June 2019 Newsletter
Upcoming Training
Webinar: Supporting Prevention Interventions With Mental Health First Aid Training
Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 AM CT
Duration: 90 Minutes
Webinar: Opioid Overdose Prevention and Infectious Disease Control: Opportunities f or Collaboration
Date: Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 AM CT
Duration: 60 minutes
Advanced Ethics
Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Time: 8:30 - 4:30 PM CT
Location: Kansas City, MO
Duration: 7 hours
Ethics TOT
Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Time: 8:30 - 4:30 PM CT
Location: Kansas City, MO
Duration: 7 hours
South Southwest PTTC
The South Southwest PTTC provides high-impact training and technical assistance (T/TA) services, including in-person and virtual trainings; toolkits and guidance documents; networking and learning communities; coordination of regional advisory groups; and intensive coaching to build the professional and community capacities required to deliver effective and evidence-based prevention programs, practices and strategies.

Meet the South Southwest PTTC Region 6 Team!!

Marie Cox, MA, CPS
Director
Marie Cox is responsible for coordinating the delivery of training and technical assistance that accurately reflects the science of prevention and meets the evolving needs of the substance misuse prevention field. Ms. Cox ensures that the SWPC Team is able to effectively assess the needs of states, tribes, communities and organizations and that the team provides quality services that are timely, relevant, and effective. 
Ms. Cox brings to the SWPC extensive experience in project coordination, systems development, high impact technical assistance, and curriculum development. She has facilitated the work of numerous groups to achieve positive outcomes through data driven, goals oriented decision making. She worked with the OU Extended Campus to develop the first Master of Prevention Science (MPS) degree in the nation and developed core coursework for that degree. She is a Certified Prevention Specialist and holds a master's degree in sociology from the University of Texas and a certificate in distance education from Indiana. Text Link . Text Link
LaShonda Williamson-Jennings, MED, CPS
Co-Director
A certified prevention specialist, LaShonda Williamson-Jennings is responsible for providing and coordinating the delivery of tailored, state-of-the-science training and technical assistance that optimizes the ability of states, tribes, and communities to achieve substance abuse prevention outcomes. She is also co-director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Prevention Technology Transfer Center for region 6 where she monitors service delivery among multiple clients and staff, assuring solutions and service quality are of the highest standards and meet funder expectations. 
She has extensive experience managing projects, facilitating face-to-face and online training, identifying needs and delivering customized technical assistance, and coaching staff and clients to develop effective and sustainable state and tribal prevention systems.
Ms. Williamson-Jennings holds a Master of Education in adult education and administration from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from University of Oklahoma. In 2014, she was named the Oklahoma Drug and Alcohol Professional Counselor Association’s Prevention Specialist of the Year.  Text Link
Beverly Triana-Tremain, PhD
Epidemiologist
Dr. Beverly Triana-Tremain has at least 35 years of public health teaching, research, and consulting experience. Her background and skill set blends theoretical and practical approaches in Evaluation, Research, and Quality Improvement Processes. She is a fellow in the National Public Health Leadership Institute and in 2006 established Public Health Consulting, LLC to assist agencies in improving the public health system. She serves as a technical consultant to various local, state, and national private and public organizations in evaluation, research, and quality improvement. She has been the evaluator or quality improvement consultant on grants received from RWJF, CDC, SAMSHA, HRSA for nonprofit, state and local health departments. She is the Epidemiologist with the Southwest Prevention Center at the University of Oklahoma. In this role, she serves Regions 6 and 7 as Epidemiologist for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) Prevention Training and Technology Transfer Center (PTTC). There she assists states with increasing the use of data in decision making. Her passion is helping organizations to slow down and understand the processes that promote authentic and quality strategies to improve the public’s health. Text Link
Nicole Schoenborn, MA, CPS
Evaluator
Nicole Schoenborn serves as the Evaluator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Prevention Technology Transfer Centers 6 and 7, assisting the centers with training and technical assistance program evaluation activities, as well as providing capacity building to clients in evaluation and data-based decision making. Nicole has a passion for applied research, program evaluation, experimental design, and working with state, tribal and community-based programs to effectively use data.
