Category: Professional Development

Great Opportunity for Master’s-Level Addiction Students

The SASSI Institute is a proud National Association of Addiction Professionals (NAADAC) continuing education provider. As such, we receive periodic emails with special announcements. Earlier this month we received the below email from Jessica O’Brien, LCSW, CASAC, Director of Training and Professional Development, that we wished to share with you:

“Master ’s-level addiction counseling students can earn $15,000 towards their educational journey through the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program.

The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Minority Fellowship Program for Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC) is a program made possible by a grant awarded to the NBCC Foundation in collaboration with NAADAC from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The 2024 program year will award up to 43 master’s-level fellowships for addiction counseling students for $15,000 each. Awardees are also paired with a mentor in the field and receive additional professional development resources, including travel to the NAADAC Annual Conference.

The application period is open now and will run through Sept. 30, 2024.

Disclaimer: Please be advised that MFP-AC awards are subject to future funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA). For more information and application to apply, please go to: https://www.naadac.org/MFP

Please pass this along to anyone who you think would be interested!”

The Skeptical Inquirer’s New Editor and Investigating Pop Psychology

We would like to congratulate Stephen Hupp, PhD, co-developer of the Behaviors & Attitudes Drinking & Driving Scale – BADDS, on his recent appointment as Editor of the skeptically themed print publication Skeptical Inquirer Magazine.

Dr. Hupp has been a long-time reader and contributor to the magazine and his most recent contribution is a FREE presentation “Investigating Pop Psychology: Pseudoscience, Fringe Science, and Controversies.” Science-based advances in the field of psychology continue to grow at an impressive rate; however, even more claims in psychology have little-to-no research support. What does it mean for a mental health treatment to be considered “evidence-based” and “science-based”—and how can you tell the difference? In the presentation, Dr. Hupp offers recommendations for how to resist false claims and avoid the pseudoscience of pop psychology, and he speaks to a wide range of topics such as phrenology, extrasensory perception, dream interpretation, learning styles, brain training, energy psychology, and the role of alternative medicine in the field of mental health. The presentation also includes contributions from several fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and several other prominent skeptical scholars.

If you would like to learn more about the magazine, we encourage you to watch an interview conducted with Dr. Hupp by Rob Palmer, an online columnist with the Skeptical Inquirer: “Introducing Skeptical Inquirer’s New Editor: A Conversation with Stephen Hupp.” You will get Dr. Hupp’s insights about being the new editor of the magazine, his thoughts on how the Skeptical Inquirer differs from other skeptical publications, and the story of how he got the job. The interview also includes his opinions about the accuracy of Wikipedia, the trend of print magazines slowly becoming obsolete, and the controversy surrounding the continued use of the term “skeptic.” You can subscribe to the print and digital magazine for less than $20 a year!

Opportunity for Experienced SASSI Users

If you enjoy sharing knowledge and have an enthusiasm for the SASSI, we invite you to consider becoming a certified SASSI trainer. We are looking for individuals to offer live in-person trainings to the public (open trainers) in their state/province of residence and possibly surrounding states/provinces, as well as individuals to provide training for their organization’s staff and their satellite offices (closed trainers).

Open trainers charge a fee to participants and advertise their training to the public (placement on SASSI website is provided). Closed trainers do not advertise to the public and do not collect a registration fee for providing the training. Both types of trainers can issue certificates of attendance with continuing education credits and all materials needed to provide training are sent at no cost.

Qualifications for trainers are as follows:

  • At least five years of experience in addictions or mental health counseling
  • Experience in assessment, group work, teaching, or workshop presentation
  • Experience using the SASSI, having screened at least 20 clients with it
  • Good verbal communication skills
  • Education: College degree or advanced degree or certification as a substance abuse professional
  • Experience in psychometrics helpful, but not required

Procedures for obtaining open trainer certification can be found here and closed trainer certification here. Please reply to scarlett@sassi.com with any questions or to apply.

