Products and Resources Catalog

Part 2 of the Alcohol Policy Series is presented by Kellie Henrichs (Prevention First) and Chuck Klevgaard (Great Lakes Prevention Technology Transfer Center). Lawmakers have developed, enacted, and applied a variety of policy strategies that target society- and community-level influences to reduce underage drinking and its associated consequences. This webinar will highlight Social Host Liability Laws aimed at decreasing social access to alcohol by underage youth and deterring underage drinking parties.   ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Transcript_Alcohol Policy Series (2) Social Host Liability Laws

The Great Lakes Current YouTube Channel brings you recorded webinars hosted by the Great Lakes PTTC as well as our partner projects,  Great Lakes ATTC and Great Lakes MHTTC. Subscribe to the Great Lakes Current to receive automatic notifications of new recordings.   

The Great Lakes Wave podcast channel is available on all of the top podcasting platforms, including Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Breaker. New episodes and podcast series are added regularly!  

The Great Lakes PTTC developed this webpage to provide an overview of regional and national initiatives and resources dedicated to preventing and reducing stigma associated with having, treating, or being in recovery from a substance use or mental health disorder.  Visit the Preventing and Reducing Stigma web page. 

The Great Lakes ATTC developed this webpage to provide an overview of regional and national resources related to telehealth for behavioral health. This site will be updated regularly with new information and tools designed specifically for the behavioral health field.  

This page provides an inventory of naloxone training and related resources in the Great Lakes region. 

This webpage provides an overview of trainings and information related to vaping. It includes regional and national resources. 

New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC) recognized the immediate need to provide information, training and resources to meet the challenges prevention professionals facing transition in service delivery as a result of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19). A survey to assess these needs was launched March 23, 2020 and closed April 3, 2020. A total of 144 people participated in the survey. Themes for open-ended responses are summarized below each question.

This presentation by Sheila Weix, MSN, RN, CARN was recorded on April 1, 2020 and is a follow-up to her PART 1 presentation released on March 20, 2020. Viewers will be provided with updated information on the ever-changing challenges facing healthcare providers under the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as best practices for reducing exposure risks, maximizing limited resources, and safely managing treatment during this difficult time.   Transcript

The Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center and the Mountain Plains Prevention Technology Transfer Center collaborated to host a six-part webinar series, Suicide Prevention Across the Educational Continuum. Throughout the series, participants are provided with information related to suicide prevention and intervention for youth, young adults, and college students. Suicide Assessment and Response for K-12 Populations Responding to mental health crisis and risk of suicide in a school setting presents unique challenges and considerations for mental health practitioners, educators, and parents. Participants in this session will learn recommended best practices for assessing children and adolescents for suicide and initiating appropriate responses to youth experiencing thoughts of suicide in a K-12 school setting. Special attention is given to common screening and assessment tools used in school settings, best practices for utilizing an interdisciplinary team approach to respond to youth experiencing thoughts of suicide in a school setting, and ways to identify risk and protective factors for youth and adolescents at risk of suicide. Presented by: Erin Briley, MS, NCSP   Webinar Recording Presentation Slides PDF Presentation Q&A Presentation Transcript   Suicide Prevention and Intervention Resources

April Newsletter - Strategic Prevention Framework, Step 2: Capacity Maintaining Community Involvement by Building Capacity A question often asked about coalition building is how to maintain the momentum of a coalition and keep members involved. Program coordinators will often take on the responsibility and the burden of the work of the coalition leadership alone. This approach can lead to a loss of interest from the coalition membership and an exhausted prevention team. If any of this sounds familiar, and you want to turn things around in your community, there is good news! This month we have provided many resources in the newsletter on capacity and leadership building.

Southeast PTTC February Newsletter

Southeast PTTC March Newsletter 

The second edition of our bi-monthly newsletter is available. This month's edition features an update from the director, COVID-19 resources, regionally and nationally developed trainings and tools to support and grow the prevention workforce in New England. 

