SPHERE s TRAINING DIRECTORY 1
SPHERE s capacity-building trainings are designed to provide engaging training experiences that increase participants awareness and knowledge of a given topic, while building their skills, comfort, confidence and willingness to apply the new knowledge in their work and counseling. Our curriculum and training facilitation are based on principles of adult learning, a profound respect for the adult learner, and the belief that awareness supports action. Participants consistently rate their SPHERE training experience with high marks. Some comments received on recent evaluations: Our treatment team really listens when SPHERE comes to speak. We love how energized we get about our practice when we get your perspectives and you always integrate our thoughts and concerns into your presentation. More than building my capacity as a professional, this training has made me a better, more thoughtful person, overall. Engaging, enlightening and packed full of information that can be used the moment you step back onto the treatment floor. It was so helpful. The presenter was very involved and portrayed a lot of respect when working with the group. His real life examples were extremely helpful. Best training I have ever been to. 2
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for Professional Development CEUs for social workers, nurses, certified addiction counselors, and community health educators are available for all SPHERE trainings. Other CEUs can be obtained, upon request, and based on need and resources. If your staff requires additional CEUs, please discuss this with a SPHERE trainer before the training. Training Lengths 90-Minute Webinars Half day (3 hours) Full day (5.5 hours) Multiple Days Tailored to your setting Training Topics: SPHERE has developed many high quality, nationally acclaimed training curriculum. Some topics are described below (along with their respective goals), and can be customized to your staff, work setting, or program s public health needs. SPHERE can also develop training curriculum and experiences on other topics of interest to your staff. If you would like a training and don t see it listed below, please contact SPHERE s Director, Mindy Domb (by phone at 1-413-256-3406 or by e-mail at mdomb@healthimperatives.org) to discuss curriculum development. 3
Table of Contents Training Topics Half-Day Trainings (3 hour). 5 Webinars (90 minutes) 9 Full Day Trainings (5.5 hours). 10 4
Training Topics HALF DAY 3 HOUR TRAININGS HIV Update This training explores the connections between HIV infection and substance use. It clarifies basic and current HIV information related to HIV transmission and prevention, course of illness, HIV testing and advances in HIV treatment. The training also offers an opportunity for participants to create a shared definition of the role of the drug and alcohol treatment professional in providing HIV support to clients in treatment. Conducting Client-Centered HIV Risk Assessment This training focuses on risk assessments within the drug and alcohol treatment setting. Information about the core components, content, and process of risk assessments is provided, as well as tools for eliciting clients' participation in assessing risk behaviors. Integrating risk assessment into treatment is also discussed, and tools are introduced to facilitate the conversation. Discovering Status & Engaging with Care: Decision-Making in the New HIV Testing Era This training helps providers to understand the value and importance of supporting individuals to find out their HIV status. We discuss challenges to HIV testing and strategies that leverage the process for personal HIV prevention planning and access to medical care. In addition, the training gives participants the opportunity to consider integrating these important conversations into their practices. 5
Getting Comfortable Having Conversations about HIV Risk & Risk Reduction This training addresses the difficulties and reluctance providers may experience in initiating discussions with clients about sexual behaviors, sexual histories and HIV risk. Strategies and practice opportunities are offered to overcome these obstacles in order to integrate sexual risk assessments into every treatment plan. Harm Reduction 101: The Basics This training reviews the principles of Harm Reduction, and describes a spectrum of harm reduction activities and opportunities available in the drug and alcohol treatment setting. It offers a safe forum to exchange information, ideas and concerns around incorporating harm reduction into direct services. The training also discusses effective harm reduction services, skills, and interventions. Harm Reduction 201: Meeting People Where They re At and Other Skills in the Harm Reduction Toolbox It is strongly recommended that participants attend a Harm Reduction 101: The Basics training (see above) prior to attending this training. This training is designed to identify harm reduction strategies and skills that support counseling professionals to take harm reduction principles and incorporate them into their work and conversations. Participants will also become familiar with specialized tools that further help integrate harm reduction into their work and conversations. Understanding Motivational Interviewing & Using Stages of Change to Support Change Motivational Interviewing is a set of techniques used to support an individual s motivation to create and implement change in their lives. It rests on the Stages of Change theory. This training introduces providers to motivational interviewing, its general approach, goals and techniques. Depending on participants, we explore the use of these techniques and approaches in different settings. 6
Making Better Referrals This training defines supported referrals and their importance. We discuss disclosure challenges and their implications for successful referrals. We explore strategies to increase disclosure comfort as we review ways to measure client referral readiness. Lastly, the training also offers tools to build participants referral capacity. The training provides an opportunity to engage in action planning in order to increase individual and programmatic referral capacity. Viral Hepatitis ABCs: The Basics This workshop focuses on the connection between viral hepatitis and substance use/misuse. Symptoms, transmission, prevention, and diagnosis of viral Hepatitis A, B, and C are discussed. This training introduces the participant to the importance of addressing and responding to viral Hepatitis in drug and alcohol treatment. Understanding Hepatitis C: The Basics This workshop focuses on the connections between Hepatitis C and substance use and misuse. We review Hepatitis C epidemiology, symptoms of the infection, as well as diagnosis, transmission and prevention. The training explores the provider s role in generating site-specific strategies for client education, prevention and harm reduction. 7
