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Oct. 2, 2023
In this issue ...
Reflections from Oregon Health Authority (OHA)’s Child and Family Behavioral Health (CFBH) Director, Chelsea Holcomb
The rainy days have started, and Halloween is right around the corner! Holiday decorations are already going up in my community and I can’t wait to see all the creative costumes when I go with my family to “trick-or-treat.” October also marks National Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Prevention Month, and throughout the month it is time to empower our youth to make informed choices regarding substance use. This annual observance serves as a reminder of the critical role parents, educators, and communities play in shaping the lives of youth. It's an opportunity to address the challenges surrounding substance use and create an environment where young people can thrive, free from the harmful effects of addiction. This is a good time to talk to the young people in your life about the fake pill epidemic, even if you don’t know they are using substances. This epidemic of fentanyl laced pills has taken many lives, and it only takes one pill, one time to end a life. For more information, and to find resources, go to A Song for Charlie.
SUD Prevention Month provides a platform to address these issues openly. All of us can take steps to protect and guide our youth toward healthier choices. Prevention is critically important, and awareness campaigns during October provide parents, teachers, and mentors with the tools and knowledge needed to recognize early signs of substance use and intervene effectively. Peer-led initiatives, where older students mentor younger ones, can be highly effective in conveying the message about the dangers of substance use. Young people often connect better with their peers and may be more receptive to their guidance.
For those already struggling with substance use, this observance highlights the importance of seeking help and finding support systems. It encourages individuals to reach out to professionals, friends, and family members who can offer assistance and guidance.
SUD Prevention Month is not just about acknowledging the issue, it's about taking action to protect our youth and give them the tools they need to make informed choices. By raising awareness, providing education, and fostering a supportive environment, we can empower our young people to steer clear of the dangers of substance use and work toward a healthier, brighter future.
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For the past few months OHA has been sponsoring a monthly clinical consultation with experts from the National Association of Dually Diagnosed (NADD). These consultations will be on hiatus through the end of 2023, we will provide updated information on these consultation times in the new year. Look to this newsletter for further announcements. Additionally, we would like to apologize for the technical issues that prevented the September Consultation time from occurring. We are working to ensure that problems like this do not occur in the future.
Reach out to Jessica Stout with any questions: jessica.l.stout@oha.oregon.gov.
My name is Megan Kirk (Mx./she/her) and I am excited to join the CFBH unit as this year’s Hatfield Fellow, through the Center for Public Service at PSU. I have a B.A. in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of International Affairs from the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. I have also worked extensively in high school and university systems alongside other work in law, paleontology, research, and marketing. My background in negotiations and policy help me frame strategic goals, so I will be working on the new version of the CFBH Roadmap.
I am new to Oregon, but it has always been a dream of mine to be here! In my free time you can find me in museums of all kinds or walking around Portland with my dog. I love new experiences whatever they look like, so if there is something cool, new, or weird, I will probably be there. And, like all other adults, I like to sit and do absolutely nothing when I can.
Megan Kirk
On Sept. 8, the Youth & Young Adult Substance Use Prevention and Recovery Symposium was held in person at the University of Oregon, led by Youth Young Adult Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Program Policy Coordinator, Bernardino De La Torre of our CFBH unit. The event was presented with the support of Mental Health and Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO), who offered continuing education credits for attendees. Speakers included OHA Behavioral Health Director Ebony Clarke, Alcohol Drug Policy Commission Director (ADPC) Annaliese Dolph and co-founder of the 4th Dimension (4D) Recovery Tony Vezina. They were joined by CFBH’s Jill Baker and Shanda Hochstetler who presented on the intersection between youth suicide and substance use.
The symposium was a recommendation of the Youth and Young Adult Substance Use Disorder Collaborative, which had reconvened in 2021 to bring youth with lived experience, providers, and funders together to discuss priorities for youth SUD treatment. One of the Collaborative’s priorities was a yearly conference with content decided by a SUD steering committee. Bernardino has created a steering committee which is “community led and focuses on improving the system of care through prevention, recovery training and workforce development”, and which became the vision for the first SUD symposium in September. Through the participation of schools, peer mentors, prevention specialists and the community, the symposium featured presentations on supporting prevention of substance misuse in schools and supporting adolescents in early recovery via the recovery high school model. There were also panel discussions with multicultural recovery mentors and the state opioid response.
