MANDEL SCHOOL
NEWS AND EVENTS

Representatives from nine community-based organizations and a state psychiatric hospital in Ohio attended a one-day training for “Tobacco: Recovery Across the Continuum (TRAC)”, a stage-based motivational service model that helps people diagnosed with mental illness and/or substance use disorders reduce and eventually eliminate the use of tobacco products. The event provided practical information and useful strategies for implementing TRAC services and featured Carlo DiClemente and other presenters from the Mandel School's Center for Evidence-Based Practices.

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The topic of e-cigarettes came up at a recent TRAC Program Leader Training, held in Cleveland on October 1st, so the "Tobacco: Recovery Across the Continuum (TRAC)" intitiative at the Center for Evidence-Based Practices (CEBP) at Case Western Reserve University presents a summary regarding what is known to date about electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), what are commonly called "e-cigarettes."

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Save these dates! The Center for Evidence-Based Practices (CEBP) at Case Western Reserve University will host its next conference October 12, 13, and 14, 2010. The event, titled "Sustaining Evidence-Based Practices: The Next Ten Years", will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the State of Ohio's success with implementing EBPs for people diagnosed with mental illness. The event will highlight national EBP research and lessons-learned from EBP initiatives in Ohio and other states. The Center for EBPs is a partnership of the Mandel School and the Dept. of Psychiatry.

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Gary Bond, PhD, digs into the researech evidence and explains why Supported Employment (SE) is one of the most sought-after service models for people diagnosed with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses. He also foreshadows the coming of two emerging best practices—cognitive rehabilitation and supported education—which will likely augment SE and enhance consumer outcomes.

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Michele Robinson is an employment specialist embedded in an Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) team, which serves people diagnosed with co-occurring severe mental and substance use disorders. She shares a story about a woman in her twenties who started her teen years and adult life with the odds stacked against her.

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Supported Employment (SE), the evidence-based practice, helps people diagnosed with severe mental illness or co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorders find competitive jobs of their choice in local communities with rapid job-search and placement services. There are seven core principles that make the evidence-based SE model different from traditional vocational programs.

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We recently mailed the first issue of our new printed newsletter, "Evidence Matters." A free PDF is available from our web site. Please distribute it to anyone who is interested in enhancing services for people diagnosed with severe mental illness. We've retired our "SAMI Matters" newsletter. The Fall 2008 issue was the last. Find out why. Get back issues from this web page. Use them to educate staff and stakeholders. . . . The Center for EBPs is a partnership between the Mandel School and the Department of Psychiatry at the Case School of Medicine.

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The primary purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of who gets referred to evidence-based Supported Employment (SE) services and what characteristics predict entry into competitive employment for adult consumers diagnosed with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. This report includes some tips for policy and practice. . . . The Center for EBPs at Case is a partnership between the Mandel School and the Department of Psychiatry at the Case School of Medicine.

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The Center for Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) at Case's Mandel School and Dept. of Psychiatry 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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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 & Recovery (TR) 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. The Ohio TR Project is a program of the Center for EBPs at Case--a partnership of the Mandel School and Department of Psychiatry, Case School of Medicine . . . (Featuring Mandel School graduate Deb Hrouda, MSSA ('94), LISW.)

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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. The Ohio Tobacco & Recovery Project is a program of the Center for Evidence-Based Practices--a partnership of the Mandel School and Department of Psychiatry at the Case School of Medicine.

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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 (EBPs) at Case Western Reserve University. The Center is a partnership of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and the Department of Psychiatry at the Case School of Medicine. Both are curriculum innovators: both have fellowship programs for the study of co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorders. . . . (Featuring Mandel School graduate Ric Kruszynski, MSSA ('93), LISW, LICDC.)

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The Ph.D. Program at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences celebrates the second anniversary of its part-time study option for doctoral-level education in social welfare and is inviting applications from professionals with experience in social work and allied disciplines--such as psychology, public health, nonprofit organizations, law, anthropology, and sociology, among others. The doctoral program has both part-time and full-time study options available, along with financial assistance for both.

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As the Center for EBPs at Case/Mandel School looks toward its Supported Employment conference on March 24 and 25, 2009, we reflect upon the 8th Annual SAMI/IDDT conference that took place this past September in Columbus, Ohio and are reminded how conversations at these annual events continue to inform the implementation of evidence-based practices throughout Ohio and across the nation. Featuring audio interviews with Robert Drake, MD; Carlo DiClemente, PhD; Sandra Stephenson, MSW, director of ODMH; and more.

