The Change Companies® Training >> Keynotes and Plenary Presentations

Keynotes and Plenary Presentations

Our keynotes encourage attendees to look beyond traditional - and perhaps cynical - ways of thinking, and work to bridge the gap by asking audience members to consider new possibilities. Our hope is that every audience member walks away with a reenergized spirit and the resolve to try something new and different right away. Sometimes, a little humor helps the medicine go down, too!

Click on any of the buttons below for information on our Keynote and Plenary Presentations.


KASAM 001| ASAM Patient Placement Criteria
How the ASAM Criteria Help Integrate Services for Co-occurring Disorders and Promote Recovery
Presentation Overview

The American Society of Addiction Medicine published the revised second edition of the Patient Placement Criteria (ASAM PPC-2R) in April 2001. There are descriptions of service and criteria for individuals with co-occurring mental and substance-related disorders.

This presentation is designed to inform participants about these criteria and to understand how the concepts and constructs can help improve integration of co-occurring disorders' services and promote recovery.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Review the underlying concepts of the ASAM Criteria with specific reference to co-occurring disorders criteria.
2. Discuss integrated services, recovery and the PPC-2R's approach to co-occurring disorders.
3. Identify ways that the ASAM Criteria can help integration of services to better meet the needs of clients working on recovery.

KBSUD 001| Basics of Substance Use Disorders
What They Never Taught You in School About Substance Abuse, Addiction and Treatment: Implications for Assessment and Intervention
Presentation Overview

Many problems in healthcare, society and the community at large are alcohol-and-substances fields related. Many clinicians and healthcare workers may have had good training in their field, but have not had the training in addiction screening, assessment and intervention. They can feel ill-equipped to face the increasing population of people whose healthcare and other needs are complicated by substance use and misuse.

This presentation is designed to increase participants' awareness about their attitudes toward addiction; key concepts in chemical dependency; the dilemmas in dealing with people with addiction illness, and ways to quickly assess and intervene.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Review the underlying concepts of the ASAM Criteria with specific reference to co-occurring disorders criteria.
2. Discuss integrated services, recovery and the PPC-2R's approach to co-occurring disorders.
3. Identify ways that the ASAM Criteria can help integration of services to better meet the needs of clients working on recovery.

KCOD 001| Co-occurring Disorders
Recovery in Co-occurring Disorders: What Do You Really Mean and Walking the Talk about Recovery
Presentation Overview

This presentation will discuss what we really mean by recovery in addiction and mental health treatment. It will explore whether we take recovery seriously despite our frequent use of the term.

This presentation will challenge participants to examine their attitudes about recovery as expressed in the language and jargon we use in treatment, the way treatment programs are structured in length of stay and phases of treatment; and how relapse and substance use while in treatment is addressed. It will compare and contrast how recovery is approached in addiction and mental health treatment, and suggest solutions to approach recovery in co-occurring disorders.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Identify their definitions, attitudes and practices about recovery in treatment.
2. Discuss the discrepancy between perceived concepts about recovery and actual clinical practice and program design, policies and payment.
3. Apply evaluation of their current practice or program to suggest ways to improve consistency of a recovery approach in co-occurring disorders treatment.

KCOD 002| Co-occurring Disorders
Cultural Clashes in Co-occurring Disorders and What to do About It
Presentation Overview

It is a challenge to integrate addiction and mental health systems. The historical roots, funding traditions, differences in ideology and values have created a clash of cultures that impacts people with co-occurring disorders. This presentation will review these culture gaps and offer solutions to understand and address the differences.

This presentation will challenge participants to examine their attitudes about recovery as expressed in the language and jargon we use in treatment, the way treatment programs are structured in length of stay and phases of treatment; and how relapse and substance use while in treatment is addressed. It will compare and contrast how recovery is approached in addiction and mental health treatment, and suggest solutions to approach recovery in co-occurring disorders.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of training, participants can be expected to:
1. Identify the major ideological differences that divide addiction and mental health systems.
2. Describe the negative clinical implications for people with co-occurring disorders.
3. Apply unifying principles and strategies to resolve fragmentation and improve outcomes.

