Co-occurring Mental & Substance Abuse Disorders in Youth

ChildWise Institute will bring together a team of experts to present on co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders among children and youth. This Conference is designed to expand understanding and awareness of co-occurring disorders and develop competencies for mental health professionals, chemical dependency professionals, psychologists, educators, juvenile justice and healthcare providers. Participants will be able to better understand and treat children diagnosed with mental health and substance abuse disorders. Normal adolescent brain development, including brain and socio-emotional maturation, will be explored and how substance use during this time impacts adolescent functioning and relates to developmental changes.

When: May 10, 2013
Where: Helena, MT – The Gateway Center (click for directions)
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Cost: $125 (see below)

Registration fee $125 (Price includes lunch and up to 6 CEU’s or OPI Renewal Units) For more information contact Cathy Huntley, Conference Coordinator, at 406-457-4816.

Conference Description:

This conference is designed to expand understanding and awareness of co-occurring disorders and develop competencies for mental health professionals, chemical dependency professionals, psychologists, educators, juvenile justice and healthcare providers. Participants will be able to better understand and treat children diagnosed with mental health and substance abuse disorders. Normal adolescent brain development, including brain and socio-emotional maturation, will be explored and how substance use during this time impacts adolescent functioning and relates to developmental changes.

Conference Objectives:

Identify assessment and treatment dilemmas in co-occurring disorders and discuss concepts to bridge mental health and addiction systems.
Identifying treatment barriers and successful strategies to work around inhibiting factors.
Therapeutic strategies and interventions for youth using substances and exhibiting mental health problems and supporting their families.
Discuss normative adolescent development, including brain and socio-emotional maturation, and explores how substance impacts adolescent functioning.
Identify and discuss clinical implications of working with adolescents on both substance abuse issues and co-occurring mental health problems.

Who should attend?

Educators, Psychologists, Therapists, Mental Health Professionals, Healthcare Providers, Juvenile Justice, Chemical Dependency Professionals

Continuing Education:

Up to 6 CEU credits total and OPI renewals are available for social workers, therapists, psychologists, educators, and healthcare providers.

About the Speakers:

Speaker: Dr. David Mee-Lee

Presentation title: “Building Bridges in Assessment and Treatment”

Course Description:

Adolescent development tasks can contribute to assessment dilemmas over whether the adolescent’s substance use is experimentation, problem use or addiction; and/or whether there is co-occurring mental health condition. This presentation examines dilemmas in assessment and treatment for adolescents and identifies strategies that can help build bridges between mental health and addiction treatment systems. Both fields have arisen from very different roots. This cultural clash accounts for the ongoing fragmentation that has been aggravated by different training, systems and funding. Clients and clinicians are separated by ideology and treatment orientations that do not serve well youth with co-occurring conditions.

This presentation focuses on how to better meet the needs of youth using substances and exhibiting mental health problems. It offers common language of the Revised Second Edition of ASAM Criteria, ASAM PPC-2R, which includes criteria for co-occurring mental and substance-related disorders to encourage more targeted service planning and documentation.

Course Objectives:

1. To review assessment strategies, techniques and priorities to distinguish between experimentation, abuse and dependence; and also co-occurring disorders.

2. To discuss treatment strategies to address both substance use and mental health problems.

3. To identify staff, program and systems issues in providing integrated services for people with co-occurring mental and substance-related disorders.

Speaker Biography:

Dr. David Mee-Lee is a leading expert in co-occurring substance use and mental disorders with over 30 years experience in person-centered treatment and program development. He is not your usual psychiatrist, nor is he your usual educator. He writes and speaks in down-to-earth, jargon-free language and makes learning challenging and enjoyable. Audiences consistently express satisfaction with his combination of rich content and practical approach delivered in his engaging style. His down-to-earth upbringing in Australia coupled with his Chinese heritage make for an interesting mix of dry humor and quiet wisdom.
David is a Board-certified psychiatrist and is certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM). David has trained and consulted for hundreds of organizations, ranging from small mental health centers to government departments and national behavioral healthcare companies. David has also authored a number of book chapters and papers in a variety of professional publications. He is Chief Editor of the ASAM Patient Placement Criteria and is the Senior Vice President for The Change Companies®.