Engaging Caregivers & Family Members into an Adolescent’s Intervention & Treatment

Learn to strengthen social support for clients and families in order to learn skills that can be used with the entire family. Adolescent-Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) skills are simple, behavioral, and easy for families to repeat during family sessions and outside of treatment. The positive, supportive approach of A-CRA allows participants to focus on the positive aspects of the family and build upon family strengths to improve relationships.

On Thursday March 16th, The SASSI Institute will be sponsoring a workshop on the A-CRA approach with families. The workshop will be hosted by Courtney Hupp, MSW, LCSW, CADC, who is an EBT Clinical Coordinator at Chestnut Health Systems in Illinois. She had an active role in the Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) study, funded by NIAAA, in which she administered the ACC and Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) protocols to residential clients’ post-discharge, as well as supervised other therapists on the study. Courtney has clinical experience with a variety of populations and settings including domestic violence intervention, crisis intervention, corrections, substance use disordered adults and adolescents, adults with developmental disabilities, persons with HIV and AIDS, and adults with severe and persistent mental illness. For the past 18 years, Courtney has trained and certified therapists across the U.S. and Canada in CRA and A-CRA. She has conducted over 80 trainings and has helped to certify over 1,000 therapists and supervisors in the CRA and A-CRA models.

The A-CRA intervention has been implemented in outpatient, intensive outpatient, schools, prevention services, and residential treatment settings. This research-tested intervention has been used in over 500 organizations across the United States and Canada. Courtney will introduce the A-CRA model, a summary of the research base, and details about how to use A-CRA during family sessions.

To learn more about this workshop and/or to register, please visit: Adolescent – Community Reinforcement Approach – FAMILY SESSIONS

SASSI customers and university students please email scarlett@sassi.com and mention this blog for a special offer code.

SASSI Training

As we prepare to move into 2023, we are excited that our certified SASSI trainers throughout the U.S. and Canada have begun doing live in-person trainings again and with more frequency. We invite you to check out our training page to view a list of currently scheduled workshops at https://sassi.com/sassi-training/.  These lists are updated frequently and also contain contact information for your local trainer/s. If nothing is scheduled in your area, we encourage you to reach out directly to the trainer so they know there is interest in their area. We also continue to offer online training webinars both live and on-demand if in-person is not a viable option for you.

Reminder: Our clinical team is available M-F to answer questions about the administration, scoring, and interpretation of our instruments at 800.726.0526 option 2. This is a free service, and we encourage you to call often.

Happy holidays to all.

Registration Open: Adolescent-Community Reinforcement Approach

Courtney Hupp, MSW, LCSW, CADC will be presenting a live webinar on implementing the A-CRA treatment model on November 14th. On December 1st she will be presenting how to implement Family Sessions using this model.

The treatment model known as Adolescent-Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) recognizes that, at least initially, alcohol and drug use is about reinforcing consequences — that make us more likely to repeat actions. This is true whether we are hanging out with friends, playing a favorite game, eating a good meal, or using alcohol or other drugs. People who use alcohol and drugs get something out of it – or they wouldn’t keep doing it.

The overall goal of A-CRA is to help individuals reconnect with or discover new sources of positive reinforcement within their community to compete with alcohol or drug use. How do A-CRA clinicians do this? By listening to and learning from their clients what is important to them. They then help them connect to pro-recovery activities that have meaning and value to their client. In addition, A-CRA clinicians help their clients identify goals and learn how to achieve them. A-CRA clients also learn a variety of new skills, such as problem-solving and positive communication (with partners, friends, and others), which help them attain a better quality of life. Practicing new skills is a critical component of the skills training used in A-CRA. Every session ends with a mutually-agreed upon homework assignment to practice skills learned during sessions. A-CRA clinicians engage caregivers or other family members to support the client and to learn skills that can be used with the entire family.

This intervention has been implemented in outpatient, intensive outpatient, schools, prevention services, and residential treatment settings. This research-tested intervention has been used in over 500 organizations across the United States and Canada. Courtney Hupp will provide an introduction to the A-CRA model, a summary of the research base, and details about how to use a variety of A-CRA skills during sessions.