KCOD 003| Co-occurring Disorders
Recovery and Relapse in Co-occurring Disorders: Definitions, Dilemmas and Discrepancies
Presentation Overview

Recovery in both addiction and mental illness is not always a smooth path. Relapse is a possibility in co-occurring disorders. Yet, how clinicians and counselors view recovery and relapse is different in mental health treatment, versus addiction treatment.

This plenary will compare and contrast how recovery is approached in addiction and mental health treatment. It will examine how providers treat relapse differently and demonstrate a discrepancy between what they say about recovery and relapse and what they do in treatment.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Identify definitions and dilemmas in recovery and relapse in co-occurring disorders.
2. Discuss the discrepancy between concepts about recovery and relapse and actual clinical practice.
3.Apply ways to improve consistency in dealing with recovery and relapse in co-occurring disorders treatment.

KCOD 004| Co-occurring Disorders
Whatever Happened to Recovery?: Treating Symptoms or a Syndrome
Presentation Overview

This presentation will discuss what we mean by recovery and wellness in addiction prevention and treatment; and whether we take recovery seriously despite our frequent use of the term.

Prevention initiatives frequently do not receive the priority funding and attention they deserve. Treatment programs, policies and payment often appear to be set up to treat symptoms, rather than a syndrome that has many characteristics of a chronic, potentially relapsing illness.

This keynote will challenge participants to examine their attitudes about wellness and recovery. It will also draw contrasts with prevention and treatment efforts in mental health, especially at a time when the focus on co-occurring disorders is increasing.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Identify their definitions, attitudes and practices about wellness and recovery in addiction prevention and treatment.
2. Discuss the discrepancy between perceived concepts about recovery and actual clinical practice and program design, policies and payment.
3.Review their current practice or program to suggest ways to improve consistency of a recovery approach in addiction and co-occurring disorders' prevention and treatment.

KCOD 005| Co-occurring Disorders
Co-occurring Mental and Substance Use Disorders: Building Bridges in Assessment and Treatment
Presentation Overview

This presentation examines dilemmas in assessment and treatment and identifies strategies which can help build bridges between mental health and addiction treatment systems. Both fields have arisen from very different roots. This cultural clash accounts for the ongoing fragmentation that has been aggravated by different training, systems and funding. Clients and clinicians are separated by ideology and treatment orientations that do not serve well the dual diagnosis client.

The presentation focuses on how to better meet the needs of those using substances and exhibiting mental health problems. It offers the common language of the Revised Second Edition of the ASAM Criteria, ASAM PPC-2R, which includes criteria for co-occurring mental and substance-related disorders to encourage more targeted service planning and documentation.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Identify assessment and treatment dilemmas in co-occurring disorders and discuss concepts to bridge mental health and addiction systems.
2. Review assessment strategies, techniques and priorities to distinguish between experimentation, abuse and dependence; and also co-occurring disorders.
3.Discuss treatment strategies to address both substance use and mental health problems.
4.Identify staff, program and systems issues in providing integrated services for people with co-occurring mental and substance-related disorders.

KHPC 001| Helping People Change
Engaging People in Client-Directed, Accountable Treatment: Changing Compliance into Collaboration
Presentation Overview

Client hostility and resistance occur in many situations. This can make it hard to reach clients and increase responsibility for and commitment to change. Using the structure of stages of change, motivational interviewing and client-directed services, this presentation will improve skills in engaging people and their families, and in building motivation for change. Such counseling techniques emphasize individualized treatment, person-centered care and empowerment and responsibility.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Review stages of change and how to engage the client as an active participant in an accountable treatment plan.
2. Discuss the principles of Motivational Interviewing, and how to quickly develop a service contract and focus of treatment.
3. Identify how to apply a client-directed approach to improve outcomes.

