for growth and innovation going forward.

For more information visit vtcpi.org

Recovery to Practice: On May 31, Dr. Minkoff participated in a teleconference for the RTP Advisory Committee (Task 4) hosted by Advocates for Human Potential, to discuss accomplishments to date on the preparation of webinars on rrecovery-oriented psychopharmacologic practice and next steps in the project.

Mid-Hudson (NY) Region Co-occurring Initiative: Dr. Minkoff participated in a planning call on May 31 with representatives of the seven counties (Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester) participating in this regional project, which was launched in November of 2016.   The counties are at the stage of readiness to implement COMPASS-EZ self-assessments across their mental health and substance use disorders programs in each county and work collaboratively under the guidance of the region (Marcie Colon – regional coordinator; Stephanie Marquesano of the Harris Project providing technical support and overall encouragement), county specific project managers, and county steering committees in each county to prepare to make formal progress. This conference call was a first step to helping each county match its next steps to its level of preparation, and to plan for a conference call to do COMPASS-EZ training in June. The next on-site activity for this project will be in November 2018.

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