Upcoming Events

Cognitive neuroscience, where psychology meets biology, has enabled us to clarify some of the biological bases for substance use and other addictive disorders.This workshop will examine connections between the brain changes and psychological/emotional/behavioral components of addictive disorders.

The progression of these disorders will be discussed along with their increasing resistance to change and the implications for treatment.

Dr. Toomey will provide an overview of why it is important to focus on prevention of underage drinking, a brief history of prevention work in this area, and suggestions for strategies that can be used by communities to reduce underage drinking. She will discuss the rationale for using strategies that reduce youth access to alcohol from multiple sources.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

 Following this webinar, participants will be able to:

• describe major contributors to underage drinking,
• progress in the U.S. in reducing underage drinking and related problems, and—
• strategies for continuing to reduce rates of underage drinking and related problems.

This two-week, asynchronous moderated course, adapted from the original SAMHSA Center for Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) course, explores the six principles of the Prevention Code of Ethics, brought to life with realistic examples designed to enhance participant understanding. The course also introduces a decision-making process to help practitioners apply this code to a variety of ethical dilemmas, and an online discussion area to facilitate discussion with other course participants.

SIX HOUR ASYNCHRONOUS VIRTUALLY MODERATED COURSE

• Course Frequency: Additional sessions will be added up to every three weeks. 
• Time Commitment: 6 hours over two weeks. While moderated, this online ethics course is asynchronous and completed at your pace within the module timeframes. Nothing happens “live”, but the discussion board posts and course progress have built in due dates. You will work independently, and the moderator will ensure the cohort is contributing to the discussion and progressing together. 
• Price: Brought to you free of charge by the Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network. 
• Certification Hours: A certificate for six (6) training hours is provided upon completion. This ethics training has been endorsed by the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) and meets the IC&RC’s prevention ethics education requirement for prevention specialist credentialing. 

Dr. Toomey will discuss the key components of community organizing to achieve changes in the community to address a range of public health problems, including excessive alcohol use and related harms. These components include community assessments, one-on-one discussions, building action teams and leadership skills, creating an action plan, and implementing the action plan. The webinar will emphasize using community organizing to be strategic and move towards action.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Following this webinar, participants will be able to:

• describe the key components of community organizing and—
• consider the application of community organizing to their work.

This 8-session intensive training course offers a uniquely interactive online introduction to the foundations of substance misuse prevention. Participants examine the key concepts of substance misuse prevention and the Strategic Prevention Framework. Participants build basic knowledge and skills necessary to identify prevention priorities and develop a plan to implement and evaluate evidence-based interventions. This course offers structured, skill-based learning opportunities, readings, and learning assignments to complete between sessions, along with group activities and discussions to enhance application of the new skills.

IMPORTANT APPLICATION INFORMATION:

• This Foundations in Prevention Intensive Training Course requires an application.
• The course is limited to 30 participants due to the highly interactive and intensive curriculum.
• Applicants who meet the required criteria will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.
• Before applying, you will need to complete a free, self-paced online course. Please be prepared to upload your certificate of completion for this course during the application process.

Application Pre-requisite Course: Introduction to Substance Abuse Prevention: Understanding the Basics

• The application deadline is 5:00 PM CT on September 29, 2022.

This 4-hour training is designed to increase recognition of gender bias and foster inclusive practices to promote a safe, equitable and supportive work environment for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming. Participants will identify the promoters and inhibitors of gender equity and inclusion in the workplace.

This workshop includes:

• Language for raising awareness of gender and sexual orientation topics
• Key concepts for gender etiquette and respectful communication
• Gender and sexuality bias & how we can unlearn them
• Encouraging & inhibitors factors of gender diversity, equity & inclusion
• Interrupting gender and sexual orientation microaggressions
• LGBTQ inclusive policies and practices
• LGBTQ allyship and partnership

This 3-hour presentation looks at the culture within boards of directors to troubleshoot barriers to recruitment, retainment, and engagement of people of color. We will begin by exploring internal factors, from white cloning to tokenism, that preclude board membership of people of color. Then, we will brainstorm outward facing policies and practices to encourage authentic engagement and develop allyship with communities of color. Participants will be presented with tools to develop a strategic roadmap to make diversity, equity and inclusion central to the Board’s decision making processes.

Learning Outcomes:

• Recognize the benefits of diverse boards
• Identify past and present barriers to racial inclusion
• Identify policies and practices to center racial equity
• Use a Racial Equity Impact Assessment Tool for recruitment and strategic planning
• Use assessments to identify agency, client and community needs
• Develop meaningful partnerships and engage in allyship with communities of color

The training team will present an interactive program that integrates best practices and principles regarding training for cultural humility (Fisher-Bourne, Cain and Martin, 2015; Betancourt, Green and Carrillo, 2016), while communicating essential knowledge and nuanced understanding regarding Native communities in Massachusetts.

