WAITING FOR A MIRACLE
University of Kansas IDDT leader Dianne Asher talks about her own conversion to integrated treatment and how it has changed her professional life
—by Paul M. Kubek and Matthew K. Weiland
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.
In the 1990s, she became one of the first practitioners in the Sunflower State of Kansas to be introduced to IDDT and was recruited to lead its implementation in the state. She has been an IDDT project manager and consultant-trainer with The University of Kansas School of Social Welfare since 1999. She trains, consults, and presents regularly about IDDT, Motivational Interviewing (MI), and clinical supervision throughout the State of Kansas and across the United States. She brings over 25 years of experience in the mental health and substance abuse treatment fields to her work.
The Conversation
Asher presented a workshop titled "Supervisory Skills for Effectively Implementing Evidenced-Based Practices" at the 2008 Annual Ohio SAMI CCOE/IDDT Conference, which took place in Columbus on September 16 & 17. Prior to her presentation, she sat down to discuss the importance of clinical supervision—one of the foremost challenges for many IDDT team leaders—as well as her life’s work before and after her introduction to the IDDT model. Listen to the conversation below.
.MP3 PLAYLIST
1.) Pioneers in IDDT (2m 41s)
As a case manager and team leader in the days before IDDT, Dianne Asher witnessed the ineffectiveness of traditional addiction treatment for people with severe mental illness. Then Kansas joined the IDDT revolution.
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2.) Waiting for a Miracle (2m 30s)
Asher remembers one consumer sitting at home in the throes of addiction recovery waiting hopelessly for a miracle to happen. It inspired her to become certified in addictions counseling on her own.
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3.) A Motivational Moment (2m 3s)
Cognitive impairments from severe mental illness made this consumer’s addiction treatment inaccessible to him: he did not have the ability to distinguish the figurative from the literal.
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4.) Two Steps Forward (1m 54s)
The stages-of-change model helped Asher evaluate the readiness of each consumer to start his or her recovery journey, or take it to the next level. (Part 1).
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5.) Breaking Down the Barricades (2m 13s)
The stages-of-change model helped Asher evaluate the readiness of each consumer to start his or her recovery journey, or take it to the next level. (Part 2).
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6.) IDDT Meets DBT (2m 15s)
The right tools for each job: specific treatments for specific kinds of disorders improve outcomes and, thus, staff satisfaction, reducing burn-out and attrition.
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7.) IDDT Does Take Time (1M 18s)
The duration of IDDT implementation is one of the greatest challenges to a service team, an organization, and systems of care, especially since time is always at a premium. But the outcomes are worth it.
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8.) Supervising Through Stages (2m 9s)
To implement IDDT successfully, know what stage of change each team member, administrator, and stakeholder is in.
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9.) Supervision Strategies (1m 32s)
Client-outcome-based supervision has been a hallmark of training at The University of Kansas for some 20 years, and now for IDDT implementation in the state.
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10.) Supervisors Need System Buy-In (1m 37s)
To make an EBP work, supervisors need effective protocols, as well as support from administrators and policymakers in service systems.
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11.) Supervision as a Learning Process (58s)
Look at the evaluation of each team member's documentation practices as a learning process, as an opportunity for supervision and professional development. Do team members appear to understand the model? In what areas of practice do they need advice?
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Paul M. Kubek, MA, is director of communications and Matthew K. Weiland, MA, is senior writer, producer, and new-media specialist at the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University.
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