South Southwest PTTC

COURSE DESCRIPTION This workshop offers prevention professionals a comprehensive overview of synthetic drugs, also known as “new psychoactive substances” (NPS), and their unique risks and challenges.  PRESENTER Dr. Fernando Montero’s research draws together the methods of medical and economic anthropology to examine the racialized, gendered interface between the opioid overdose epidemic, mass incarceration, ongoing transformations in narcotics supply chains, and public assistance programs for psychiatric disability in the United States. His mixed-methods research studies the changes in the risk environment for HIV, HCV, mental health conditions, and fatal overdose among street-based drug users brought about by the emergence of synthetic sedatives (e.g. fentanyl and xylazine) and stimulants (e.g. methamphetamine) in the 2010s-2020s, and by the concomitant resurgence of punitive drug control targeting petty dealers throughout the US. One of the central questions of his current research is why the opioid overdose epidemic is becoming increasingly black following almost three decades in which it was predominantly white and working class. He is also conducting a long-term ethnographic study of the War on Drugs in the Afro-Indigenous region of Moskitia on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua and Honduras.

2024 Region 6 Training and Technical Assistance Needs Assessment Results By Nicole Schoenborn, SSW PTTC Evaluator Each year, the South Southwest Prevention Technology Transfer Center (SSWPTTC) conducts a training and technical assistance (T/TA) needs assessment to help us capture the training needs of the field and inform our overall process for creating the work plan for the region. Our first needs assessment was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic as we saw emerging T/TA needs in the workforce. After 6 years, it has expanded into a comprehensive assessment of needs across the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), with additional sections around onboarding, health equity, and data literacy. In the past year, the needs assessment informed live events such as the Unraveling Connections: Social Determinants of Health and Substance Misuse Prevention  and the Alcohol, Equity, and Social Justice: Breaking the Silence. Services in the South Southwest region had a stronger emphasis last year on building the capacity of substance misuse prevention professionals to address gaps in prevention with services for underserved communities. Themes that have strongly surfaced for next year’s services continue to address Social Determinants of Health, underserved communities, and cultural humility and responsiveness. In addition, evaluating programs and communicating data using visualization methods will be a focus area for data-related services in this next year of the SSW PTTC. To view the data and findings, select the links below. Read more about the SSW PTTC Needs Assessment Needs Assessment 2024 PowerPoint        

COURSE DESCRIPTION Part 2 of this series explores the role military prevention professionals play in fostering healthier communities and how to effectively partner with them to mutually improve outcomes through data sharing.   Select View Resource to watch the recording. Below are the training materials. PPT-Understanding-Militarys-Role-in-SU-P2 PRESENTER SMSgt Amy Beth Thomas serves as the Drug Demand Reduction Outreach Manager for the Louisiana National Guard Counterdrug Program, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. In this role, she works with military and civilian drug prevention entities across the state of Louisiana. SMSgt Thomas is a member on the Louisiana Governor’s Office Drug Policy Board. SMSgt Thomas participates in National and state drug prevention strategies. SMSgt Thomas collaborates across several Federal, State, and local anti-drug coalitions as well as in several schools across the state of Louisiana delivering drug prevention curriculum to the youth.  SMSgt Thomas entered the Air Force in July 2000. Following basic military training, she attended Command Post Controller training at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi and graduated in November 2000. She spent the following nine years in the command post career field supporting homeland defense in support of Operation NOBLE EAGLE. As a command post controller, SMSgt Thomas assisted in several humanitarian efforts to include Hurricane Katrina. Following Hurricane Katrina, she was assigned to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, where she conducted emergency support functions during state disasters. In 2006, she was selected to serve full time with the Louisiana National Guard Counterdrug Task Force as the Joint Substance Abuse Coordinator for both the Louisiana Army and Air National Guard. In 2009, she was assigned as Command Support Staff in the 159th Fighter Wing Commanders office and attended Personnel School at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi in September 2009. In July 2011, SMSgt Thomas was assigned to the 159th Fighter Wing Equal Opportunity Office. In 2014, SMSgt Thomas was assigned to National Guard Bureau as a Regional Drug Demand Reduction Program Manager from October 2014 until July of 2018. While assigned to National Guard Bureau’s Joint Substance Abuse Program, she assisted with national instruction, program implementation and evaluation, regulations and policy rewrites, as well as the prevention and rehabilitation of Airmen. Currently SMSgt Thomas is assigned as the drug demand reduction outreach program manager for the Louisiana National Guard Counterdrug Program. Prior to her military assignment, the senior master sergeant served her community as a law enforcement officer for over five years and currently volunteers as a counselor in behavioral health.  

COURSE DESCRIPTION Part 1 of this series delves into the multifaceted impact of military installations on community health and prevention efforts by studying the use of both quantitative and qualitative data for decision making.   Select View Resource to watch the recording. Below are the training materials. 2020-State-Data-Sheet-Arkansas 2021-State-Data-Sheet-Louisiana 2021-State-Data-Sheet-New-Mexico 2021-State-Data-Sheet-Oklahoma 2021-State-Data-Sheet-Texas Handout-data-sources-military-partnerships PPT-Data-Driven-Military-Partnerships-P1 PRESENTER Dr. Beverly Triana-Tremain, co-author of Evaluation Time: A Practical Guide for Evaluation, formerly served as the epidemiologist for the South Southwest Prevention Technology and Transfer Center Region 6, with over 30 years of experience in technical assistance and training, evaluation, research, and quality improvement processes. She has expertise in process and impact evaluation, quality improvement studies, research methodology, and project management. Dr. Triana-Tremain is experienced in providing high-impact training and technical assistance services to the prevention workforce, emerging prevention professionals, organizations, and community prevention stakeholders. Dr. Triana-Tremain provides training and technical assistance on data-driven public health interventions and effectively communicating data to stakeholders in order to improve understanding in various populations. She has worked across the public and private sector for over 50 organizations to develop quality improvement plans in the areas of workforce development, public health improvement, and community impact. She also has extensive project management experience, particularly developing logic models that focus stakeholders on intentional project outcomes. A certified Lean Six Sigma Green and Yellow Belt, Dr. Triana-Tremain received her doctorate from Texas Woman’s University in community health, with a public health concentration. She also has a master’s from Texas Woman’s University and a bachelor’s from Texas A&M University-Commerce.