The workshop will include the following elements:

1. Introductions with icebreakers designed to highlight participants’ experiences of cultural identity and diversity;
2. Discussion of concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility, including, for example, best practice principles delineated by the organization “Culturally Connected” https://culturallyconnected.ca/skills/adopting-cultural-humility-in-practice/: 
   1. Maintain lifelong learning and cultural curiosity by asking questions of Native persons and colleagues and consciously seeking out opportunities to learn about other cultures, e.g. through films, books, studying languages, etc.
   2. Engage in continuous self-reflection about one’s own personal history, biases, assumptions and experiences;
   3. Become comfortable with ‘not knowing’ and be open to learning from Native persons and their experiences; and
   4. Recognize there may be power/privilege dynamics, and  relate to Native persons in ways that help bridge the distance that may be caused by real and perceived differences in status. Pair and small-group exercises will help participants personally reflect on these concepts and how they apply to their work.
3. Overview of the Massachusetts Native American community, including history, demographics, cultural strengths, and challenges, including discussion of substance misuse issues;
4. Discussion of lessons learned/ best practices for working with Native communities, including Native-focused substance misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery programs and
5. Small group exercise focused on applying learnings from the workshop to hands-on prevention and treatment practices

This two-week, asynchronous moderated course, adapted from the original SAMHSA Center for Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) course, explores the six principles of the Prevention Code of Ethics, brought to life with realistic examples designed to enhance participant understanding. The course also introduces a decision-making process to help practitioners apply this code to a variety of ethical dilemmas, and an online discussion area to facilitate discussion with other course participants.

SIX HOUR ASYNCHRONOUS VIRTUALLY MODERATED COURSE

• Course Frequency: Additional sessions will be added up to every three weeks. 
• Time Commitment: 6 hours over two weeks. While moderated, this online ethics course is asynchronous and completed at your pace within the module timeframes. Nothing happens “live”, but the discussion board posts and course progress have built in due dates. You will work independently, and the moderator will ensure the cohort is contributing to the discussion and progressing together. 
• Price: Brought to you free of charge by the Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network. 
• Certification Hours: A certificate for six (6) training hours is provided upon completion. This ethics training has been endorsed by the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) and meets the IC&RC’s prevention ethics education requirement for prevention specialist credentialing. 

This 12-hour advanced training is for those in leadership, supervisory and decision-making positions who have already completed basic antiracism training and are interested in solutions for amplifying racial equity and inclusion in employment practices.

Activities and exercises address:

• Racial equity mission statements
• Hiring practices and policies to amplify diversity, equity and inclusion
• Salaries, job titles and structural practices embedded with bias
• HR policy barriers and amplifiers of racial equity
• Workplace culture: cultural humility and practices of micro and macro-inclusion
• Supervisory practices that can make or break racial equity
• Mentorship, placement and paths to leadership
• Creating effective diversity committees
•  Accountability, assessment and strategic planning
• Using a Racial Equity Impact Assessment Tool for planning and decision-making

This non-clinical supervision training is designed to educate and build skills around best supervisory practices for people who are working in direct human services and social services fields, including substance use and harm reduction. We rarely receive trainings on how to be effective supervisors, but holding and knowing the roles and responsibilities of a supervisor, in addition to being aware of the effects of secondary trauma in our staff, is vital in providing a supporting a nurturing environment; many fields may subject employees and supervisees to primary or secondary trauma.  Effectively mitigating the effects of these traumas is also vital as a supervisor.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the roles and responsibilities of a supervisor  
• Articulate the four (4) leadership styles of supervision  
• Define secondary trauma and self-care needs  
• Understand best practices for supervision to nurture and support staff  
• Practice an on-the-job emergency debrief 

he training team will present an interactive program that integrates best practices and principles regarding training for cultural humility (Fisher-Bourne, Cain and Martin, 2015; Betancourt, Green and Carrillo, 2016), while communicating essential knowledge and nuanced understanding regarding Native communities in Massachusetts.

The workshop will include the following elements:

1. Introductions with icebreakers designed to highlight participants’ experiences of cultural identity and diversity;
2. Discussion of concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility, including, for example, best practice principles delineated by the organization “Culturally Connected” https://culturallyconnected.ca/skills/adopting-cultural-humility-in-practice/: 
   1. Maintain lifelong learning and cultural curiosity by asking questions of Native persons and colleagues and consciously seeking out opportunities to learn about other cultures, e.g. through films, books, studying languages, etc.
   2. Engage in continuous self-reflection about one’s own personal history, biases, assumptions and experiences;
   3. Become comfortable with ‘not knowing’ and be open to learning from Native persons and their experiences; and
   4. Recognize there may be power/privilege dynamics, and  relate to Native persons in ways that help bridge the distance that may be caused by real and perceived differences in status. Pair and small-group exercises will help participants personally reflect on these concepts and how they apply to their work.
3. Overview of the Massachusetts Native American community, including history, demographics, cultural strengths, and challenges, including discussion of substance misuse issues;
4. Discussion of lessons learned/ best practices for working with Native communities, including Native-focused substance misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery programs and
5. Small group exercise focused on applying learnings from the workshop to hands-on prevention and treatment practices;

Save the Date for APHA 2022: "150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation: Leading the Path Toward Equity"

This two-week, asynchronous moderated course, adapted from the original SAMHSA Center for Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) course, explores the six principles of the Prevention Code of Ethics, brought to life with realistic examples designed to enhance participant understanding. The course also introduces a decision-making process to help practitioners apply this code to a variety of ethical dilemmas, and an online discussion area to facilitate discussion with other course participants.

