Date: September 14, 2023
Time: 1:00 PM—2:30 PM ET
Format: Webinar
Cost: FREE
Contact Hours: 1.25 (Certificate of Attendance)
Target Audience: Prevention Professionals
Developed for: SAMHSA Region 3
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Prevention professionals can choose from many types of strategies and interventions available to help address substance use issues. Among these are efforts to support and implement policies designed to reduce the likelihood of substance use. Policies can take many different forms, from federal laws to local regulations and ordinances. All of them, however, seek to reduce community and societal risk factors for substance use and strengthen protective factors. Implementing appropriate policies can have many strengths, including being a means to address inequities and reduce health disparities. However, they can also come with several drawbacks compared to other types of prevention interventions. As such, they should be implemented as part of a comprehensive approach to prevention. Part one of this two-part webinar series will describe the importance of policy change for advancing substance use prevention outcomes. While part two of the series will review the steps prevention professionals can take to support and improve policy change.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This webinar will summarize what prevention professionals can do to help develop or change policies that will advance substance use prevention goals, including to address inequities and reduce health disparities. It will identify and discuss the mechanisms by which policy change can occur. As part of this, the webinar will also review the collaborative partners that prevention professionals will need to work with to enact policy change, including elected officials and regulatory agencies. It will discuss the importance of advocacy as a tool for collaborating with these partners and the vital distinctions between advocacy and lobbying. The webinar will also review the restrictions on lobbying that federal grantees and non-profit organizations must follow. The webinar will also discuss other steps prevention professionals can take to support successful policy change, such as working with regulatory or enforcement agencies to ensure policy adherence. Lastly, the webinar will offer a small group peer learning discussion opportunity.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:
- Identify the mechanisms for achieving policy change..
- Recognize key collaborative partners that can support policy change.
- Explain the importance of advocacy and the differences from lobbying.
- Describe other steps prevention professionals can take to facilitate policy change.
PRESENTERS
Josh Esrick, MPP is the Chief of Training and Technical Assistance at Carnevale Associates, LLC. Mr. Esrick has over ten years of experience researching, writing, evaluating, and presenting on substance use prevention and other behavioral health topics. He is an expert in providing training and technical assistance (T/TA) in substance use, having overseen the development of hundreds of T/TA products for numerous clients, including six of SAMHSA’s ten regional Prevention Technology Transfer Centers (PTTCs), the PTTC Network Coordinating Office, the Central East Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) and Mental Health Technology Transfer Centers (MHTTC), and SAMHSA’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT). These trainings and products have covered a wide range of topics, including strategic planning, data collection and analysis, and identifying evidence-based prevention interventions for youth. In addition to T/TA, Mr. Esrick has directly provided many of these services to behavioral health agencies and other entities. He has published several academic journal articles. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Public Policy from George Washington University.
Emily Patton, MSc, PgDip holds a Masters of Science in Abnormal and Clinical Psychology from Swansea University and a Postgraduate Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Edinburgh. She offers significant professional experience in the fields of public policy development and analysis, criminal justice research, data collection and analysis, program development, and performance management.
*CONTACT HOUR ELIGIBILITY
In order to be eligible for the the contact hours/certificate of attendance, you must join the live webinar in Zoom.
Certificates must be requested within one week of the event and will be processed within 30 days.
If you are having issues accessing the room/application at the time of the event: Please email [email protected] at the start of the webinar so that we can assist you.
ACCOMMODATIONS
If you are in need of any special accommodations, please notify the Central East PTTC Webinar Team three weeks in advance of the event, or as soon as possible, by emailing [email protected].c