Activities in August
August has been quite a busy month, we celebrated many birthdays, spent time with family, and still accomplished so much for ZiaPartners!
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for Texas: As part of continuing consultation to Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, ZiaPartners provided focused efforts during August. On August 9th, Chris joined Lacrica Olson, Director of Local Systems, to provide consultation to a group of stakeholders in Grayson County (Sherman and Denison) Texas who have come together to form a Behavioral Health Leadership Team. This activity is part of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute’s and ZiaPartner’s local system efforts to help all communities in Texas have an organized ability to provide planning, leadership and strategic implementation efforts for the people in the community with Behavioral Health needs. On the same day, Ken participated in meetings at Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute with a team of people working on the development of a coordinated statewide Mental Health Research initiative (Phil Ritter, Seema Shah, MD, and Matthew Schaffer), with Jacqui Stephens, Ph. D, regarding her new role as Vice President of System Transformation, and with John Petrila, JD, Vice President of Adult Mental Health policy, regarding ongoing strategies for implementing system change at the boundary of Mental Health and Criminal Justice systems in Texas.
Association of Persons Affected by Addiction (APAA). APAA, under the leadership of Joe Powell, is one of America’s foremost Recovery Community Organizations, and has won national awards for its recovery and peer support activities in Texas and nationally. Ken has been contracted by APAA to support the development of a more co-occurring capable focus for all of APAA’s recovery support services and to incorporate that focus into APAA policies and procedures. The formal launch of this activity came on August 30, in Dallas, with a full day training event with all of APAA’s staff (most of whom are recovery coaches). This training was enthusiastically received. The next step is for Ken to generate some initial draft policies and procedures, and then to follow up with APAA’s leadership and staff to develop a step by step plan of implementing change. The goal is for APAA to move in the direction of not only being a “co-occurring” Recovery Community Organization, but a Recovering Community Organization that specifically reaches out and engages the most challenging individuals in Dallas, whether with addiction, or mental illness, or both.
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute: Houston Endowment Substance Use Disorders System Assessment of Houston/Harris County: Continued work this month with some final interviews, and beginning preparation for the creation of a framework for the “ideal Substance Use Disorders system of care” that will form the backbone of the report and recommendations for this project.
McAlister Institute: Ken and Chris participated in a teleconference with Marisa Varond to review the McAlister Institute’s proposal to San Diego County to establish an innovative demonstration service, using the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s criteria to create a fluid continuum of care to engage individuals who are homeless with Substance Use Disorders and other co-occurring health, mental health, and human service needs, who have been unable to be successfully engaged in the “traditional” service array. This is a tremendously exciting project for both McAlister and San Diego County, and we look forward to continuing to provide support in the design and implementation.