PAB Survey 2008

The 2008 edition of the PAB member survey is available for download for those who were not able to attend this quarter's meeting. Please submit your responses by fax to Robert Saunders at 615-322-1141 or by email to robert [dot] c [dot] saunders [at] vanderbilt [dot] edu.

To ensure confidentiality, the repsonses will be stripped of the sending fax number and your email will be deleted after the response has been printed. No record is kept of who sent the information, unless you complete the optional name information on the survey.

Day on Capitol Hill

The Tennessee Coaltion for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services announces its annual "Day on Capitol Hill":

Day on Capitol Hill
04 March 2008
8:00 - 4:30
War Memorial Auditorium
301 Sixth Avenue North
Nashville, TN map

Register in advance by calling NAMI at (800) 467-3589 or using this registration form.

Calendar Updated

The Yahoo!Calendar (and to your right) has been updated to include events for January-March. If you know of any events that need to be added, please contact Robert by email tactblog AT yahoo.com.

PAB Meeting 28 Jan 2008

The quarterly PAB meeting will be held 28 Jan 2008:

Tennessee Dept of Health
Mid-Cumberland Regional Office Building
710 Hart St
Nashville, TN 37247
[Google Map]

SAMHSA Co-Occcurring Center for Excellence

SAMHSA's Co-Occurring Center for Excellence (COCE) has issued several "overview papers" related to co-occurring disorders. These include screening and assessment, epidemiology of the disorders, systems integration, treatment in non-traditional settings and more. You can download these from the COCE, or I've bundled the reports into a single zip file (about 3MB) on the T-ACT archive.

There is a lot of other useful information at the site, so I am adding the COCE website to the right-hand side list of links.

Online Workshop Opportunity

An announcement from the Addiction Technology Transfer Center of New England (ATTC-NE) regarding an online workshop beginning 18 Feb 2008:

Adolescent Chemical Dependency:

Current Perspectives And Treatment Approaches

The Addiction Technology Transfer Center of New England, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is offering an online course on substance abusing adolescents.

This workshop will review current perspectives on this very difficult treatment population. A discussion of the participants' experiences with the clinically challenging tasks of treating adolescents and their families will occur. A number of effect treatment techniques and approaches will be presented. Specific topics to be reviewed will include: Developmentally appropriate assessment techniques, bio-genetic influences and consequences, neurological functioning and condition progression. As well as intervention and recovery strategies that are developmentally functional and engaging that combine cognitive behavioral and 12 step approaches.

This course will be taught by Michael Torch, M.A., L.A.D.C., C.C.S., an addiction treatment provider with over 20 years experience. Currently working in Student Assistance, Outpatient Practice, and Behavioral Health consultation. He has been a trainer of alcohol and drug counselors for over 15 years, with extensive experience treating chemically dependent trauma victims in Public Schools, Correctional environments, law enforcement personnel, inpatient chemical dependency programs, and outpatient practice. Mr. Torch has served on the Alcohol and Drug Counselor Certification Review Board in New Hampshire for 15 years, is Chair of the State Advisory Board on Juvenile Justice, member of the Board of Directors for the National Coalition for Juvenile Justice, and Chair of the National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Forum.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

• Gain an understanding of the developmental differences between adolescent and adult chemical dependency.
  
• Identify the current adolescent use patterns and their relationship to effective treatment techniques.
  
• Gain an understanding of the neurological conditioning that creates cognitive barriers to recovery for this population.
  
• Discuss some productive activities that are useful with patients.
  
• Interact with others that understand why we want to work with this population.

The total cost of this course is $40.00 the course payment is due by February 18, 2008.

View the full announcement for details on accreditation.

Cocaine Vaccine

Researchers at Baylor University are working to develop a vaccine for cocaine addiction:

The vaccine, currently in clinical trials, stimulates the immune system to attack the real thing when it's taken.

The immune system — unable to recognize cocaine and other drug molecules because they are so small — can't make antibodies to attack them.

To help the immune system distinguish the drug, Kosten attached inactivated cocaine to the outside of inactivated cholera proteins.

In response, the immune system not only makes antibodies to the combination, which is harmless, but also recognizes the potent naked drug when it's ingested. The antibodies bind to the cocaine and prevent it from reaching the brain, where it normally would generate the highs that are so addictive.