SIX HOUR ASYNCHRONOUS VIRTUALLY MODERATED COURSE

• Course Frequency: Additional sessions will be added up to every three weeks. 
• Time Commitment: 6 hours over two weeks. While moderated, this online ethics course is asynchronous and completed at your pace within the module timeframes. Nothing happens “live”, but the discussion board posts and course progress have built in due dates. You will work independently, and the moderator will ensure the cohort is contributing to the discussion and progressing together. 
• Price: Brought to you free of charge by the Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network. 
• Certification Hours: A certificate for six (6) training hours is provided upon completion. This ethics training has been endorsed by the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) and meets the IC&RC’s prevention ethics education requirement for prevention specialist credentialing. 

The training team will present an interactive program that integrates best practices and principles regarding training for cultural humility (Fisher-Bourne, Cain and Martin, 2015; Betancourt, Green and Carrillo, 2016), while communicating essential knowledge and nuanced understanding regarding Native communities in Massachusetts.

The workshop will include the following elements:

1. Introductions with icebreakers designed to highlight participants’ experiences of cultural identity and diversity;
2. Discussion of concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility, including, for example, best practice principles delineated by the organization “Culturally Connected” https://culturallyconnected.ca/skills/adopting-cultural-humility-in-practice/: 
   1. Maintain lifelong learning and cultural curiosity by asking questions of Native persons and colleagues and consciously seeking out opportunities to learn about other cultures, e.g. through films, books, studying languages, etc.
   2. Engage in continuous self-reflection about one’s own personal history, biases, assumptions and experiences;
   3. Become comfortable with ‘not knowing’ and be open to learning from Native persons and their experiences; and
   4. Recognize there may be power/privilege dynamics, and  relate to Native persons in ways that help bridge the distance that may be caused by real and perceived differences in status. Pair and small-group exercises will help participants personally reflect on these concepts and how they apply to their work.
3. Overview of the Massachusetts Native American community, including history, demographics, cultural strengths, and challenges, including discussion of substance misuse issues;
4. Discussion of lessons learned/ best practices for working with Native communities, including Native-focused substance misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery programs and
5. Small group exercise focused on applying learnings from the workshop to hands-on prevention and treatment practices;

This two-week, asynchronous moderated course, adapted from the original SAMHSA Center for Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) course, explores the six principles of the Prevention Code of Ethics, brought to life with realistic examples designed to enhance participant understanding. The course also introduces a decision-making process to help practitioners apply this code to a variety of ethical dilemmas, and an online discussion area to facilitate discussion with other course participants.

SIX HOUR ASYNCHRONOUS VIRTUALLY MODERATED COURSE

• Course Frequency: Additional sessions will be added up to every three weeks. 
• Time Commitment: 6 hours over two weeks. While moderated, this online ethics course is asynchronous and completed at your pace within the module timeframes. Nothing happens “live”, but the discussion board posts and course progress have built in due dates. You will work independently, and the moderator will ensure the cohort is contributing to the discussion and progressing together. 
• Price: Brought to you free of charge by the Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network. 
• Certification Hours: A certificate for six (6) training hours is provided upon completion. This ethics training has been endorsed by the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) and meets the IC&RC’s prevention ethics education requirement for prevention specialist credentialing. 

The BSAS Prevention Grantee Coordinator’s Meeting will provide an opportunity for MassCALL3, OD2A and SOR-PEC grantee coordinators to hear updates from BSAS and ask grant related questions, connect with their fellow coordinator colleagues in their respective grantee cohort, and provide input on what they would like to see in follow-up sessions to the Statewide Substance Use Prevention Conference. Program coordinators from these grant programs are strongly encouraged to attend or to send representation from their program should they be unable to do so.

The BSAS Statewide Substance Use Prevention Conference has been tailored specifically for grantees funded through BSAS substance use prevention grants from the MassCALL3, OD2A and SOR-PEC. Program coordinators from these grant programs are strongly encouraged to attend or to send representation from their program should they be unable to do so. Please also be sure to share this save-the-date will all cluster/coalition, grant, and sector partners.

This year’s conference will once again be entirely virtual and free of charge.

Additional information regarding registration and the conference sessions and speakers will be announced later this fall.

*The conference will only be 1 day but we’re asking that you save 2 days to provide our potential speakers with some flexibility. We’ll confirm which day ASAP. 

This year’s theme is “The Role of Prevention Science in Achieving Social Justice and Health Equity for All.”

The Society for Prevention Research envisions a wellness-oriented society in which evidenced-based programs and policies are continuously applied to improve the health and well-being of its citizens, fostering positive human development and citizens who lead productive lives in caring relationships with others.

The SPR Annual Meeting provides a unique opportunity to advance this vision by providing a centrally integrated forum for the exchange of new concepts, methods, and results from prevention research and related public health fields; and by providing a forum for the communication between scientists, public policy leaders and practitioners concerning the implementation of evidence-based preventive interventions in all areas of public health.