Change Agents in 2012 completed trainings from the chapters in TIP 34 – Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies for Substance Abuse. There were fantastic trainings on brief versions of Cognitive-Behavioral, Strategic/Interactional, Psychodynamic, Family, and Time-Limited Group therapies. The Children’s System of Care Change Agents also completed an in-service training on the Stages of Change that included role-plays and QID approved progress note examples for each stage. In 2012, the Transformer provided information from the Power Point presentations of each Change Agent training during the year and continued to provide current drug related topics in a one-page format. We keep hearing compliments about the one-page format and will keep that going in 2013.
Change Agents in 2013 will be “Taking it to the street!” as our ACT Change Agent, John French, has named it. Our Change Agent meetings will be at several different sites during the year and may be coming to your own site! For example, in February the meeting will be held at the Children’s Sagebrush site and all KCMH staff are welcome to attend. The March meeting will be held at Kern Linkage and in May it will be held at the Stockdale site. During these meetings we will be creating trainings for local Board & Care and Room & Board homes, Sober Living Environments and Group Homes to better equip the residential staff that work with our clients in the areas of mental health and substance abuse disorders. If you are interested in contributing your knowledge or areas of concern that would improve the working relationship of our staff and living environments of our clients please attend. In September, Change Agents will be presenting on TIP 50 – Addressing Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Substance Abuse Treatment. In October, we will be presenting on TIP 30 –Continuity of Offender Treatment for Substance Use Disorders from Institution to Community. And in November we will present on TIP 42 – Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons with Co-Occurring Disorders. Change Agents in 2013 are definitely taking it to the streets! If you are interested in hosting a meeting and increasing the involvement of the staff at your building or simply want more information, please contact your Change Agent or Christina Cornejo-Felix at ccornejo@co.kern.ca.us or at 868-8206.