Speaker: Carolyn A. McCarty, PhD

Research Associate Professor, Pediatrics
Adjunct Research Associate Professor, Psychology
Seattle Children’s Hospital Center for Child Health Behavior and Development

Presentation title: “Adolescent Development and Substance Use: Understanding Behavioral and Neurocognitive influences on Functioning”

Adolescence is a crucial and necessary period of plasticity when brain circuitry and behavior is beginning to be established. Both neurobiology and the broader context of the environment are important developmental influences on adolescent behavior. This presentation examines normative adolescent development,

including brain and socio-emotional maturation, and explores how substance use during this time impacts adolescent functioning and relates to these developmental changes. Clinical implications of working with adolescents on both substance abuse issues and co-occurring mental health problems will be highlighted and discussed.

Course Objectives:

1. Review critical developmental changes and facets of brain maturation that occur during adolescence.

2. Identify risk and protective factors for adolescent substance abuse and co-occurring mental health problems.

3. Discuss effective principles and strategies working with adolescents in prevention and treatment efforts.

Speaker Biography:

Dr. Carolyn McCarty has been conducting research to better understand child and adolescent depression for the past 10 years. She has been on the faculty at the University of Washington for the past eight years, and has been productive in conducting research on understanding risk for depression, testing etiological models, conducting meta-analytic reviews, and developing intervention curricula. She has developed a prevention program entitled “Positive Thoughts and Actions” to intervene with middle school students at risk for depression. This developmentally-based prevention program is unique and innovative in addressing key contextual factors that can make a big difference during the early adolescent years, including relationships with parents and family, school functioning, and health behavior. Dr. McCarty is now actively testing the program, as well as a briefer intervention, in the Middle School Matters Study. Dr. McCarty attended Medical/Professional School at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and University of California, Los Angeles.

Speaker: Ron Clevenger
Clinical Laboratory Scientist, St. Peter’s Hospital, Helena, MT
B.S. Microbiology, Montana State University

Presentation title: “Current Drugs of Use and Drugs of Abuse”

Course Description:

To gain knowledge of emerging drugs of abuse by adolescents, review how to recognize the warning signs and symptoms of use and abuse. Ron will explore how to use drug testing as a tool in deciphering co-occurring disorders and the pros and cons of testing.

Course Objectives:

1. To review emerging trends in drugs of use and abuse.

2. To identify signs and symptoms of drug use and abuse.

3. To discuss pre-test knowledge of drugs of abuse and the pros and cons of testing for them.

Speaker Biography:

Ron Clevenger has over 30 years experience as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist for St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, MT. He has preformed several thousand drug screenings and hundreds of breath alcohol tests for Drug Information Systems, Inc. He is considered an expert witness in District Court on Drug and Alcohol cases and Federal Court on vehicular homicides (DUI). Ron has taught at Carroll College on “Drug Abuse and the Brain” and for the Department of Transportation on “Signs and Symptoms of Drug Use and Abuse”. He has presented to numerous organizations “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, a visual demonstration of diseased human organs from the effects of drug and alcohol abuse. Ron has a B.S. in Microbiology from Montana State University with a minor in Chemistry.

Session Schedule

Friday, May 10th

8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Registration

9:00 a.m. Welcome & Introduction

9:05 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Dr. Mee-Lee – Keynote Address (Co-occurring Disorders)

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Dr. Carolyn McCarty- Keynote Address (The Adolescent Brain & Substance Abuse)

12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Lunch

1:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Dr. Mee-Lee – Workshop (Co-occurring Disorders)

2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Break

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Children’s Mental Health

3:15p.m. – 4:30 p.m. “Current Drugs of Use and Drugs of Abuse” Ron Clevenger, Clinical Lab Scientist

Co-occurring Mental & Substance Abuse Disorders in Youth – TRAINING COMPLETED