Recovery Orient Yourself - Training and Workshops

The list below represents the workshops that are readily available. Each workshop is designed to fill a 1.5 hour to 2 hour time slot. Several are also available in two parts, 3 to 4 hours total, sessions when additional detail or practice may be relevant.

1. Introduction to Motivational Interviewing.

2. Introduction to the 12 step facilitation model

3. Introduction to the Contingency Management (Motivational Incentives) Model

4. Intro to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

5. Maximizing 12 step and other community support groups to improve recovery services. These workshops explore the barriers and benefits of understanding, utilizing and reinforcing community based support systems in Mental Health and Addictions. Moat counselors working with the primary addiction populations understand and encourage participation in a 12 step program of other community support system for addictions. However, there are many misconceptions, misunderstandings, stigma and lost resources when a counselor or case manager is not fully aware of the 12 step philosophy and practices. Both of these workshops seek to reduce the stigma, enhance the understanding and role of the community support groups and reduce the barriers to these natural resources.

      A. Tailored to Faith Based Groups (Is AA competing with my religion? They don't endorse my God, etc.
      B. Tailored to Primary Mental Health Counselors (So what, they go to a meeting then what? I've heard too many fail, etc.

5. Restraint free residential (Simplified) SAMHSA has had a restraint free training model out for several years. However, the model is long, cumbersome and often not available to facilities due to the training time involved. These workshops seek to simplify the training model and time while still providing a solid foundation to build a restraint free program. And they are practical as they were developed over 18 years beginning in the early 1980's in an adolescent program that never had a consumer restraint.

      A. For Adult populations
      B. For Adolescent populations

6. Drugs of Abuse (the non medical jargon version) Most professionals and many consumers and families have by now heard the medical explanations for how drugs affect the body chemistry of the user. Complete with CT scan images, and identifications for parts of the brain and body that are marred with 12 syllable words and lots of medical jargon. This workshop, developed originally in the 70's seeks to explain the drug interactions with the body, brain and chemistry in a plain language, common sense manner. While not as technically adequate as the medical model workshop most non-medically trained consumers and counselors will leave with an understanding of the basics of drug interactions and reactions that are easier to understand and remember.

7. Using Choice to combat resistance of consumers. Expanding on the motivational enhancement and other previous therapeutic models this workshop helps consumers, family and professionals design interventions that reduce consumer resistance while offering consumer choice.

8. Developing community recovery teams (using contracting to consumers for natural support systems. An effective structured recovery team contracting model that can be consumer driven, implemented and adjusted as situations demand.

9. Introduction to Compulsive Gambling Treatment

10. Control is an Illusion. (An interactive workshop on the effects and response to controlling)

11. Consumer and Family advocacy for Mental Health and Addiction issues. The basics and "how to" for consumers and families to effectively advocate for addiction and mental health public policy. How to become an advocate and honor the traditions and anonymity

12. Historical perspective of the recovery movement in addiction and Mental Health.
(What the "new" transformations could learn from history)
Since 2003 the mental health professional world has embraced the recovery model with the sweeping "transformation" of mental health services and policies. Since the mid 30's the addictions consumers and professionals have embraced the recovery model. What can this history teach us? What missteps of the past can be avoided or improved upon? This workshop strives to pull together the MH and Addictions recovery models and policies that are currently expanding and developing in an effort to use history as a valuable learning tool for the combined recovery movement.