CENTER FOR EBPs

Tobacco recovery for severe mental illness makes progress despite challenges from Ohio’s declining economy

A significant cutback in funding for tobacco-cessation programs in the State of Ohio has negatively affected efforts to reduce illnesses and healthcare costs associated with the use of harmful tobacco products. Yet, the Ohio Tobacco and Recovery Project, developed for people with severe mental illness, continues to make progress toward a service model that will stand the test of time and create positive results for Ohio residents.

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Time magazine article links tobacco use, early death among people with severe mental illness

The Ohio Tobacco and Recovery stages-of-change model is among the nation's cutting-edge efforts to improve health outcomes among people diagnosed with severe mental illness, because it is designed specifically to address the unique needs of this population. A recent story in Time magazine identified the high incidence of tobacco use and dependence among people with severe mental illness as one of the growing health concerns in the United States.

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PhD program at Mandel School provides financial assistance, part-time and full-time study options

The Ph.D. Program at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University celebrates the second anniversary of its part-time study option for doctoral-level education in social welfare and is inviting applications.

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Social Work Today magazine features Ohio SAMI CCOE as IDDT innovator

The November/December 2008 cover story of the nationally distributed Social Work Today magazine features the Ohio Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Coordinating Center of Excellence (Ohio SAMI CCOE), a program of the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University. The story written by David Surface primarily explores the evolution, effectiveness, and growing national commitment to the Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) model.

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Hundreds endure hurricane-force gales and state-wide blackouts to attend SAMI conference, learn more about IDDT

Despite Hurricane Ike's devastation across the Buckeye State, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of Ohioans, over 350 of the 400-plus registered participants still made it to the Greater Columbus Convention Center on September 16 and 17 for the Ohio SAMI CCOE's 8th Annual IDDT Conference, titled "IDDT & Recovery: Consumers, Communities & Providers".

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IDDT pioneer Bob Drake reflects upon the ongoing evolution of integrated treatment and the importance of supported employment

Psychiatrist Robert E. Drake, MD, PhD, knows a few things about the Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) model-why it's necessary, how it works, and which treatment components produce the most positive outcomes. He is one of the original creators of IDDT, the evidence-based practice for people who have been diagnosed with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorders. He has also been instrumental in the ongoing development and dissemination of Supported Employment (SE), the evidence-based practice.

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“Stages of change” co-creator Carlo DiClemente discusses practical applications of his Transtheoretical Model for health, wellness and recovery

Ask Psychologist Carlo DiClemente, PhD, co-creator of the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM), how you might achieve and maintain a meaningful personal change in your life—diet, exercise, sobriety, mental health recovery—and he'll tell you what he's found from almost 30 years of research on the subject. Expect to go through five "stages of change" and to work through specific tasks associated with each stage. He'll also tell you that it helps to have ongoing emotional support from someone who uses the stages to guide and to pace their working relationship with you.

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Darnella Allen discovers that IDDT gives her permission to use compassion while providing substance abuse treatment

Living two seemingly separate lives never seemed quite right to Darnella Allen, BA, LICDC, of Cleveland. There was her life as an ordained minister, where she felt free to use her compassionate, forgiving, and supportive self to help people. And there was her life as an addictions counselor, where she felt skeptical of the motives of people who abused alcohol and other drugs. She spent some 20 years living with this conflict. Then she was hired as a case manager at Mental Health Services, Inc. (MHS) in Cleveland and her life changed.

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Dianne Asher talks about her own conversion to integrated treatment and how it has changed her professional life

Before getting a formal introduction to the Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) model, Dianne Asher, LSCSW, CADC-I, often felt frustrated and powerless in her work as a case manager and team leader. She just didn't have the clinical tools to provide the necessary level of support that she felt compelled to give to people struggling with both severe mental illness and substance use disorders.

