Training at Prevention First

This free virtual panel of young people in Illinois aims to educate adults who work with youth about how to authentically engage them in addressing prevention using data-driven strategies. Participants will gain insights, share experiences, and learn how to support and advocate for authentically engaging youth in all aspects of prevention – data collection, analysis, development, implementation, and evaluation.

The concept of the “Wounded Healer,” a person who transforms their pain to help others, is certainly not new.  Peer support has long been a mainstay in substance use prevention and recovery.  However, recent interest in more formal models of peer support has led to an explosion in research on different types of peer roles and their benefits.  In this session, we explore the emerging peer support research as it applies to prevention, harm reduction, and recovery and discuss the benefits and potential pitfalls.

Objectives

1. Describe the purpose and scope of peer support roles, differentiating peer support from adjacent roles

2.  Demonstrate the growing evidence-based for peer-based interventions, including the biological and sociocultural basis for peer support

3. Discuss barriers to effective peer support implementation

Trauma and substance use disorders run in families across generations and are often fueled by dark family secrets. Topics covered in this presentation include the role of youth development, prevention, and clinical professionals in breaking intergenerational patterns of trauma, substance use disorders, and dark family secrets; breaking intergenerational patterns by focusing on the unique needs of children of parents with substance use disorders and children on the FASD spectrum; the role of parents and persons in recovery in breaking intergenerational patterns; mobilizing the entire community to help break intergenerational patterns of trauma and substance use disorders. You will learn about successful programs that break intergenerational patterns in Iceland, Native American, metropolitan, and rural communities.

By the end of this presentation, you will be able to:

• Articulate the importance of prevention and treatment providers working together to break intergenerational patterns.
• Address the unique needs of children of parents with substance use disorders.
• Implement strategies to help break generational patterns of trauma, substance use disorders, and dark family secrets in your role as a behavioral health provider or prevention specialist.
• Learn strategies to break intergenerational patterns in urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Change management plays a critical role in building organizational resilience. Leading people and managing programs during times of disruption and transition requires knowledge of the social, emotional, and psychological impact on people and the development of a unique set of skills necessary for you and your Team to survive and thrive. 

Learning Objectives

After this training, you will have learned strategies to:

• Adapt to changing circumstances with less disruption and distress
• Adopt new policies and structures using effective, empathetic communication and facilitating authentic employment engagement
• Support staff, youth, and families served by your program
• Sustain programming during times of uncertainty

The training aims to provide participants with the background knowledge and practical skills that they need to address suicidal risk and behaviors in clients in care for substance use disorder treatment. Participants will have the opportunity to increase their knowledge and apply practical skills in the following areas:

Approaching Your Work: Learn how to manage reactions related to suicide and maintain a collaborative, non-adversarial stance. Acquire the necessary skills to address potential conflicts between a care professional’s goal to prevent suicide and relapse and a client’s goal to eliminate psychological pain via suicidal behavior.

Understanding Suicide: Gain an understanding of the definitions and language used when talking about suicide, as well as the data that are relevant to addressing suicide in substance use disorder treatment including risk and protective factors, warning signs, and the complicating factors of substance misuse, including opioids.

Gathering Information: Identify key points in treatment where a suicide assessment should occur, what questions to ask to learn more about a client’s suicidal thoughts and behaviors past and present, and how to ask them. Participants will practice asking questions in an interactive learning environment designed to help build confidence. The training presents key scenarios, such as when to seek supervision or consultation and what to do when someone discloses suicidal thoughts during a group treatment session.

Formulating Risk: Practice synthesizing assessment information into a risk formulation that will help inform the next steps in treatment. AMSR emphasizes the importance of using a risk formulation not for prediction but as information to make a collaborative decision regarding recovery-oriented treatment planning.

Planning and Responding: Review suggested actions to take based on a risk formulation using resources from SAMHSA’s TIP 50 and evidence-based interventions. Practice having conversations related to safety planning and addressing the potential for relapse through means counseling interventions.

Twenty years ago, Tazewell County, Illinois, suffered unimaginable roadway losses. Over 15 months, 15 teens died in car crashes, with half of those teens being under the influence of intoxicating substances. The community came together to form a coalition. The coalition overcame significant obstacles using best practices and the Strategic Prevention Framework to reduce youth substance use and impaired driving. This webinar will describe the community conditions before and after implementing the coalition’s efforts. You will learn the importance of adhering to best practices and why collaboration is the key to success. 

