BOARD BUZZ

The Clinical Administrator's Training helps participants apply information and approaches within seven areas of organizational effectiveness to deliver the best possible services to patients with co-occurring disorders.

Objectives
1) Discuss the philosophy and research behind CDP
2) Interpret the DDCAT (Dual Diagnosis Capability in Addiction Treatment) and the DDCMHT (Dual Diagnosis Capability in Mental Health Treatment) guides to evaluate your program's operational effectiveness for treating patients with non-severe co-occurring disorders
3) Identify system, program, and staff level issues and challenges for developing integrated services

This program will help you effectively use the Clinical Administrator's Guidebook to assess and enhance the way you provide treatment for co-occurring disorders. Interaction with instructors and colleagues will help you apply concepts and materials to your own setting.

Who should attend: Administrators, Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Directors, Mental Health Treatment Directors, Clinical Supervisors and Managers

When: December 15, 2008
Where: Hazelden, Center City, MN.

To register or for more training information, please send an email to cdptraining@hazelden.org

Please remember that the deadline to submit application materials in order to be considered for the December 13th testing is tomorrow! As long as materials are postmarked by Wednesday, October 15th, your file will be reviewed for the December testing.

Thank you for all your hard work and cooperation!

Sincerely,
Barden Culbreth
NCSAPPB
Associate Director

Passage of the "Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008" will:

· Improve access to lifesaving drug and alcohol addiction treatment services. Of the 23.2 million Americans with alcohol or drug problems in 2007, only 2.4 million-roughly one in ten-received treatment at a specialty treatment facility, leaving 20.8 million untreated. Over thirty percent of the people who needed treatment but didn't receive it
cited lack of health insurance coverage or other cost factors as a major reason for not receiving care.

· Eliminate a clearly discriminatory policy that has kept thousands of individuals with untreated addiction from receiving critically important treatment services. Providing parity will help to eliminate stigma for alcohol and drug addiction, by treating addiction similarly to other chronic health conditions like diabetes, asthma, and hypertension.

· Ease costs for the public system. According to SAMHSA's recent National Expenditure Report, public funding provides the vast majority of drug addiction treatment expenditures, increasing from 62 percent in 1991 to 76 percent in 2001. Private insurance represented only 13 percent of addiction treatment expenditures in 2001, while it covered 36 percent of all health care expenditures.

The full text of Public Law 110-343 can be found at: thomas.loc.gov. The "Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008" can be found beginning in Section 511 of Public Law 110-343.

The N.C. Foundation for Alcohol & Drug Studies is pleased to announce that 15 scholarships will be offered for the 2009 Winter School. Specific information is as follows:

School Dates: February 22-25, 2009
Location: Village Inn Conference Center, Clemmons, NC
Registration Options:
$515 (includes training, Sunday dinner; breakfast and lunch Monday thru Wednesday; no housing)
$470 (includes training, Sunday dinner, lunch Monday thru Wednesday; no housing)
Registration will be possible during November 2008.

Scholarship Applications may be found on the web site (www.ncfads.org) under school participation. Please complete all parts of the application form and return it by December 1, 2008.

To order your FREE copy of Guía de Servicios para el Abuso de Sustancias Para Proveedores de Atención Primaria de la Salud, contact SAMHSA's Health Information Network (SHIN) online at www.samhsa.gov/shin or by phone at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727) (English and Español). Ask for publication order number MS631S.

In preparation for Tropical Storm Gustav, the American Red Cross (ARC) recruited disaster behavioral health workers. As the hurricane season continues to bring hurricanes to our state and the southeast, volunteers are encouraged to contact their local ARC chapter if they are available to deploy to the Gulf States. Please use the ARC chapter locator at www.redcross.org to find your closest ARC chapter.

• Those who have yet to receive the ARC Foundations of Disaster Mental Health training may have to wait to deploy until a training can be scheduled, or until a decision is made to do trainings at a staging site or at relief operation sites. Those interested should contact their ARC chapter to begin the process of registering as an ARC volunteer.
• For those who are already registered as an ARC disaster mental health worker, please contact your ARC chapter to update your availability in the ARC Disaster Services Human Resources system. Updating your availability will facilitate impending and future deployments.

Please contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Disaster Technical Assistance Center (SAMHSA DTAC) at 1-800-308-3515 or dtac@esi-dc.com with any questions regarding disaster behavioral health preparedness for hurricane season.

Anna Misenheimer
North Carolina Substance Abuse Professional Practice Board