KHPC 002| Helping People Change
Motivating and Engaging Hard-to-Reach Consumers
Presentation Overview

Client hostility and resistance occur in many clinical and case-management situations. This can make it hard to engage consumers to return to work and become more self-sufficient. In the past, helping people change has too often depended on seeing resistance as negative, client pathology, "breaking through denial" and strategies that have disempowered and disrespected people.

Motivational interviewing and other motivational enhancement therapies are successful in engaging people and assisting them in ongoing change. This presentation will discuss how to develop a participatory treatment contract and how to engage the consumer in taking responsibility to become more self-sufficient.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this presentation participants will be able to:
1. Identify how to more purposefully join with a client to facilitate action/change.
2. Discuss strategies to engage the hard-to-reach client as an active participant in treatment.

KHPC 003| Helping People Change
Presenting with impact: Engaging the adult learner
Presentation Overview

While community corrections departments across the nation are implementing risk/need assessment tools, a service gap has developed between assessment data and its effective application in the field of supervision. Community corrections departments have consistently identified this service gap "case planning" as a critical training need. This workshop will improve participant skills for developing focused, targeted, individualized case plans for community supervision of offenders.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Review principles of individualized case planning and how to engage the offender in a supervision contract
2. Identify how evidence-based principles of effective correctional intervention are incorporated into workable and accountable case plans
3. Apply methods to individualize problems, goals and strategies into case plans that have offender "buyin" and collaboration

KHPC 004| Helping People Change
The magic of facilitation: Skills to maximize the delivery of behavior change curricula
Presentation Overview

Behind every learning opportunity there is a facilitator, an individual who assists us in exploring ideas and feelings, assessing, analyzing and implementing new ways of thinking and behaving. Certainly these individuals have special gifts, but underneath all that magic are some easily identifiable basic skills that make it all work. This presentation identifies these skills and explores how they can be incorporated into the delivery of behavior change curricula. Special attention is given to the role of the facilitator as a change agent and the specific skills that best assist individuals in making positive behavior changes.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Describe the role of the facilitator in the delivery of behavior change curricula
2. Identify coordination, presentation and facilitation skills essential to effective facilitation
3. List strategies to assist participants in the acquisition of new skills/behaviors

KHPC 005| Helping People Change
Using behavioral change strategies with offenders through Interactive Journaling®
Presentation Overview

What good is the research if you can't implement it in a practical, user-friendly way? This 60-90 minute workshop focuses on the use of Interactive Journaling® as an effective delivery mechanism for applying evidence-based approaches with offender populations. Moving beyond traditional educational materials, the Interactive Journaling® process is an application-focused strategy that assists offenders in using core cognitive-behavioral skills in making positive and lasting life changes. Capitalizing on the processes of change and motivational enhancement strategies, Interactive Journaling® meets participants where they are and helps guide them through change while offering facilitators a structured method of maintaining consistency within their programs.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Gain an understanding of the research on structured writing and its application with substance abusing and offender populations
2. Specific offender curricula for co-occurring, residential and outpatient populations will be briefly discussed, along with resources for re-entry and transitional settings
3. Models of care, including cognitive-behavioral strategies and motivational enhancement techniques, will be addressed in relation to their application within the Interactive Journaling® process

KHPC 006| Helping People Change
Sticks and Stones: Words and Terms that Will Help You Ruin a Therapeutic Alliance
Presentation Overview

Diagnostics categories, psychological constructs, and psychodynamic interpretations can all be helpful in better understanding how to help people. But they can also become diagnostic labels and misused terms that signal negative and disempowering attitudes and approaches. This presentation will highlight a variety of clinical terms that are used in documentation, case presentations, clinical formulations and therapy that reveal negative attitudes likely to inhibit and even end a therapeutic relationship with clients.