Understanding Opioid Overdose Prevention: The Basics This training gives participants the basic information needed to understand an opioid overdose, opioid overdose risk factors, and opportunities for education and intervention in drug and alcohol treatment, homeless shelters, HIV service organizations, and other health and human service settings. The training describes the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose, as well as overdose prevention and response. Participants identify opportunities for intervention available to them. Narcan Responder Training - An additional one-hour training (added to our Overdose Prevention training) that offers participants an opportunity to become trained as Narcan Responders. Supporting Patient Communication Skills to Improve Patient-Provider Communication: Strategies for Drug & Alcohol Treatment Providers Research has shown the significance of patient-provider communication in health care and its impact on health outcomes. The training reviews these issues as we focus on the role of drug and alcohol treatment providers to support clients to improve their communication skills with medical providers as an important strategy to achieving better health results. 8
90-MINUTE WEBINARS WEBINAR: Tips & Resources on Conducting Culturally Appropriate & Client-Centered HIV Risk Assessment This webinar focuses on providing participants with tips and resources to conduct culturally appropriate, client-centered HIV risk assessment conversations with individuals who have substance use in their histories. This webinar describes a variety of tools and resources that support the HIV risk conversation, and identify program activities that strengthen these conversations. WEBINAR: How to Integrate Hepatitis C Into Your Work The webinar content provides the knowledge and skills to support people living with/at risk for viral Hepatitis infection to assess their risk, find out their status, and obtain hepatitis-related services. This webinar describes a variety of tools and resources that support conversations about Hepatitis C and identify program activities that strengthen these conversations. 9
FULL DAY TRAININGS Getting Started: the Logistics of Developing HIV Education Groups for Clients This training focuses on staff s role in developing and implementing group HIV education for clients. It highlights the skill building and risk assessment opportunities these groups provide, and clarifies the benefits and goals of group education. The importance of a supportive environment for group discussion, individual disclosure and risk reduction skill building is discussed. Special considerations of group education for the provider across treatment modalities are explored. Incorporating Harm Reduction Skills Into Your Work or Practice Harm Reduction is a public health approach that helps people identify and reduce the harm in their life caused by drug and/or alcohol use. This training is designed to reinforce participants' knowledge about harm reduction principles and identify strategies that support participants to take those principles and incorporate them into their work. The training reviews the challenges around practicing harm reduction. It identifies a clear set of harm reduction skills that can be adapted to various settings. The training gives participants an opportunity to practice these skills. Participants also become familiar with specialized tools that further help integrate harm reduction into their work. 10
Incorporating Overdose Prevention Messages into Drug and Alcohol Treatment This training gives participants the information they need to incorporate opioid overdose prevention messages into their work with clients. The training outlines opioid overdose risk factors, including those that can put substance users at high risk for an unintentional overdose. In addition, the training describes the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and the ways to prevent and respond to the crisis. Participants have an opportunity to identify strategies they can implement when working with clients and their families in treatment programs. Narcan Responder Training - An additional one-hour training (added to our Overdose Prevention training) that offers participants an opportunity to become trained as Narcan Responders. Making Connections Between Women, HIV/AIDS Risk and Substance Use This training was developed with funding from the Office for Women s Health, the US Department of Health and Human Services. The goal of the training is to increase awareness of the specific HIV/AIDS risks for women, particularly those with substance use/misuse histories. The training also builds the capacity of drug and alcohol treatment providers, and other health and human service providers, to incorporate this awareness into their work through risk assessment, education and referral for prevention, testing and treatment. We discuss HIV/AIDS epidemiology in women in the United States, special transmission and risk factors for women, barriers to HIV testing and HIV treatment women face, and strategies to overcome these barriers and meet the special needs of women. 11
Understanding & Integrating New Information in Drug & Alcohol Treatment This training clarifies the connections between HIV risk and substance use and misuse. It explores these connections and provides information about HIV transmission, course of infection, symptoms, prevention efforts and treatment advances. We review the information that has changed and not changed in the past 30 years. The training identifies components of HIV integration and identifies the ways counselors can apply this knowledge and support into their work. Understanding Substance Use, Misuse and Abuse This training reviews categories of substances, the basic concepts of addiction and recovery, including levels of substance use and mis-use, treatment modalities, and assessment of referral readiness. This training explores attitudes and beliefs about people who use substances, challenges to addressing their needs, and different strategies to support them. Participants review the drug and alcohol treatment continuum of care available in Massachusetts and identify appropriate resources and referrals for substance-using clients. Viral Hepatitis ABCs: The Basics This training focuses the connection between viral hepatitis and substance use and misuse. The role of the liver is described, as we outline the impact of viral hepatitis infection on health. The transmission, prevention, symptoms and diagnosis of Hepatitis A, B, and C is described. Treatment challenges are named. The training provides opportunities for participants to build their hepatitis assessment skills and increase their viral hepatitis referral capacity. The training also offers ample opportunity for participants to explore their ability to integrate viral Hepatitis into their work, what they need to progress their effort, and develop strategies for implementation. 12