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Jonas Thom has seen ACT and IDDT work with some of the toughest cases, those who nearly disappear into the recesses of society

There is hope for people who are most at-risk of psychiatric hospitalization, homelessness, and institutional recidivism. It is called Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). If you listen close enough to Jonas Thom, MA, PCC, you will get the impression that ACT is more than an evidence-based practice that produces improved outcomes; it is a way of being present gently and consistently in the lives of people who are burdened with overwhelming feelings of isolation.

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State hospitals in Ohio bring new meaning to rapid job-search

Vocational specialists from the State of Ohio's inpatient Behavioral Healthcare Organizations (BHOs) are putting to rest fears about symptoms of mental illness interfering with a person's ability to work. The specialists are exploring how they might help some people obtain or return to competitive jobs in the community as part of their transition out of the hospital, before discharge.

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Employer, employee team-up with onsite job coaching

The Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland, Ohio is no ordinary park. It is a living educational museum, with interactive exhibits for children and adults alike. John is a participant of evidence-based Supported Employment (SE) services who works at the Farmpark. He has not missed a shift in over four years. His success is partly the result of his own fortitude, the guidance he receives from SE services at NEIGHBORING of Lake County, and the open communication he has with his boss, Beth Florian.

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The power of hearing a good story

The Center for Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) at Case is collecting audio recordings of service providers, consumers, and others telling stories of their experiences with evidence-based practices and other services. Share your story.

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NEOUCOM promotes best practices for treatment of schizophrenia

This past July, over 200 participants gathered at Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM) in Rootstown to attend a conference entitled "Moving in the BeST Direction: An Incubator to Improve Schizophrenia Treatment in Northeastern Ohio." Representatives from the Center for Evidence-based Practices at Case Western Reserve University attended.

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The Lynn Goff Spirit of Integrated Treatment Award

This award recognizes a service team that embodies passion, dedication, and creativity when providing services to people with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorders. It recognizes those who consistently go above and beyond the expectations of the Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) model and, in doing so, raise the standard for exceptional care. This award is presented annually by the Ohio SAMI CCOE in memory of Lynn Goff, whose life—and daily work in Fayette and Highland Counties, Ohio—embodied the principles of the IDDT model.

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Neighboring puts premium on IDDT fidelity, innovative outreach to homeless

A few years back, the City of Painesville had a problem: what to do about the homeless population hanging out in its picturesque town square. Painesville is the seat of Lake County and is a center of civic and commercial activity. Its storefronts, offices, and county courthouse make it a busy place. And while the homeless were mostly a non-threatening presence, they were known, at times, to be a little disruptive.

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Renee Molzon provides safe interpersonal space for assertive outreach, becomes IDDT ambassador

Renee Molzon went into social work to help emotionally-disturbed children, never anticipating that her professional journey would land her beside homeless adults dealing with severe mental illness.

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Board’s-eye view: an executive’s perspective about EBP implementation

Times are especially good for NEIGHBORING's Chief Operating Officer Ken Gill, MSSA ('82), LISW-S, LICDC, and his Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) team. They are being recognized for raising the standard of exceptional care with the third annual Lynn Goff Spirit of Integrated Treatment Award. Their continuing outreach efforts in the community have helped mental health consumers in Lake County on their journeys toward recovery in various innovative and measurable ways. Things, however, weren't always running this smoothly.

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Team Terrific: a supervisor’s perspective on recruitment, humility, collaboration

The career of Deana Leber-George has been an odyssey of reinvention. When she took her first job as a mental health case manager 12 years ago, she knew that she did not want to work with people grappling with substance use and addiction. As often happens, though, a need arose: her agency, NEIGHBORING, was searching for more clinicians with assessment and counseling skills to work with the dual disorder population, so she agreed to step in.

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Affiliation code more efficiently tracks consumer outcomes, IDDT effectiveness

The Ohio SAMI CCOE—in partnership with the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH), the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS), and the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County—announces the commencement of the IDDT Affiliation Code Initiative. The initiative gives agency providers, county boards, and State of Ohio stakeholders the capacity to collect data and to examine indicators and outcomes systematically.