In her prior substance use and misuse prevention work, she worked as the Service to Science Lead for the Southwest Resource Team of the Center for Applied Prevention Technologies, and as a Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Specialist for five years. Nicole also worked for 12 years at the Oklahoma State Department of Health conducting quality management and program evaluation activities for HIV prevention and treatment programs, including mental health and substance use services, and managed the T/TA program for HIV case managers. She has a master's degree in experimental psychology and has experience working with research methods and design, and teaching psychological statistics.   Tex . Text Link
Sheila Boswell
Assistant Evaluator
Sheila serves as the Assistant Evaluator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Prevention Technology Transfer Centers 6 and 7. Sheila has provided program evaluation for multiple Oklahoma Department of Mental and Substance Abuse Services programs, including Systems of Care, the Oklahoma Opioid STR integrated System of Care, and the Oklahoma Young Adult and Youth Initiative. t Link
Dorothy Swope, MED, LMFT
Training and Technical Assistant Specialist
Dodi Swope recently joined the Southwest Prevention Center as a Training and Technical Assistant for the Regions 6 and 7 Prevention Training and Technology Transfer Center. In this role Dodi provides training and technical assistance to clients throughout both regions to assist in achieving their substance misuse prevention outcomes. Dodi brings over 35 years of experience to this role, with a career that spans education, counseling psychology and public health.
Most recently Dodi served as a training and technical assistance specialist at SAMHSA’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT), working with states and tribes on their efforts to prevent substance misuse and substance use disorders. Dodi provided expertise on interventions across the lifespan and throughout the continuum of care to address the consequences of opioid misuse for the individual and their family and community. Dodi provided research and implementation expertise that included evidence based programs for infants and toddlers in homes where opioid misuse is present, programs for affected children of elementary and middle school ages as well as more traditional high school prevention programs. Dodi also provided consultation on opioid overdose prevention, including harm reduction strategies and post overdose interventions to community leaders working on the ground to stem the tide of fatal opioid overdoses. Dodi’s passion is teaching others about the wonders of human development and assisting individuals, families and communities in developing systems, programs and interventions that support healthy people in healthy communities. Text Link
Wanda West
Product Development and Distance Learning Coordinator
Wanda West is the Product Development and Distance Learning Coordinator for SAMHSA's Regions 6 and 7 Prevention Technology Transfer Centers. She ensures that the quality and management of training design and products/services utilize the latest instructional design techniques and technology and are closely aligned with the intended service outcome. 
West is trained in the principles of instructional systems development, appreciative inquiry, dialogue education models of system change, and adult instructional design and learning principles.
West has more than 25 years’ experience in prevention theory and practice at the community and state levels. Ms. West’s strengths in prevention are in workforce development, program development, community collaboration, policy development, law enforcement, and sustainability practices. 
She served on the U.S. Counties along the Mexican Border, SPF Workgroup, 2009-2012, and has chaired and co-chaired numerous community and state prevention coalitions. She has served as the chair, and a member of the executive board, of the New Mexico Credentialing Board for Behavioral Health Professionals (NMCBBHP) and as a member of the prevention committee of the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC and RC) to advocate for prevention certification and workforce development on national and international levels. Text Link
Kim Elizabeth Hume, MBA
Project Manager
Elizabeth Hume joined Southwest Prevention Center as Project Manager in July 2017. She has worked on the administrative teams of higher education institutions and in both drug and alcohol misuse prevention and treatment. Driven by the principles of servant leadership, Elizabeth oversees the administrative activities of the Southwest Prevention Center in Norman, OK with the University of Oklahoma’s College of Outreach. Elizabeth graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma and recently acquired a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Mid-America Christian University.
Training Highlight
Introduction to Substance Abuse Prevention: Understanding the Basics Training is Now Available

The free online Pre-Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training (SAPST), sponsored by the Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC) Network is now available! If you are planning to take the face to face SAPST within the next six months or if you are a new preventionist, we recommend that you take this course within the next few months.

