If you are having trouble viewing the email below, please click here

SAMHSA's GAINS Center Seeks Communities to Develop Trauma-Informed Training Capacity

SAMHSA's GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation, operated by Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA), known nationally for its work regarding people with behavioral health needs involved in the criminal justice system, is soliciting applications from communities interested in developing a capacity to provide trauma-informed training. The GAINS Center is offering a series of Train-The-Trainer (TTT) events to train local trainers to deliver its How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses training program. The target audiences for this training program are primarily community-based criminal justice system professionals, including law enforcement, community corrections (probation, parole, and pre-trial services), court personnel, as well as human service providers that serve adult justice-involved populations.

To find out more about How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses, please visit the GAINS Center website.

The GAINS Center will offer the Train-The-Trainer (TTT) events free of charge to selected communities between February 2017 and August 2017. Since the purpose of this training initiative is to offer targeted technical assistance and training to prepared communities in the field, there are no fees for registration, tuition, or materials associated with these trainings. If a TTT event is of interest to your community, please review the solicitation and submit your completed application form to the GAINS Center no later than November 18, 2016.

To download the solicitation and application for the How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses TTT Event, please click here.

We thank you in advance for your interest and look forward to reviewing your application.

GAINS Center Facilitates SIM Workshop in Ulster County, NY

SAMHSA's GAINS Center Senior Project Associate Dan Abreu and Project Associate Ashley Krider recently traveled to Ulster County, NY, to facilitate a Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM) Workshop. The SIM workshop was held September 15-16, 2016 at the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center in Kingston, NY.

The Ulster County Department of Mental Health applied for the SIM workshop through the national solicitation that the GAINS Center announced in October 2015. The county was one of six selected to receive a SIM Workshop out of a field of 75 applicants and was the final county to receive a SIM workshop as a result of the solicitation.

In addition to representatives from the Ulster County Department of Mental Health, representatives from the Ulster County Executive's Office, Ulster County Sheriff's Department, Ulster County Emergency Communications, Ulster County Probation, Kingston Police Department, Saugerties Police Department, District Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office, Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley, Westchester Medical Center, PEOPLe, Inc., and the Mobile Mental Health Team participated in the workshop.

During the workshop participants identified:

The representatives established a set of priorities for improving outcomes for justice-involved people with mental and substance use disorders. These priorities included: increasing housing opportunities, improving transportation capacity, and developing a crisis stabilization center for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

The GAINS Center will provide the community with a map of the criminal justice system in the county as well as a report that includes many findings and recommendations.

For additional information about the Sequential Intercept Model and how it can help your community organize behavioral health service system transformation to meet the needs of people with mental and substance use disorder involved in the criminal justice system, click here.

SAMHSA'S GAINS Center Seeking Experienced Trainers to Participate in Trauma-Informed Responses Train-The-Trainer (TTT) Event for Individuals

SAMHSA's GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation, operated by Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA) is known nationally for its work regarding people with behavioral health needs involved in the criminal justice system. Each year, the GAINS Center provides its trauma-informed responses training, How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses, to the field via direct deliveries and Train-The-Trainer (TTT) events. The target audiences for the training program are primarily community-based criminal justice system professionals, including law enforcement, community corrections (probation, parole, and pre-trial services), court personnel, as well as human service providers that serve adult justice-involved populations.

To find out more about How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses, please visit the GAINS Center website.

This year, the GAINS Center is soliciting applications from experienced trainers (individuals) who are interested in developing their capacity to provide trauma-informed training in their local agencies/communities via the GAINS Center's How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses training program. Selected applicants will to learn to facilitate the training via a centralized Train-The-Trainer (TTT) event and subsequently deliver the training program in their local communities across the country.

While participants must cover their own travel expenses, there are no fees for registration, tuition, materials, or follow-up technical assistance and support associated with the event. If this TTT event for individuals is of interest to you, please review the solicitation and submit your completed application form to the GAINS Center no later than November 17, 2016.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to become the local "expert" in this training program for your agency or community!

To download the solicitation for the How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses TTT Event for Individual Trainers, please click here.

The TTT Event is scheduled for March 28-29, 2017 in Albany, NY, so please note the dates before applying.