The presentations were recorded, and links will be posted on the CFBH website as they become available.
Shanda Hochstetler, Jill Baker, Bernardino De La Torre and Chelsea Holcomb
Chelsea Holcomb, Annaliese Dolph and Tony Vezina
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In 2012, 4D Recovery Center was established in Portland as a recovery community organization. The co-founders had a vision to create a place where addicts and alcoholics could meet with peers who understood their struggles. 4D’s goal was to provide a safe space for young people seeking recovery that was drug and alcohol free. It is peer run, and they focus on youth, young adults and their families with specialty services for communities of color and LGBTQIA2S+*. Co-founder and Executive Director Tony Vezina said, “We wanted to leverage the power and capacity of the natural recovery system: people in recovery that help each other. This system is larger than behavioral health services, so we bring all these people together, take peer mentors and recruit people and coach them into recovery. We get them connected with the community and form an identity in recovery. This coming out is an identity change, and we send the message that there is no wrong way to recover.”
Tony is the chair of the ADPC and is also on the board of MHACBO. He is also a co-founder of Harmony Academy Recovery High School in Lake Oswego. He works with senators on bills in session that are geared towards adolescent care and families. Tony is a state certified trainer and a qualified mental health professional. He has stated, “We want to be working with kids with SUD that want to quit. We want to provide places where they are hanging out, having fun, and connecting with other kids who are sober and want that lifestyle. Research shows that kids are most influenced by their peers.” 4D represents a pro-recovery culture run by youth and young adults where new arrivals are encouraged. They use the "each one teach one” model where someone in recovery longer will help someone newer.
4D’s most recent work is adolescent and family recovery. There are parent support groups and engagement as well as group activities so everyone is supporting each other. By getting the parents to participate in recovery, the whole family can change and adapt. “We know our lane and we know what we’re good at. We need clinical partnerships to harmoniously support these kids and families. If the kid is in recovery, the family needs to be in recovery to change and adapt. We need to be aggressive to get parents involved,” Tony said.
To learn more about 4D, the services they provide, including events and mentorships, or to get involved, visit their website.
*Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or gender expansive, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit and the many other sexual and gender identities people carry.
We are excited to announce an upcoming RFGA for youth SUD prevention and treatment. 2 million dollars will be awarded, sourced from the Substance Abuse Treatment Recovery Block Grant received from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The RFGA will be posted on Oregon Buys and that posting is anticipated to occur this month.
The RFGA is focused on specific one-time supports for the youth and young adult SUD system. Applicants are encouraged to apply for funds for one or more of the following areas:
- Harm reduction
- Culturally specific services
- School based prevention
- Family involvement in treatment
- Peer support
Who can apply: Schools, school districts, non-profits, peer supported programs, and others! Counties and governmental entities may not apply.
Examples of potential program ideas: A high school interested in funds to promote prevention in their school, a non-profit doing culturally specific work in prevention or treatment for youth or young adults, a residential program looking to bring additional family focus into their work.
For more information or questions about the RFGA, please contact Bernardino De La Torre at bernardino.delatorre@oha.oregon.gov.
The Youth Data Council (YDC) started in March 2022 as a way for young people to tell the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Public Health Division and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) how to improve the Student Health Survey (SHS). The SHS is a survey that students take in the fall during class that asks questions about a range of topics that may or may not be relevant to youth and their lives. Students are taking the survey, so it is important for students to have a voice in the topics and types of questions that are being asked, what the data means and how the data is being used. The YDC makes sure that the SHS is focusing on topics and asking questions that are meaningful to students in Oregon schools.
The SHS is a tool that helps all Oregon students get the support and services they need to achieve success. We want our survey to reflect the lives of young people across Oregon and provide data to drive programs and policies that will improve students’ well-being.
