2. Welcome and Introductions

June 13, 2007

1. A meeting of the Alcohol and Drug Studies Advisory Committee was held on December 14, 2006, at the San Jacinto Campus. The following members were present.

Jose Aragon Alcohol & Drug Studies Program Coordinator, MSJC Avery Chamlis Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center Rick Collins Dean, Career Education, MSJC Peter Devries Student, MSJC Debbie Hall SunRay Addictions Counseling Jack Henke Partners in Recovery Tish Hughes SunRay Addictions Counseling Joyce Johnson Associate Dean, Allied Health, MSJC Karen Kane Riverside County Department of Mental Health Jeff Lindquist Student, MSJC Jessica Lopez Associate Faculty, MSJC Lori Phelps California Association for Alcohol/Drug Educators Robin Reid Office of Supervisor Jeff Stone Jerry Reynolds Associate Faculty, MSJC Dottie Smith VTEA Coordinator, MSJC Bill Staton Hemet Valley Recovery Center Dick Wilson California Association for Alcohol/Drug Educators

Mr. Jose Aragon opened the meeting at 8:15 a.m. by introducing himself. He welcomed the members, thanked them for attending the meeting, and asked everyone to introduce themselves.

3. Guest Speaker

Mr. Aragon introduced Dr. Lori Phelps, currently president of California Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Educators (CAADAC), and her guest, Dr. Dick Wilson, past president of CAADAC. CAADAC has National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) accreditation, which is nationally recognized. 2

Dr. Phelps presented each attendee with a gift from CAADAE. She told the group that she was going to talk about the history of CAADAE, workforce development, and certifications in California.

Dr. Phelps stated that CAADAE was born out of the need to have programs in Alcohol and Drug Studies (ADS) that are fully transferable and accredited. Students have the option when they come to MSJC to go the CAADAE or the Certified Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counselor (CAADAC) route. CAADAE is currently working with CAADAC to improve education and training for alcohol and drug counselors.

The state of California only requires 15 credit hours of training in substance abuse to be a counselor.

CAADAE offers students the opportunity to transfer from community colleges to California State University, Fullerton and go even further if they wish. There is a need for people to get higher level degrees in this field so they can do research and statistical analysis. CAADAC wants to have licensure for addiction counselors. Approximately 14 states now have licensure. Bachelor’s degrees will eventually be required for a license.

In the workforce development area, the state is now recognizing that addiction is a chronic, relapsing illness.

Dr. Wilson addressed the members and stated that the program at MSJC has been accredited within the past year.

4. Feedback and Future Directions from Business/Community Partners  Karen Kane, Substance Abuse Program Manager, Riverside County – Ms. Kane stated that the state is heading toward the Costra project. This will be a major change and will standardize the way substance abuse services are provided from one county to another. While we don’t currently have to show evidence based methodology, we will need to start within the next 3 years.

Ms. Kane is interested in motivational interviewing. Students currently coming into the workplace aren’t necessarily aware that we can’t blame clients for not advancing or not coming to counseling. We have to equate substance abuse to a physical disease. We need to understand the phases or change and use cognitive behavioral therapy. Students currently coming into the workplace don’t know these things. After they are hired they have to be trained. California will be putting money behind this approach and requiring these skills for substance abuse counselors. Currently substance abuse patients are averaging five attempts before completing a segment of treatment.

 Ms. Tish Hughes, Sunray Addictions Counseling – Sunray hasn’t had many interns from the college but they find that most students need more skills than they have. 3

RECOMMENDATION: Explore the implementation of more basic counseling skills such as mock role playing in ADS 110, 115, and 149/150.

 Mr. Jerry Reynolds, MSJC Associate Faculty – He is surprised that students don’t know about harm reduction when they get to his advanced classes. He thinks the attitude of most students is that they have come here to be a super sponsor.

RECOMMENDATION: Educate students on harm reduction via supplemental materials including DVDs. Also educate students throughout the entire program on the role of sponsor versus counselor.