What You Will Learn:
• An Introduction to the A-CRA model
• History of A-CRA research and implementation
• Goals of A-CRA treatment
• An overview of the A-CRA session structure and treatment guidelines
• How to use some of the A-CRA procedures during sessions like a Functional Analysis for substance use, Happiness Scale, Sobriety Sampling, and Increasing Prosocial Recreation
• General clinical skills necessary to implement A-CRA

FAMILY SESSIONS:
Engaging caregivers and other healthy family members into A-CRA treatment to strengthen social support. A-CRA clinicians help clients and families learn skills that can be used with the entire family. A-CRA skills are simple, behavioral, and easy for families to repeat during the family sessions and outside of treatment. In addition, the positive, supportive approach of A-CRA allows participants to focus on the positive aspects of the family and build upon family strengths to improve the relationship.

On addition to bullets above you will also learn:
• How to use the A-CRA skills during family session. Family session skills include: three positives exercise, relationship happiness scale, problem solving, communication skills, and daily reminder to be nice.

Be sure to register for one or both of these webinars at: www.sassi.com/other-training-online

Challenging Behaviors in Children: Components of Evidence-Based Treatments

In recent years the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Development (a division of the American Psychological Association) has been at the forefront of identifying evidence-based approaches for clinical work with youth. Join us on October 13th from 1:30-4:30 pm ET, when Stephen Hupp, PhD (Co-Developer of the BADDS) will be presenting a webinar which will open by describing the evolving criteria for identifying well-established treatments and then will describe each of the evidence-based treatment packages. The webinar will highlight the components that cut across all of these treatment packages while also provide a critical examination of common myths and misunderstandings related to challenging behaviors.

What You Will Learn:

o            Recognize risk factors associated with challenging behaviors

o            Recognize how screening and assessment can influence treatment

o            Identify evidence-based treatment packages for challenging behaviors

o            Describe the common components across the treatment packages

o            Critique myths and misunderstandings related to challenging behaviors

This workshop will provide 3 NAADAC CEs. The cost is $199 per person with group and student discount rates available. Click here to register.

Presenter Bio:

Stephen Hupp, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Psychology Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where he has won the Great Teacher Award and the Champion for Diversity Award. He is also the Mental Health Consultant Coordinator for the East St. Louis Head Start program. His edited books include Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: Components of Evidence-Based Treatments (2018), Science-Based Therapy (forthcoming with David Tolin), Investigating Pop Psychology (forthcoming with Richard Wiseman), Pseudoscience in Therapy (forthcoming with Cara Santa Maria). His co-authored books include Great Myths of Child Development (2015), Great Myths of Adolescence (2019), and Thinking Critically about Child Development (2020). He has also written a skeptical game book for children called Dr. Huckleberry’s True or Malarkey? Superhuman Abilities (2021).

Psychopharmacology and the Biology of Addiction Webinar

Increase your understanding of how drugs of abuse interact with each other as well as what takes place in the brains of experimenters, abusers and addicts. Improve your ability to communicate with medical professionals and your clients.

On March 29th and 31st, 2022, Dr. Donald R. Osborne, Jr., author of the newly released book “You Can’t Fall Out of a Hole: Ripping the Band Aid off of Our Addiction Epidemic,” will be hosting a live webinar to increase your knowledge on the subject of Psychopharmacology and the Biology of Addiction.

Information that will be presented and discussion will be about the following:

Central Nervous SystemPeripheral Nervous System
Autonomic Nervous SystemSomatic Nervous System
Sympathetic Nervous SystemParasympathetic Nervous System
How the Brain WorksTolerance and Cross-Tolerance
Rebound / WithdrawalDrug Half Life / five to eliminate
THIQ in Alcohol MetabolismDopamine Depletion by Cocaine
Determining BAC by number of drinks consumed

The following drugs/drug classes will be examined:

OpioidsAlcohol
Sedative-HypnoticsCannabis Sativa
CocaineSympathomimetics
InhalantsHallucinogens
Club DrugsCaffeine
Nicotine

For each of the drugs/drug classes, the following information will be provided and discussed

  • Examples
  • Route of Administration
  • Absorption
  • Distribution
  • Effects
  • Metabolic Half-Life
  • Elimination
  • Rebound/Withdrawal

The webinar will be live from on March 29th, 9:30-1pm ET, and March 31st, 1:30-5pm ET. The webinar will be available on-demand afterwards.