This foundational course offers practitioners new to the field of prevention, or working in related fields, an introduction to the history of prevention, key concepts and definitions, specific drug effects, and an exciting glimpse into the effects of substance use and addiction on the brain. Participants will learn about:

  • Basic terminology and facts
  • History of substance use and prevention in the U.S.
  • Addiction and the brain
  • Effects and health risks of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs

Accessing the course:

  1. Register for a HealthEKnowledge account (it’s free) if you don’t already have an account, go to https://healtheknowledge.org/mod/page/view.php?id=13430 
  2. Access the course directly here: http://healtheknowledge.org/course/index.php?categoryid=89 
  3. Click on the “Register Now and Begin Course” button. When prompted, enter the following course key for the SSW PTTC Region: pttc-6

Participants completing the online component of the SAPST will receive a certificate for five hours of training pending receipt of a “pass” score on the final assessment (80% correct is a passing grade).
Product Highlight

Workforce Assessment Toolkit

Many prevention systems use workforce assessment tools that rely on self-assessment of broad categories of knowledge and skill using a standardized scale. These tools are often unable to capture specific, skill-based workforce development needs of more experienced prevention practitioners. The SSW PTTC is developing a behaviorally-based workforce assessment tool which focuses on a synthesis of the skills outlined in the IC & RC competency domains. The tool will enable supervisors and directors to evaluate the development needs of more experienced prevention practitioners based on past performance. The assessment results can be used to design advanced training, targeted technical assistance, and in-depth supervision for the prevention workforce.

Availability: Anticipated completion date September 2019. Look for an introductory webinar announcement on the SSW PTTC Website


Other Highlights

Texas Interdisciplinary Addiction Institute
July 29 - July 31, 2018 / San Antonio, TX
The Texas Society of Addiction Medicine will host the 2018 Texas Interdisciplinary Addiction Institute (TXIAI) in San Antonio, Texas. As the name indicates, the society has designed TXIAI to provide education to all disciplines working with individuals impacting substance use or addiction.

The Institute will provide clinically practical and up-to-date substance use related training, applicable across general medical as well as addiction specialty practices.



I ntegrating Primary and Behavioral Health Care through the Lens of Prevention (IPBHC)
2019 Call for Proposals - Now Open!
The Southwest Prevention Center (SWPC) is now accepting conference proposals for presenters on a wide spectrum of prevention topics and issues that support the development of an integrated prevention infrastructure and provides examples of communities where this is happening.

Submit your proposal by June 30, 2019



Epi Corner
Beverly Triana-Tremain, PhD
Got Data Literacy?
5 Actions You Can Take Right Now

Data literacy is “the ability to read, work with, analyze, and argue with data regardless of your role, skills level or the business intelligence tools you use. Improving data literacy hones your decision-making skills. You learn to ask the right questions of your data, interpret your findings and take informed action” [1] . Here are 5 data actions you can take to increase your understanding and use of data:

  1. Watch a TED Talk on data skepticism and using a “data toolkit” to understand how people define data. J Koch. (2017). A data translation toolkit that anyone can use [Online TED talk]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_koch_a_data_translation_toolkit_that_anyone_can_use
  2. Add data literacy to your weekly staff meeting. During this meeting share and talk about a study article, data website, the company’s data, or present a data question for everyone to answer.
  3. Frederick Douglas said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” It is suggested to read at least 5 hours every week. Some good reads: Data literacy by David Herzog, The data journalism handbook by Jonathan Gray, and Dear data by Giorgia Lupi, Stefanie Posavec, and Maria Popova. Bonus blog: Brain pickings by Maria Popova. Famous writers sleep habits vs. literary productivity, visualized. Retrieved from https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/12/16/writers-wakeup-times-literary-productivity-visualization/ 
  4. Take a free assessment of your data skills. Go to https://www.mydatabilities.com/. This assessment measures your level of data literacy across three key dimensions; reading, writing and comprehension using the Databilities® competency framework. 
  5. Read about the stages nonprofits go through to become a data-centric organization. Stages go from piloting to the data-centric organization. Contains a rubric to measure where you are on the continuum and strategies for improvement. [2]

[1] Qlik. (2018). Developing a data literate workforce: A strategy and framework for the enterprise [Online workbook]. Retrieved from
  [2] Graham, K., & Bernard, C. (2017). Becoming a data-informed organization. Minneapolis, MN: Idealware. Retrieved from https://www.idealware.org/reports/data_maturity/