Learning Objectives

Upon Completion of this presentation participants will:
1. Identify clinical terms, psychological constructs and diagnostic categories that can be misused and inhibit alliance-building.
2. Discuss case presentation, documentation and clinical conferencing attitudes that likely increase resistant behavior from clients
3. List solutions and alternative terminology to enhance alliance-building and facilitate lasting change with clients.

KMHT 001| Maintaining A Healthy Team
How to Stay Cool, Calm and Collected in Dealing with Conflict and Change
Presentation Overview

When there is a lot of change, there also arises conflict. This is true for clients and team members. Whether the conflict is with an angry client, co-worker or partner, this workshop is designed to help participants turn conflict into compassionate communication. It will help participants cope with change and teach skills that go beyond win-win, to find a way to enrich each other's lives.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Discuss how change affects us; why conflicts arise; and what underlies the tensions.
2. Describe principles and strategies that enhance both understanding and empathy for the other's position.
3. Apply techniques that promote compassionate communication and conflict resolution.

KSBP 001| Small Business Practices
Thrive, don’t survive… Seven rules for small business
Presentation Overview

This is a practical, roll-up-your-sleeves presentation that shares lessons learned in the trenches and can be applied immediately to your business. Despite economic downturns, changes in the delivery of healthcare and continuing shifts in industry demands, The Change Companies® has been profitable every business quarter for the past 20 years. Don Kuhl outlines the seven business rules that have guided the financial and management decisions of The Change Companies®, and shows how they can work for both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Learn to thrive even in the most difficult business environment.
2. Identify the seven principles of success and develop strategies for applying them to your business.

KTHO 001| Total Health Model for Offender Populations
Applying a total health model to offender populations
Presentation Overview

It is widely accepted and research-proven that individuals who take responsibility for their health and make positive lifestyle choices related to diet and exercise enjoy not only better health, but a better quality of life, reduced healthcare costs and increased productivity. Conversely, poor lifestyle choices can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other diseases. These conditions have an impact not only on physical health, but also on mental health and impact the overall cost of the individual's healthcare. The presenter will discuss the evidence related to this research and the positive impact of implementing a total health model.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Describe the research supporting a total health model.
2. Identify the positive impact of implementing a total health model.
3. List effective health behavior change strategies for implementation in correctional organizations.

KTPD 001| Treatment Planning and Documentation
How to Develop Treatment Plans that Make Sense to Clients: Turning Paperwork into Peoplework
Presentation Overview

The person who should know most about their treatment plan is the client. It is their life; they are the ones who should be working the hardest on their treatment plan. However, in real life in many treatment settings, the client is not even aware of what is on their treatment plan; or is basically "doing time" rather than "doing treatment."

Clinicians struggle with how to focus and target treatment, especially in fixed length-of-stay programs; how to change old ways of documentation to reflect individualized treatment; and how to effectively engage the patient and client into a cooperative and accountable treatment plan.

This presentation will improve participants' knowledge about developing an accountable treatment plan that makes sense to the client. Reference will be made to the ASAM Patient Placement Criteria assessment dimensions to help organize assessment and treatment data.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Review principles of individualized treatment planning and how to collaborate with the client in developing a treatment contract.
2. Identify how to organize assessment data to practice individualization of problems and treatment plans that make sense to the client and the family.
3. Discuss how to involve the individual in developing problems, goals, strategies and progress notes that have client "buyin" and participation.

KTPD 002| Treatment Planning and Documentation
From assessment to community supervision: How to develop individualized case plans for community supervision of offenders
Presentation Overview

While community corrections departments across the nation are implementing risk/need assessment tools, a service gap has developed between assessment data and its effective application in the field of supervision. Community corrections departments have consistently identified this service gap "case planning" as a critical training need. This workshop will improve participant skills for developing focused, targeted, individualized case plans for community supervision of offenders.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:
1. Review principles of individualized case planning and how to engage the offender in a supervision contract
2. Identify how evidence-based principles of effective correctional intervention are incorporated into workable and accountable case plans
3. Apply methods to individualize problems, goals and strategies into case plans that have offender "buy-in" and collaboration