Past Events

In January, 2009, The Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health (OBH), voluntarily, initiated the Acute Community Support Plan (ACSP) process. Together, OBH and Allegheny HealthChoices, Inc. (AHCI) coordinate and facilitate all activities related to the ACSP process.

The ACSP process is a comprehensive support and resource planning process that is driven by a blending of the consumer's, family's, and treatment/service coordination team's preferences, recommendations, and competencies.

The process was designed to emulate the Community Support Plan (CSP) process utilized in the downsizing and closure of Pennsylvania State Mental Hospitals. The process had received positive feedback from consumers, families, peers, and professionals. Follow-up interviews, surveys, and outcomes analyses continue to demonstrate the successes of the CSP process. Like the CSP process, the ACSP process, at its foundation, was designed with the recognition that consumers of mental health services can and desire to participate in their recovery.

Allegheny HealthChoices, Inc. has partnered with the Institute for Research, Evaluation and Training in Addictions (IRETA) to launch a training and technical assistance project for substance abuse providers in Allegheny County. The project aims to support five agencies with implementation of motivational interviewing and/or motivational incentives within their agencies, both of which are evidence-based practices (EBPs).

To date, Alpha House, Auberle, POWER, Renewal Inc., and Sojourner House have begun implementing one of the two EBPs in their agencies, after completing organizational assessments and developing "implementation maps." Additional onsite trainings for agency staff has also taken place, with technical assistance being provided to the individual agencies as needed. Implementation is expected to continue through March 2010.

In July 2009, David Lynde from the Dartmouth Evidence-Based Practice Center/Supported Employment Center led a three-day training on how to integrate Supported Employment as an evidence-based practice into the CTT model. The training was attended by the vocational specialists, clinical leaders, team leaders and team directors from all nine of Allegheny County's CTTs. Since the training, AHCI staff has worked directly with the teams to continue to strengthen the vocational specialists' knowledge of supported employment principles and their ability to implement this practice within the team.

Next steps: AHCI is partnering with the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University to begin offering in-depth training on Supported Employment to the CTTs to continue to implement the SE model. Trainings are scheduled to start in February 2010.

On November 2-4, 2009, more than 450 consumers, family members, advocates, providers and others attended the 2009 Regional Recovery Conference, “Bridging Our Communities: Closing the Gaps with Recovery and Resiliency.” Attendees came from all over the Southwestern Pennsylvania region for two-and-a-half days to learn about emerging trends and practices in the behavioral health field and share their experiences with others. Keynote speakers included Moe Armstrong, noted public speaker and founder of the national Peer Educators Project and the Vet-to-Vet Project; Lizzie Simon, author of Detour: My Bi-Polar Road Trip in 4-D; and John Allen and Dr. Joseph Parks, collaborators on the National Association of State Mental Health Policy Directors’ 2006 report, “Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness,” the seminal report that showed that persons with SMI die on average 25 years earlier than persons without a mental health diagnosis.

New this year were workshops targeting specific populations, including caregivers, transition-age youth, older adults, and families with young children with mental health diagnoses. The workshops looked at the range of “systems” which interact with the mental health system, such as justice-related services, the education system, physical healthcare and so on. Participants were able to choose from a wide variety of topics, such as battling internal stigma, re-entering the workforce, using social media, and eating healthy on a budget - in total, there were 30 different workshops over the course of the conference! These workshops, and the feedback we received from attendees’ evaluations, will form the basis of upcoming trainings and seminars, so be sure to check back here often for updates!