Speakers:

Jody Heavilin, Administrator, Alcohol Policy Resource Center at Prevention First

Jody Heavilin has over 30 years of experience in substance use prevention, intervention, and treatment. She led a county-wide coalition through the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), resulting in a 64% reduction in 12th graders who self-reported drinking and driving. Jody worked as a Training and Technical Assistance Specialist for Prevention First before transitioning to the Alcohol Policy Resource Center, serving as the Administrator since 2019. She is responsible for the APRC monthly newsletter, which has a nationwide reach of over 7,000 people, law enforcement training on alcohol strategies, and resource creation.

Jody’s expertise includes the SPF, coalition capacity building, alcohol policy, data analysis, and environmental prevention strategies. She received two Illinois MADD Hero of the Year Awards (2011, 2014) and the 2022 Illinois Prevention Leadership Award. Jody earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Eureka College in 1990.

John Shallenberger, Deputy Sheriff, Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office

John Shallenberger, a Deputy Sheriff with the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office, has dedicated 28 years to law enforcement. He began his career as a Correctional Officer and progressed to the rank of Sergeant before becoming a Deputy Sheriff in 2002, where he was assigned to the Patrol Division. In 2006, John was selected for a position in the Crime Prevention Unit, which he continues to hold.

John's responsibilities in the Crime Prevention Unit are extensive. He is a Certified DARE Instructor, Certified Child Passenger Technician, Certified A.L.I.C.E. Instructor, Certified Illinois Juvenile Officer, Certified Elderly Service Officer, and Certified School Resource Officer.

As an original member of the Tazewell County Teen Initiative, John served as Co-chairperson for several years. He has also presented nationally at the GHSA and LifeSavers Conference about the Tazewell Teen Initiative coalition.

John's achievements have been recognized with several awards. He received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Ford Driving Skills for Life Team, the Distinguished Service Award from the Illinois Juvenile Officer Association, and the Innovation in the Classroom Award from the National Association of School Resource Officers.

Sara Sparkman

Sara Sparkman worked in public health for 32 years at the Tazewell County Health Department.  She served as a Health Educator, Assistant Director of Health Education, and Communications Manager.  Through her role at Tazewell County Health Department, Sara wrote grants to secure funding, including Drug Free Communities, Strategic Prevention Framework - State Incentive Grant, Teen REACH, as well as private funding. 

Sara served as the Chair of the Tazewell Teen Initiative for several years after it was created in response to teen crash fatalities. She led the coalition through the strategic prevention framework to access and plan for the reduction of alcohol and other drug-impaired driving.  Sara hosted nationally known speakers at community education presentations and several Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement trainings for law enforcement officers. 

Sara received the Illinois State Police Director’s Award in 2008 for her work with the Tazewell Teen Initiative and the Illinois Department of Public Health award.  She graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1988. She retired in 2023.

Limited spots are available.

This training provides skill-building in the use of the ASAM Criteria as a framework for determining the most appropriate intensity of services and how a harm reduction model/approach, specifically providing strategies for working with clients on goal setting, application of risk reduction skills and evaluation of treatment goals fits within the broader framework of the Criteria’s six dimensions and levels of care.

All participants receive an electronic copy of an in-depth training journal to guide the training experience and as a resource for continuing skill application as part of the training.

The link to join the training will be emailed to you prior to the training.

The Illinois Department of Human Services funds this training and is only open to license-funded treatment professionals in the state of Illinois.

If you have any questions, please contact Maddie Seigfried by email at madison.mccormick@prevention.org or by phone at 217.993.2889

This workshop will address the role that trauma plays in the teams that we supervise. Trauma-informed supervision combines the knowledge of trauma and the principles of supervision. Creating a safe environment for supervision is imperative to prevent and treat vicarious trauma that arises in staff by applying the principles of trauma-informed care to supervision. Staff self-care is essential for staff well-being, the ability to provide ethical care, and the functioning of the team/agency.

Objectives:

1. Participants will review the role of supervision in a trauma-informed environment.
2. Participants will review the role of vicarious trauma in the supervision process and effective strategies to mitigate it.
3. Participants will discuss how to apply trauma-informed principles into supervision.
4. Participants will review the role of selfcare in providing ethical treatment and managing compassion fatigue.