Download the presentation Presented by: Cerise Hunt, Ph.D., M.S.W Description: As health disparities continue to persist throughout our community, the prevention field has an important role in the advancement of health equity. The session will help leaders identify practical strategies to act individually and collectively to address significant challenges and barriers for the achievement of optimal health and wellness. Learning Objectives: 1. Describe health disparities, health equity and social determinants of health. 2. Identify factors in the social environment that can contribute to or impede the health of individuals and communities. 3. Understand how health equity impacts prevention work.    About Cerise Hunt, Ph.D., M.S.W Cerise Hunt, PhD, MSW is the Director for the Center for Public Health Practice, Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at Colorado School of Public Health, and Past-President of the Colorado Public Health Association. She is responsible for the formation of community linkages that guide public health practice, provision of continuing education and workforce development opportunities in public health, and engagement in public health practice research. Cerise was instrumental in the formation of the Colorado Black Health Collaborative. She is also a founding member of the Healthy Babies Strong Families Healthy Start Community Action Network, which is a multi-sector collective impact initiative committed to the reduction of the African American/Black infant mortality rate and the promotion of positive birth outcomes. Prior to her employment with the Colorado School of Public Health, Cerise was the Health Disparities Specialist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Office of Health Disparities. There, she was charged with developing and implementing state-wide strategies to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities. Dr. Hunt’s research explores topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion and organizational change; racial and ethnic health disparities; and community outreach and mobilization among diverse populations.

Date  April 1, 2020    Description  Understanding and evaluating past prevention efforts is integral to ensuring the success of future prevention. This webinar explores how to apply insights from past prevention efforts to current and emerging substance use trends. Co-presenters share real world experiences regarding addressing substance misuse and explore strategies for applying successful prevention practices to other urgent prevention areas within the community.    Key Webinar Features  Participants have an opportunity to pose questions, discuss challenges, and connect with other prevention professionals.    Presenters  Jessica Goldberg MWS, MPH, CPS - Jess is a training and technical assistance specialist with the Education Development Center (EDC).  Ivy Jones Turner MPA, CPS - Ms. Jones Turner is a training and technical assistance specialist with the Education Development Center (EDC).  Katiana Perez – Katiana serves as the Executive Director for the Alliance for a Drug Free Puerto Rico.  Alyssa Evans, LMHC – Alyssa serves as a Student Assistance Counselor (SAC) for Columbia High School/Goff Middle School under Rensselaer County Mental Health.  Kim Favro, MA – Kim is a Student Assistance Counselor (SAC) for Averill Park High School through Rensselaer County Mental Health.     Supplemental Materials: Session slides Session transcript

Adapting Prevention Interventions to Better Serve Vulnerable Populations Josh Esrick, MPP, and Lauren Pappacena, MSW March 31, 2020, 1-2 PM EST COURSE DESCRIPTION This webinar, developed by the Central East PTTC, will discuss adapting prevention interventions to better serve minority populations in our communities. By adapting evidence-based interventions, preventionists can implement prevention programs that are a better fit for the specific needs of different populations. This webinar will discuss the importance of assessing the conceptual and practical fit of interventions for minority populations and how adaptation can improve an intervention’s fit. The webinar will walk through the evidence base for why adaptation is important for improving outcomes among diverse populations. It will also discuss evidence-based processes for conducting adaptations in a culturally competent manner that involves active participation and feedback from minority population members. The webinar will provide examples of successful adaptations from research literature. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Review the importance of adapting prevention interventions Discuss how to assess the relevance of an intervention to a population Describe the evidence base for adapting prevention interventions to improve outcomes among minority populations Examine evidence-based processes for adapting interventions Provide examples of successful adaptations of prevention interventions PRESENTERS Josh Esrick, MPP is a Senior Policy Analyst with Carnevale Associates. Josh has extensive experience in substance use prevention; researching, writing, and presenting on best practice and knowledge development publications, briefs, and reference guides; and developing and providing T/TA to numerous organizations. He developed numerous SAMHSA Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies’ (CAPT) products on strategies to prevent opioid misuse and overdose, risk and protective factors for substance use, youth substance use prevention strategies, youth substance use trends, emerging substance use trends, the potential regulations surrounding marijuana legalization, as well as numerous other topics. Lauren Pappacena, MSW is a Research Associate with Carnevale Associates. Lauren has a background in criminal justice and juvenile justice research specifically as it relates to evidence-based programs and practices spanning criminal justice topics, including corrections, law enforcement, reentry, and courts. Currently, she assists with training evaluations for NADCP and the PTTC, where she brings her experience with quantitative and qualitative analysis and data visualization. With a strong interest in policy analysis, research translation, data collection, and analytic writing, Ms. Pappacena is published in the Journal of Human Rights and Social Work for her analysis of national early-release laws.               