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Psychiatrist and researcher Robert E. Drake, MD, PhD, knows a few things about the evidence-based 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. His research continues to inform the dissemination of IDDT and the evidence-based Supported Employment (SE) model. . . . Dr. Drake has been a long-time supporter, collaborator, and colleague of the Center for EBPs at Case/Mandel School. Join us for our conversation with him.

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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. Dr. DiClemente sat down with us to provide a tutorial on the origins and ongoing evolution of TTM. . . . Dr. DiClemente is a supporter, collaborator, and colleague of the Center for EBPs at Case/Mandel School.

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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, which uses IDDT to help homeless persons with severe mental illness. . . . The Center for EBPs at Case provides technical assistance to MHS.

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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 others. Thom is Director of the Ohio Coordinating Center for ACT. He is a collaborator and colleague of the Center for EBPs at Case's Mandel School and Dept. of Psychiatry. Join us for our conversation with him.

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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. In the 1990s, she became one of the first practitioners in the State of Kansas to be introduced to IDDT and was recruited by The University of Kansas to lead IDDT implementation throughout the sunflower state. . . . Asher is a collaborator and colleague of the Center for EBPs at Case's Mandel School and Dept. of Psychiatry. Join us for our conversation with her.

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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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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.

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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. . . .(Molzon is a community partner of the Mandel School.)

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The career of Deana Leber-George has been an odyssey of reinvention. . . . She is now the Dual Diagnosis Program Supervisor at NEIGHBORING and has been a guiding member of the service team since 2002. She has learned a few lessons along the way about the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). . . . (Leber-George is a community partner of the Mandel School.)

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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. . . . Things, however, weren’t always running this smoothly.

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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. For NEIGHBORING, a mental-health and substance-abuse service agency headquartered in the City of Mentor, this was another chance to step up and help out. . . . . (Featuring Mandel School graduate Ken Gill, MSSA (’82), LISW-S, LICDC, and other community partners.)

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The IDDT Affiliation Code Initiative gives agency providers, county boards, and State of Ohio stakeholders the capacity to collect data and to examine indicators and outcomes systematically. . . . (Featuring Mandel School graduate Deb Hrouda, MSSA ('94), LISW, and community partner David C. Ross, MA, LPCC, of the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County.)

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The advisory committee meeting of the Ohio Tobacco and Recovery Project was held at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare in Columbus this past spring. Mental health organizations around Ohio are getting ready to implement components of the new Tobacco and Recovery model.

(Featuring Mandel School graduate Patrick E. Boyle.)

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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.

(Featuring community partner Flash Phipps of Portsmouth, Ohio.)

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Ric Kruszynski, MSSA ('93), LISW, LICDC, provides consultation to mental-health and substance-abuse service agencies about the effectiveness of real-time clinical supervision in the community.

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Community partners at the Northeast IDDT Regional Stakeholders meeting shared challenges to and emerging solutions for implementing and sustaining family psychoeducational programs. (Featuring Jeremy Evenden, MSSA ('03), LISW.)

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Three staff members of the Ohio SAMI CCOE participated in a three-day international Motivational Interviewing Network Training (MINT). The CCOE is participating in this initiative to add to the pool of advanced MI consultants and trainers in Ohio. The training was conducted by William R. Miller, Ph.D. and Theresa Moyers, Ph.D. (Featuring Patrick E. Boyle, MSSA ('89), LISW, LICDC, and Christina M. Delos Reyes, MD, of the Department of Psychiatry.)

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The Tobacco Cessation Kick-Off Event introduced community-based and hospital-based behavioral healthcare organizations to a new service model being designed and disseminated by the Center for Evidence-Based Practices.

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Efforts to Stop Smoking Target Mental Health Agencies

Behavioral health staffs that need to take a smoke break might have some relief from their tobacco habits as they start tobacco cessation programs along with their mental health and substance abuse clients.

The Center for Evidence Based Practices, a joint program of Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Science and the psychiatry department at the School of Medicine, have received a grant to design and implement tobacco cessation programs that target clients and staffs at behavioral health agencies.

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The Dual Disorders Fellowship Program gives employed mental health and substance abuse professionals the opportunity to enhance their education, credentials, and experience by earning a Master of Social Science Administration (MSSA) degree while staying in their current jobs and attending classes one weekend per month. The Program is also structured to provide financial support to students by forging a partnership among the employed student, his or her employer (service organization), the local community mental health and/or substance abuse services board, and the Mandel School. Each partner pays a portion of the tuition.

- Full news release
- Dual Disorders Fellows Program brochure

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People with severe mental illness and their families in communities throughout Ohio, several other states, and two countries are experiencing an improved quality of life, in part, because of the work being done by the staff of the Center for Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs).

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