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Flash Phipps of Shawnee Mental Health Center fights centuries-old tobacco culture in Ohio River Valley, helps consumers kick the habit

The Shawnee Mental Health Center not only serves three of the poorest, most rural regions in Ohio-Lawrence, Scioto, and Adams counties-with mental health and tobacco recovery services, but it also lies in the heart of tobacco country, making the notion of kicking the habit seem less doable than flicking a cigarette butt across the Ohio River.

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Advisory committee enthused by Tobacco Recovery readiness assessments, integration of new service model with IDDT

The advisory committee meeting of the Ohio Tobacco and Recovery Project was held at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare in Columbus this past spring. Topics of discussion included the results of readiness assessments conducted by consultants, trainers, and evaluators of the Project at mental health organizations around Ohio that are thinking about or actually implementing components of the new Tobacco and Recovery model.

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Linda Carlson equips supervisors with practical strategies for managing service teams

Eleven people representing eight organizations throughout the Buckeye State attended the Ohio SE CCOE's outcomes-based management training this spring. Entitled "Client-Centered Management for Supervisors of Supported Employment (SE) Services," the event gave team leaders practical strategies for managing their service teams, for helping team members stay focused on each consumer's stated recovery goals, and for using these goals as measures for organizational outcomes. The training was presented by Linda Carlson, LMSW, of the University of Kansas' School of Social Welfare.

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Ohio SAMI CCOE emphasizes need for focused clinical supervision, provides useful methods

One of the hallmarks of effective clinical supervision is real-time observation of service providers at work in the community with consumers. Director of IDDT/SAMI Consultation and Training Ric Kruszynski, MSSA, LISW, LICDC, tells a story that illustrates how 20 minutes of clinical supervision in the community with immediate feedback helped one team member refine her approach and find the tools she needed to help one woman's journey toward health, wellness, stable housing, and recovery.

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Family programs, staff retention challenge IDDT providers to explore innovations

At the Northeast IDDT Regional Stakeholders meeting in May, participants shared challenges and emerging solutions to implementing and sustaining family psychoeducational programs and enhancing the recruitment and retention of service team members. Family psychoeducation is a core component of the Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) model. Achieving and sustaining fidelity to this item on the IDDT fidelity scale has been particularly challenging.

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Center creates regional stakeholder meetings to disseminate lessons-learned in Ohio about supported employment

The Ohio SE Coordinating Center of Excellence (CCOE) kicked off one of its main initiatives for this year on March 25 by hosting the first Regional Stakeholders Meeting in the state. These meetings will take place regularly in different regions of Ohio to encourage professional peer-support networks among individuals from multiple disciplines and multiple systems of care who are involved with starting and successfully implementing evidence-based Supported Employment services in their communities. The Ohio SE CCOE is a program of the Center for EBPs at Case.

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MINT initiative helps set agenda for future of motivational interviewing in Ohio

Three consultant-trainers from the Center for EBPs at Case participated in a three-day international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) event at Atwood Lake Conference Center from April 29 through May 1. This "train-the-trainers" event was attended by some 40 behavioral healthcare professionals from all over the world, including approximately 20 from Ohio. The Center is participating in the MINT initiative as a way to add to the pool of advanced MI consultants and trainers in Ohio.

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Annual conference proves that commitment to Supported Employment continues to grow in Ohio, throughout nation

Celebrating its third anniversary, the annual conference of the Ohio Supported Employment Coordinating Center of Excellence (Ohio SE CCOE) drew close to 200 participants from throughout Ohio and 10 additional states, demonstrating the growing national interest in Supported Employment (SE), the evidence-based practice for people with severe mental illness. Gary Bond, Ph.D., of the ACT Center of Indiana was a keynote speaker.

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Kick-off event introduces new service model that links recovery with reduction, elimination of tobacco use

The State of Ohio's commitment to helping people with substance use disorders and mental illness reduce and eliminate the use of harmful tobacco products entered a new phase on December 7, 2007 with the Tobacco Cessation Kick-Off Event. The Kick-Off was designed to introduce community-based and hospital-based behavioral healthcare organizations to a new service model being designed and disseminated by the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

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