On February 19th, Dr. Parissa Ballard, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine, presented what I thought was a fascinating webinar,  sponsored by our Region IV Prevention Technology Transfer Center.  Her topic:  The Benefits of Engaging Youth in Communities: Insights and Evidence from Developmental Science.  One of the things I noted in my brief introductory remarks to the webinar was that while youth engagement is a mainstay of current prevention efforts, the argument for it usually revolves around the value of this approach for a local coalition’s efforts to achieve a goal, such as passage of a local ordinance (e.g., a social host ordinance), or getting the word out about an important prevention practice (e.g., locking up medications in the home).  Many of us know from experience that youth can garner attention and have a significant voice in these kinds of efforts—such as when a well-organized group of youth come to a city or county council meeting to voice their support for passage of a public health ordinance.  Dr. Ballard presented this argument, but she also discussed why and how youth engagement is associated with benefits for the youth themselves.  For example, Dr. Ballard and her colleagues found in their research that volunteering as a youth is associated with healthier behaviors and mental health as youth age into young adulthood (Ballard, Hoyt, & Pachucki, 2019). For me, one of the most important takeaways from Dr. Ballard’s webinar was that when it comes to youth engagement, one size does not fit all!  The potential benefits for youth, and for coalitions, are likely to be different for very young adolescents (ages 10 to  14) than they are for middle adolescents (ages 15 to 19) and young adults (ages 20 to 24) (see Slides 20-32 of the webinar, (Suleiman, Ballard, Hoyt, & Ozer, 2019).   Click HERE to watch the webinar.   References Ballard, P., Hoyt, L., & Pachucki, M. (2019). Impacts of adolescent and youth adult civic engagement on health and socioeconomic status in adulthood. Child Development, 90(4) 1138-1154. Suleiman, A., Ballard, P., Hoyt, L., & Ozer, E. (2019). Applying a developmental lens to youth-led participatory action research: an examination and integration of existing evidence. Youth & Society, 1-28.  

  WEBINAR - The Positive Exists: Framing Communications Using Hope and Concern  Presented by: THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST AND NORTHWEST PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTERS   DATE: Wednesday, March 25, 2020   DESCRIPTION This webinar will help prevention practitioners improve communications around substance use prevention in their communities with the Science of the Positive, a framework that promotes protective factors, increases healthy norms, and positively transforms community cultures.  This webinar will provide attendees with a new communication skill that can be used immediately to address the very challenging issues of substance misuse prevention. After completion of the webinar, participants will: understand the Science of the Positive Framework; identify ways to use the Positive Community Norms Approach to correct misperceptions and impact behavior; and identify how to balance both hope and concern in communications.   PRESENTERS Dr. Jeffrey Linkenbach is the Founding Director and Research Scientist at The Montana Institute, who has developed national award-winning science-based programs to change norms.  He is one of the co-developers of Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) and serves as a Co-Investigator at the HOPE Center in the Tufts University Medical School. Jeff is an affiliate faculty member with the University of Montana – Mansfield Center and a Fellow with UM-Mansfield Academy for Global Leadership.  He is recognized for his pioneering development of the Science of the Positive Framework and the Positive Community Norms Approach which are being utilized by tribal, federal, state, and local organizations to achieve positive change and transformation around challenging issues such as child maltreatment, substance abuse, suicide, traffic safety, and community-engaged leadership.  Sara Thompson is a Senior Trainer with The Montana Institute who specializes in training and technical assistance with Positive Community Norms communications. She brings experience as a strategic marketing consultant who also serves large and small companies, non-profit organizations, cooperatives, festivals, and community events. Ms. Thompson was Introduced to Dr. Linkenbach’s work with the Science of the Positive and Positive Community Norms (PCN) frameworks in 2006 and these transformative new approaches challenged her perceptions, reignited her passion for prevention leadership, and renewed her energy for her work. She owns her own marketing firm specializing in working with community coalitions focused on positive prevention messaging and she has been privileged to work at The Montana Institute and collaborate with some of the most experienced prevention specialists, innovative thought leaders, and social science researchers in the country.   WEBINAR SLIDES Download Slides - The Positive Exists   OTHER RESOURCES Applying SOTP to Health & Safety Integrating Hope and Concern into your Communications Introduction to Positive Community Norms    

Evaluation is one area where it often makes sense to bring in outside expertise. It will save you considerable time and effort, as well as increase your probability of success. In fact, the assistance of an evaluator attuned to and practiced in the art and science of theory-based evaluation is often the key to getting evaluation results that are useful and credible. This toolkit is designed to help you select an evaluator whose skills match your programmatic needs—assuming, of course, that you don’t already have an evaluator on staff.