We thank you in advance for your interest and look forward to reviewing your application.

SAMHSA Announces FY 2017 Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity in Adult Treatment Drug Courts and Adult Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2017 Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity in Adult Treatment Drug Courts and Adult Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts.

The purpose of this program is to expand and/or enhance substance use disorder treatment services in existing adult problem solving courts, and adult Tribal Healing to Wellness courts, which use the treatment drug court model in order to provide alcohol and drug treatment (including recovery support services, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination) to defendants/offenders.

Grantees will be expected to provide a coordinated, multi-system approach designed to combine the sanctioning power of treatment drug courts with effective substance use disorder treatment services to break the cycle of criminal behavior, alcohol and/or drug use, and incarceration or other penalties. Priority for use of grant funds should be given to addressing gaps in the continuum of treatment for individuals in these courts who have substance use disorders or co-occurring substance use and mental disorder (COD) treatment needs. Grant funds must be used to serve people diagnosed with a substance use disorder as their primary condition. SAMHSA will use discretion in allocating funding for these awards, taking into consideration the specific drug court model (Adult Treatment Drug Courts and Adult Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts), as appropriate, and the number of applications received per model type.

Eligible applicants are tribal, state, and local governments, with direct involvement with the drug court/tribal healing to wellness court, such as the Tribal Court Administrator, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the Single State Agency for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the designated State Drug Court Coordinator, or local governmental unit such as county or city agency, federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes and tribal organizations, and individual adult treatment drug courts. For the purposes of this FOA, eligible adult drug court models include Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts, Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)/Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Courts, Co-Occurring Drug and Mental Health Treatment Courts, Veterans Treatment Courts, and Municipal Drug Courts that adhere to the drug court 10 key components. This grant is not intended for Juvenile or Family Dependency Treatment Drug Courts. Any applications received for Juvenile or Family Dependency Treatment Drug Courts will be screened out and will not be reviewed.

It is allowable for an eligible entity to apply on behalf of one or more drug courts, either through a single application or several applications. When the state/local/tribal government (city/county) or eligible entity applies on behalf of a drug court(s), the applicant will be the award recipient and the entity responsible for satisfying the grant requirements. When multiple jurisdictions apply within one application, letters of commitment from each drug court judge must be included stating they intend to meet the grant and reporting requirements.

For additional information, click here.

Applications are due December 12, 2016.

New Mobile App will Provide Instant, Vital Information on Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently announced the launch of MATx, a free mobile app that will provide health care practitioners with immediate access to vital information about medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder.

"There's nothing like MATx in the field today," said SAMHSA Principal Deputy Administrator, Kana Enomoto. "It will be a significant step forward in improving timely access to medication–assisted treatment by enabling physicians and other health care practitioners to better provide effective, evidence-based, and in some cases, life-saving treatment to people with opioid use disorders."

Key features of the MATx app include:

SAMHSA officially launched its MATx app on October 21, 2016. More information about the free app and how to download it to a mobile device is available at http://store.samhsa.gov/apps/MAT. SAMHSA developed MATx as part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Opioid Initiative, which was launched in March 2015 and is focused on improving opioid prescribing practices; expanding access to MAT for opioid use disorder; and increasing the use of naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses.

The initiative concentrates on evidence-based strategies that can have the most significant impact on the crisis. But additional funding is necessary to ensure that every American who wants to get treatment for opioid use disorder will have access. Under the President's FY 2017 Budget proposal, states would be eligible for up to $920 million over two years to expand access to treatment. At this time, Congress has not fully funded the budget proposal. See here for a state by state breakdown of the President's budget and, if fully funded, the impact it would have on states' ability to further expand access to treatment.

BJA Releases Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit

The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) recently announced the availability of an online toolkit that supports law enforcement agencies around the country in planning and implementing effective public-safety responses to people with mental illnesses. By engaging in a national dialogue with key stakeholders throughout the law enforcement and mental health treatment fields, BJA has gathered the best practices and resources to help law enforcement agencies develop partnerships with mental health treatment providers and respond appropriately and safely to people with mental illnesses. The toolkit will serve as a comprehensive, go-to source for information related to collaboration between law enforcement and mental health treatment providers.