To register, click the date you are interested in below:

New Workshop: Community Reinforcement Approach for Substance Use in Adults

We hope some of you have been able to participate in at least one of our new Professional Development webinars. We are excited to be able to partner with fellow colleagues in the field of addiction to be able to provide continuing education on professional topics of interest.

We have recently partnered with Courtney Hupp, MSW, LCSW, CADC, an EBT Clinical Coordinator at Chestnut Health Systems in Illinois. She had an active role in the Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) study, funded by NIAAA, in which she administered the ACC and Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) protocols to residential clients’ post-discharge, as well as supervised other therapists on the study. Courtney will be offering her workshop “Community Reinforcement Approach for Substance Use in Adults” live online through the SASSI Institute’s training platform on February 8th. The treatment model known as CRA recognizes that, at least initially, alcohol and drug use is about reinforcing consequences — that make us more likely to repeat actions. This is true whether we are hanging out with friends, playing a favorite game, eating a good meal, or using alcohol or other drugs. People who use alcohol and drugs get something out of it – or they wouldn’t keep doing it. 

The overall goal of CRA is to help individuals reconnect with or discover new sources of positive reinforcement within their community to compete with alcohol or drug use. How do CRA clinicians do this? By listening to and learning from their clients what is important to them. They then help them connect to pro-recovery activities that have meaning and value to their client. In addition, CRA clinicians help their clients identify goals and learn how to achieve them. CRA clients also learn a variety of new skills, such as problem-solving and positive communication (with partners, friends, and others), which help them attain a better quality of life. Practicing new skills is a critical component of the skills training used in CRA. Every session ends with a mutually-agreed upon homework assignment to practice skills learned during sessions. This intervention has been implemented in outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential treatment settings. This research-tested intervention has been used in over 500 organizations across the United States and Canada. Courtney Hupp will provide an introduction to the CRA model, a summary of the research base, and details about how to use a variety of CRA skills during sessions. 

What You Will Learn:

  • An Introduction to the CRA model
  • History of CRA research and implementation
  • Goals of CRA treatment
  • An overview of the CRA session structure and treatment guidelines
  • How to use some of the CRA procedures during sessions like a Functional Analysis for substance use, Happiness Scale, Sobriety Sampling, and Increasing Prosocial Recreation
  • General clinical skills necessary to implement CRA

For registration information click here.

Live Assessment Webinar – Includes ASAM Placement Criteria

After screening, the assessment process is critical to effective addiction treatment. In fact, treatment can only be as effective as the thoroughness of the assessment process. The assessment process can and should result in clients’ reduced denial or “resistance” and easily transition into therapy.

On December 7th and 8th, Dr. Don Osborne will be presenting a live webinar on Comprehensive & Advanced Assessment of Addiction That Parallels the ASAM Patient Placement Criteria.

In this program you will learn:

  • Understanding a comprehensive approach to assessment.
  • Be able to describe a continuum model of addiction’s progressive nature with problems, tolerance and loss of control.
  • Be able to formulate specific relevant questions to ask during the interview process.
  • How to use Motivational Interviewing to engage clients and develop a rapport with them.
  • How to obtain collateral information about the client from family members and other sources.
  • How to use the DSM-5’s criteria for Substance Use Disorders to diagnose clients and decrease their resistance to treatment.
  • Gaining clients’ trust, reduce denial and resistance to treatment.
  • Gain clients’ agreement that they are addicted to some substance or behavior at a particular stage of the addiction process.
  • How to match the assessment with the patient placement criteria that determine the specific level of care advocated by ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine).
  • How to transition from screening to the assessment to the therapy stages of treatment.

Registration is now open, click here to sign up. Course completion earns 3 CEUs.

Please note that this workshop is not on the SASSI screening tool.