Providing SUD services during a pandemic requires a mix of disaster preparedness, safety precautions, telehealth, and ethics. During her tenure as a leader in SUD treatment, Sheila Weix has been involved with emergencies related to the HIV epidemic, 9/11, and the 2008 economic collapse. She is currently applying this experience in an outpatient treatment service that includes medication-assisted treatment in rural Wisconsin during the COVID19 pandemic. Webinar participants will learn about: Safety precautions How to move all services to telehealth Reimbursement contingencies Leadership actions underway to address this rapidly changing situation    Transcript

Quarterly Newsletter - March 2020 - Northwest PTTC   Find out about upcoming events, resources, past and future webinars, and read our Northwest Community In Action article highlighting YouthThink of The Dalles, OR. Read it all here: Quarterly Newsletter - March 2020 - Northwest PTTC

March 27, 2020   About the Presentation: Closures resulting from COVID-19 have created a need for adaptation and innovation among the prevention workforce. Quickly shifting your entire practice to a virtual setting is not a simple task, and this online event provides an opportunity for prevention workers to share insights and suggestions regarding how to continue delivering effective and engaging prevention efforts to stakeholders, community members, and youth. Webinar participants also acknowledge and address challenges inherent to remote interactions and highlight topics of interest for prevention workers during the COVID-19 crisis.     Key Discussion Questions:  What prevention activities can and should continue under the current circumstances?  How can you use social media to get your prevention messages out?  What are best practices for working in the virtual space?  What innovative steps are you taking to move your prevention work online?    Presenters:  Jessica Goldberg - is a training and technical assistance specialist with nearly a decade of supporting prevention efforts at the national, state, regional and local levels, as well as an accomplished designer and deliverer of in-person and virtual trainings that address topics ranging from collaboration across health sectors to identifying and addressing health disparities. Her past experience includes serving as a community health specialist with the Massachusetts state technical assistance system, supporting communities in needs assessment, strategic planning and creating logic models to guide change efforts, and then with the Center for the Application for Prevention Technologies or CAPT.  Ivy Jones Turner - For over 20 years, Ivy has provided organizational capacity assistance on health promotion and prevention in substance abuse, suicide, violence, injury, and mental health with nonprofit and community-based organizations, state and faith-based agencies, and school districts. Her capacity building skills include program evaluation, training and technical assistance in program design and implementation, organizational development, partnerships/collaborations, and grant management. Ms. Jones Turner is a Certified Prevention Specialist and holds an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.   Resources: Summary notes Presentation slides Session transcript

Central East Webinar Series: Building the Prevention Workforce Skill-Base Part 6: How to Evaluate and Adjust Prevention Efforts⎯Step 5 of the Strategic Prevention Framework Josh Esrick, MPP, and Emily Patton, MSc, PgDip March 26, 2020, 1-2 PM EST  |  View all Central East series This is part six of a six-part webinar series hosted by the Central East PTTC that focuses on the Strategic Prevention Framework and related topics. SERIES DESCRIPTION This six-part webinar series developed by the Central East PTTC will support and build the capacity of the prevention workforce. The series is a skill building training that will detail the steps to implementing a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to prevention using the five stages of SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework: 1) Needs Assessment, 2) Building Capacity, 3) Planning, 4) Implementation, and 5) Evaluation. The series will explain the importance of each stage and what aspects of the strategic planning process they cover, techniques for completing each stage, and strategies for overcoming obstacles. This series will also discuss other relevant topics, such as: ethical approaches to prevention, how to prioritize data, and how to modify programs, among others. COURSE DESCRIPTION The fifth step to implementing a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to prevention is evaluate ongoing efforts and develop a feedback loop to make adjustments. This requires developing and following an evaluation plan and having processes in place to modify or change interventions that are not having a successful impact. This webinar will discuss evaluation strategies, maintaining epidemiological surveillance efforts, and steps to developing and maintaining an evaluation feedback loop. It will also walk through ways that technology can be used to support the evaluation process. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Discuss the importance of evaluation Describe the challenges to evaluating prevention interventions and potential strategies to overcome them Explain the importance of long-term surveillance and updating needs assessments Walk through how to develop a continuous feedback loop PRESENTERS Josh Esrick, MPP is a Senior Policy Analyst with Carnevale Associates. Josh has extensive experience in substance use prevention; researching, writing, and presenting on best practice and knowledge development publications, briefs, and reference guides; and developing and providing T/TA to numerous organizations. He developed numerous SAMHSA Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies’ (CAPT) products on strategies to prevent opioid misuse and overdose, risk and protective factors for substance use, youth substance use prevention strategies, youth substance use trends, emerging substance use trends, the potential regulations surrounding marijuana legalization, as well as numerous other topics. 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.