Highlighting the role of police departments in advancing these collaborations and approaches, BJA announced the Police-Mental Health Collaboration (PMHC) Toolkit at the 2016 International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in San Diego, California. The PMHC Toolkit outlines the overall benefits of PMHC programs in five sections: learning about the programs; planning and implementing a program; training for the programs; managing the programs; and measuring program performance. Building on officers' real-life experiences, the Toolkit features five stories by officers who are leading or implementing programs where mental health professionals join or advise law enforcement as they respond to calls in Portland, Maine; Madison, Wisconsin; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles and Pasadena, California. Several of these departments serve as national Law Enforcement Mental Health Learning Sites, which host site visits for officers from other departments nationwide who wish to develop similar techniques in their own departments.

The Toolkit supplements these case studies with steps to drive departments' planning, written sample policies, and checklists for decision makers who are seeking strategies for specialized training. For communities with existing PMHC programs, the Toolkit offers tools, data, and procedures to manage the program and measure its performance—important steps for setting and meeting goals.

JustLeadershipUSA's Bringing Emerging Leaders Training to Austin, TX

JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA) believes that America's most challenging barrier to expansive, systemic criminal and juvenile justice reform is the absence of clear and consistent leadership by those who have been directly affected by our failed criminal justice policies. Through our Emerging Leaders trainings and our 12-month Leading with Conviction training, JLUSA is building a nationwide network of advocates and organizers united by a shared vision for justice reform.

Emerging Leaders are highly motivated individuals with a strong commitment to making a real difference in their community of choice. Typically, they are just stepping into their role as organizational and/or community leaders and must simultaneously juggle their professional development needs with their desire to make real change. Our regional Emerging Leaders trainings are professional sessions with a skilled facilitator and a dynamic and participatory agenda.

All Emerging Leaders participants must have prior involvement with the criminal justice system (juvenile and/or criminal justice involvement is required to be eligible and includes but is not limited to: actual incarceration [served time in jail and/or prison], arrest with or without conviction, under community supervision, i.e. parole, sentenced to probation-only, and involvement as a client in the juvenile justice system).

While not required, participants with the following characteristics are most successful and gain most from Emerging Leaders training:

Emerging Leaders Training Content

Based on our guiding principle that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, JLUSA employs a dynamic, inclusive and culturally competent leadership training that includes:

How to register for Emerging Leaders Training

JLUSA seeks to train individuals connected to re-entry organizations in the Austin area who are committed to the professional development of emerging leaders. Individuals should seek a referral from a partner organization before registering for Emerging Leaders. Deadline to register is November 4th.

Training Details

JustLeadershipUSA Emerging Leaders Training - Austin, TX
In partnership with Huston–Tillotson University & the Excellence and Advancement Foundation
November 12, 2016 | 8am - 4pm
Huston-Tillotson University
900 Chicon St
Austin, TX 78702

CSH's Supportive Housing Training Center

Featuring the most relevant and timely teachings, instructions and materials, the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) Supportive Housing Training Center is the preeminent go-to resource for professionals, organizations, communities and policymakers looking to hone their supportive housing knowledge and skills.

Operated by specialized staff focused on the customer experience, the Supportive Housing Training Center draws on 100+ experts within CSH and those with extensive backgrounds in other fields – healthcare, criminal justice reform, family services, mental and behavioral health, workforce development – to offer the best online classes and on-site trainings available.

The Online Training Center schedule is packed with informative, accessible trainings through the end of the year and into 2017. We hope you will be able to join us for some of these exciting new offerings.

Discovering New Opportunities for Service Funding:
Your Agency and Medicaid
Online Course
November 10, 2016 - February 16, 2017

Take advantage of this online academy to discover how your agency can navigate the challenging world of Medicaid, become a Medicaid biller, create a business plan, and ensure agency systems are in place to support Medicaid billing. These courses will help unlock your agency's potential to capitalize on opportunities presented by Medicaid to pay for services provided by supportive housing projects. A small investment in this approximately 10-hour 100% online program comprised of 5 virtual instructor-led webinars and 5 online self-paced classes spread out over 4 months (November 2016 - February 2017), can reap significant benefits for your agency for years to come. All participants who complete the courses will receive a Certificate from CSH. Register today!