Advisory Board and Workgroups

Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Prevention Technology Transfer Centers (PTTC) develop and disseminate prevention tools and strategies needed to reduce substance misuse. The Pacific Southwest PTTC is administered by CASAT at the University of Nevada, Reno and serves Health and Human Services Region 9.

Our primary goal is to advance the ability of the Region 9 substance misuse prevention workforce to find, select, implement, and evaluate evidence- based and promising substance misuse prevention programs, policies, and practices to achieve a meaningful reduction in substance misuse and its harmful consequences. The Pacific Southwest PTTC delivers training and technical assistance (T/TA) and disseminates learning resources to the substance misuse prevention workforce to improve their application of prevention science.


REGION 9: THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

The Pacific Southwest PTTC will serve HHS Region 9: American Samoa, Arizona, California, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau.


 

Advisory Board

A regional Advisory Board will advise and guide our work. The Pacific Southwest PTTC Advisory Board is comprised of state/jurisdiction and community-level prevention professionals. This group will aid in building and maintaining collaborative regional relationships; advise the PTTC on T/TA needs, regional priorities, and delivery methods; and provide input and feedback on the development of PTTC regional services, tools, and resources. The Advisory Board will meet at least twice per year.  Advisory Board members include:

 

American Samoa

 

Tu’umafua Maiava

American Samoa Dept. of Human and Social Services

 

Muaiavaona Fofoga Pila

Maoputasi Drug Free Coalition

 

Arizona

 

Gabrielle Richard

Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System

 

Julie Craig

Arizona Youth Partnership

 

California

 

Thomas Renfree

County Behavioral Health Directors Association 

 

Joe Eberstein

San Diego County Marijuana Prevention Initiative 

 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 

 

Reyna Saures

Community Guidance Center, Inc.

 

James Arriola

Brabu Behavioral Health Services

 

Federated States of Micronesia 

 

Benido Victor

Health and Social Affairs - National Government

 

Hilda Tafledep

State of Yap, Behavioral Health & Wellness

 

Guam

 

Theresa Arriola

Guam Behavioral Health Services

 

Juanita Blaz

Island Girl Power, Inc.

 

Hawaii

 

John Valera

State of Hawaii, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division

 

Michelle Park

Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii

 

Nevada

 

Tracy Palmer

Division of Public and Behavioral Health

 

Linda Lang

Nevada Statewide Coalition

 

Republic of the Marshall Islands 

 

Julia Alfred

Ministry of Health

 

Ninida Note

College of the Marshall Islands

 

Republic of Palau

 

Everlynn Temengil

Division of Behavioral Health Services, Ministry of Health

 

Elenita Brel

Palau Behavioral Health Advisory Council 

 


 

Workgroups

 

Additionally, five topic-based workgroups will take a more focused approach. The Pacific Southwest PTTC workgroups will act as strategic thought partners on specific topic areas that we identified as critical to developing and sustaining substance misuse prevention infrastructure and outcomes at local, state, and regional levels. The topic areas were identified through conversations with various prevention leaders across the region. All workgroups are
comprised of state/jurisdiction and community-level prevention professionals and at least one Advisory Board representative. The workgroup topic areas are:
 

workgroup topics displayed in a chart - topics also listed in text below
 
 
 
The Needs Assessment and Evaluation workgroup will focus on services and resources designed to strengthen communities’ abilities to collect, report, and use data in their prevention work, including conducting a thorough needs assessment, using needs assessment data to select evidence-based interventions, and evaluating processes and outcomes. 
 
The Evidence-based Practices, Programs, and Policies workgroup will support the development of T/TA services and resources to increase prevention practitioners’ understanding of what constitutes evidence of effectiveness and increase their ability to identify potential evidence-based interventions, select “best fit” set of interventions for their community, and balance fidelity with any necessary adaptations when implementing selected interventions. 
 
The Workforce Development and Leadership workgroup will aid in the development of T/TA services and resources designed to build the skills of prevention practitioners to apply prevention science to their work, implement all aspects of prevention, and increase leadership skills across the region. 
 
The Health Disparities and Health Equity workgroup will advise on ways to build the capacity of prevention practitioners to identify health disparities, as well as the contributing factors that lead to those health disparities, and to apply effective strategies to increase health equity in their communities.  
 
The Systems Integration and Practice Change workgroup will provide feedback on T/TA services and resources to build prevention practitioners’ knowledge and skills to increase the integration of primary prevention into other health-related settings, such as primary care or community health agencies. In addition, this group will focus on how the PTTC can build practitioners’ abilities to create or strengthen systems that support changes in prevention practice to increase the effectiveness of prevention across multiple settings. 
 
Each workgroup will be responsible for the following tasks:

  • advise and provide feedback on the development of T/TA services related to the topic area of the workgroup;
  • identify and share existing high-quality resources relevant to the workgroup topic;
  • advise and provide feedback on the development of new learning resources to fill in identified gaps in available resources;
  • recommend subject matter experts/consultants to deliver services or develop learning resources with the Pacific Southwest PTTC; 
  • identify and recruit additional workgroup members; and
  • promote PTTC services and resources across the region, when relevant.

 
The workgroups will determine the frequency of their meetings, as well as their structure and function in order to address the tasks outlined above.

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