 Dr. Lori Phelps, CAADAC – regarding motivational interviewing, non-recovering students are open and ready to learning motivational interviewing; however, those students who are recovering are geared more toward the 12-step program.

 Mr. Dick Wilson, CAADAC – Internships, practicum, and field studies are very important in this career. He offers an advanced internship course. Internship students need to have an open attitude and there has to be a level of accountability.

 Mr. Pete Devries, Student – There needs to be a lot of patience from staff at internship sites because the students still have a lot to learn.

 Jessica Lopez, Biomedical and Pharmacology Teacher – Students can better understand why addicts relapse after taking her classes because they being to understand the physiological reasons for addiction. She would like to see more information on this in the nursing programs so those students can understand the problem better.

RECOMMENDATION: Explore the use of relapse prevention material in the nursing program, such as “Enough Already” by Bob Tyler.

 Mr. Avery Chamlis, Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center – He has been running rehab for a long time. His job is to get interns’ heads out of the books and help them to learn to deal with addicts. His clients have little money, no insurance, and little family support. This is a shock for interns. Reality doesn’t look like what they learned in the classroom. Interns from MSJC are very willing to have a full experience. Mr. Avery has them teach classes, do one-on-one counseling, intake, etc. He treats them as staff members.

RECOMMENDATION: Put a little more emphasis on process group or mock groups and have students take turns facilitating these groups. This would give the intern a better start and teach them that they will be doing a lot of listening. 4

 Mr. Rick Collins, Dean, Career Education, MSJC – Mr. Collins thanked everyone for coming. Mr. Collins said we have a lot of students in recovery and they have a lot of needs. Mr. Aragon is doing an excellent job. We will look at integrating the recommendations from today’s meeting into our program. Dual diagnosis is a critical element of the program.

 Mr. Reynolds asked Mr. Collins if there is any possibility we could have program like the child development program where there would be a small rehabilitation facility and our students could get practical, real-life experience. Mr. Collins stated that there is definitely a possibility in the future. He feels that the single most glaring inadequacy in our program is not giving students practice until the end of the program. Mrs. Collins added that we could add a ½ to 1 unit lab that requires students to do site observations or they can do a voluntary occupational internship.

 Mr. Chamlis stated that the Salvation Army has worked with volunteers before they get to the practicum stage, but he likes to see that they at least have their ethics class before they do this. Mr. Aragon agreed that we need to students in practical situations earlier and allow them to apply their skills. Mr. Collins stated we just need to pick a course to add a lab to. Mr. Jerry said that we may want to add two labs, one toward the beginning of the program and one later in the program.

RECOMMENDATION: Explore adding a ½ to 1 unit lab to an appropriate course that requires students to do site observations. Also, explore adding two labs, one early in the program and another at a later stage of the program.

 Mr. Bill Staton, Hemet Valley Recovery Center, had five points he wished to make: 1. Students need to be able to write well enough to prepare notes in a chart that others can understand. MSJC is on par with other schools, but we need to do better. 2. The class he teaches, Individual Group and Family Counseling, has too much material for one semester. It should, however, give students some experience and also raise the concept of harm reduction. 3. He sends students out to do a clinical interview simulation. He wishes he had more time to do more of that and time to do group sessions. 4. We need to think more about the family when we are providing treatment for alcohol and drug addicted people. 5. According to the American Society of Addictive Medicine many illnesses don’t achieve a complete and final elimination.

RECOMMENDATION: As stated earlier we should explore the implementation of more basic counseling skills such as mock role playing in ADS 110, 115, and 149/150. American Society of Addiction Medicine screening tools can be utilized in mock role playing. 5

 Dr. Phelps said that the CAADAC model splits the individual, group, and family counseling into three classes.

5. Mr. Aragon thanked everyone for attending and providing their input. All suggestion will be documented and addressed. There will be an adolescent component to the program with the next six month.

6. The meeting adjourned at 10:17 a.m.