Members don't need any special skills or training to be part of the YDC – experience in life is enough. YDC members have a wide variety of skills and interests to get the workgroup projects done. YDC members are enthusiastic about sharing their stories, experiences, and ideas to improve the survey and want to partner with adults working in state systems and school districts. To give input on the SHS, YDC members:
- Are 15 to 20 years old, and
- Have been a student in a public school in Oregon.
If you are interested in being a part of the 2023/24 YDC, or know someone who would be, please fill out this application. Visit their website to learn more.
For information, or to learn how your organization can engage with the YDC, contact Kari Greene at kari.greene@odhsoha.oregon.gov.
Purpose: Provide a space for providers, community members, youth and family to offer feedback and insight on current and future work of OHA’s CFBH unit.
Format: Conversations each month follow a theme. We will provide background on the theme followed by plenty of time for your input, suggestions, and feedback.
October’s theme: Discuss prevention within the continuum of care — the aim is that our work addresses gaps and quality in the children’s behavioral health continuum of care and is centering communities that have been disproportionally impacted by health inequity and systemic racism.
Facilitators: Director of Child and Family Behavioral Health Chelsea Holcomb, System of Care Policy Strategist Hilary Harrison, and others from the team.
When:
- First Wednesday of each month 2 to 3:30 p.m.
- Third Thursday of each month 5 to 6:30 p.m.
How to join:
This group is providing feedback for the development of the next version of the children’s behavioral health strategy, or Roadmap. These meetings are being held the second Thursday of each month from 4 to 5 p.m. on Zoom.
- The next meeting is set for October 12.
- The focus for October will be conversations around the data driven decision making pathway in the Roadmap.
If you are a part of a family group in the community then we would welcome your engagement in this work. In the development of the next version of the Roadmap, it is especially important to ensure that we hear and center the voices of those who have been historically marginalized and those experiencing developmental disability.
We are happy to come listen to your group’s insights on system needs for both mental health and substance use disorder for young people, from infancy through age 25, or to facilitate a guided conversation.
Intensive Treatment Services capacity remains a critical concern to CFBH. Each week we receive data on capacity for acute inpatient beds and psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) beds, and on substance use disorder residential bed capacity. We monitor these data to understand patterns and to offer help in keeping programs operational.
The capacity chart below looks different this month! As we continue to learn more about these data, we will continue to show you how the data evolves. This month, we were able to update the capacity chart to show a more detailed breakdown of beds.
- The monthly maximum operational capacity is still represented by the columns, but you’ll notice that the number is in green above the column now.
- The columns are divided into two categories: maximum operational capacity of acute inpatient beds and maximum operational capacity of PRTF beds. This is an important differentiation between the two types of beds, because when we talk about building capacity, we are solely referring to PRTF capacity. When the goal of 286 beds was developed several years ago, it was based on PRTF capacity. However, as the CFBH team began monitoring beds, it became apparent that it was crucial to include acute inpatient beds in our tracking, as these beds often become a holding place for youth who actually need and may be ready for a PRTF bed.
- It was not our intention to give a false sense of progress toward increasing capacity, but upon closer inspection, we certainly saw how it could appear that way. To clear up any confusion, we will now show the difference in PRTF and acute inpatient beds in our graphics.
- The title has also been updated to more accurately state what this graph displays.
All other aspects of the graph remain the same:
- The top line represents the goal for the system established in 2020, of having 286 beds available for youth.
- The line below shows the highest possible capacity that could have been available, given full staffing and removal of all other barriers.
- The columns in the bar chart represent the maximum operational capacity in a month based on the data collected. To determine this number for each month, the CFBH team reviews the data submitted by providers on a weekly basis and identifies the week that has the highest combined census of all PRTF and acute inpatient programs.
- In the last 12 months the largest impact on capacity has been the ongoing struggle to fill workforce vacancies and manage staffing levels.
Find events, opportunities, trainings and resources in last month’s posting. Many of these trainings are also on our website. We will send updates mid-month — Look for the next one in your inbox on October 15.
For feedback and suggestions for our newsletter and information: kids.team@dhsoha.state.or.us
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