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Stigma Abatement Resources

LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency Training Part 1

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/queer (LGBTQ+) individuals are frequently underserved and experience significant disparities in health outcomes and accessing preventive and ongoing healthcare. Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) often experience discrimination and bias in health care settings and may delay or avoid medical and preventive care. Developing safe, culturally competent healthcare environments and practices for LGBTQ+ patients is critical and closely related to individuals’ willingness to openly share their sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression (SOGIE). Capturing SOGIE data is critical as it allows providers to have a more comprehensive picture of key factors that influence care. This session will start with a brief discussion of SOGIE terminology and a compilation of what is known about medical and behavioral health needs and disparities among the LGBTQ+ community. We will highlight the critical need for creating environments that improve patients’ psychological safety and increase their willingness to share SOGIE characteristics. We will share examples of how this data could be utilized to improve care and patient satisfaction, including capturing a patient’s preferred name and pronouns, and ways to engage in respectful conversations that could reveal key aspects of their medical history that could otherwise go unnoticed.

Perinatal Substance Use: Everything You Wanted to Know

Because many women and persons of childbearing age pregnant with SUD may not readily share information with providers and because pregnancy is a period where the motivation for change is extremely high, positioning providers to identify and care for this population has great potential for establishing a recovery path and changing lives. This webinar will review the risks and effects of SUD among women of childbearing age, pregnant and parenting persons and their affected infants, including screening and treatment considerations, breastfeeding decisions and ideal mechanisms for engagement and support of women and other pregnant persons on their recovery journey. We will also cover the short and long-term effects of SUD exposure on the infants, including non-pharmacologic alternative interventions and follow-up considerations.

Integration During Pregnancy-With an emphasis on Pregnant People Who Are Using Drugs

This short take talks about the added importance of building trust and integrating culturally and linguistically evidence-informed social, physical and behavioral health services during pregnancy. The short take place particular emphasis on pregnant people who use drugs because historically stigma, racism and other isms have often meant their care has not been clinically appropriate.

Pregnancy and Substance Abuse: A Harm Reduction Toolkit

This toolkit was designed to help community providers care for pregnant and parenting people who use drugs in a holistic manner. The kit includes information about stigma reduction, trauma-informed care, and legal services. While the guide was developed IN NY, there are engagement and other information that is useful regardless of location.

Fighting Back Against the Stigma of Addiction

Untreated drug and alcohol use contributes to tens of thousands of deaths every year and affects the lives of many more people. We have effective treatments, including medications for opioid and alcohol use disorders, that could prevent a significant number of these deaths, but they are not being utilized widely enough, and people who could benefit often do not even seek them out. One important reason is the stigma around those with addiction.

Words Matter: Terms to Use and Avoid When Talking About Addiction

This handout offers background information and tips for providers to keep in mind while using person-first language, as well as terms to avoid to reduce stigma and negative bias when discussing addiction. Although some language that may be considered stigmatizing is commonly used within social communities of people who struggle with substance use disorder (SUD), clinicians can show leadership in how language can destigmatize the disease of addiction.

Fentanyl Strip Testing

This brief video provides an overview of fentanyl strip testing to identify the presence of fentanyl in unregulated drugs for people who use drugs (PWUD). It also includes a brief demo of how to use fentanyl test strip testing to detect the presence of fentanyl in their drug supply. Testing for fentanyl test strips can identify the presence of fentanyl in unregulated drugs. They can be used to test injectable drugs, powders, and pills. Being aware if fentanyl is present allows people to implement appropriate harm reduction strategies to reduce the risk of an overdose. Presented by Sari Frankel, DC Department of Behavioral Health.

Mother & Baby Substance Exposure Toolkit

An online resource to provide broad access to resources to clarify best practices to support and improve the care for substance-exposed mothers and newborns. The toolkit includes resources to support screening, assessment, and level of care determination; treatment; transitions of care; and education.

Addiction Free California

The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has implemented the California Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT) Expansion Project to address the opioid epidemic throughout the state. This website serves as a separate yet complementary resource to the DHCS MAT Expansion Website and provides resources and information related to the four MAT Expansion Project initiatives operated by Health Management Associates. The California MAT Expansion Project aims to increase access to MAT, reduce unmet treatment need, and reduce opioid overdose-related deaths through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery activities. The project focuses on individuals experiencing homelessness, youth, rural, and tribal populations with limited MAT access. The California MAT Expansion Project, composed of nearly 30 initiatives, is funded by grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

HMAedu – A Learning Management System for Treatment Teams

HMAedu.com is an educational resource specifically designed for training treatment teams about addiction, pain, and behavioral health. With over 25 hours of education through the lens of patient-centered care, users can explore topics of interest or follow the suggested curriculum path. Once a user signs in, the learning management system automatically loads modules that are pertinent to the user’s level of training. This automation allows for consistency in messaging to all providers without delivering information beyond the scope of practice. Each course starts with a TED Talks-style overview that is followed by patient-focused modules of 3-10 minutes each. Each module is traced for completion and can be reported back to the client and individual for tracking purposes.

Peers Speak Out: Priority Outcomes for Substance Use Treatment & Services

The research presented by these three groups seeks to prioritize desired treatment outcomes as defined by diverse people with lived experience. From this information, the researchers crafted recommendations that could help policymakers, providers and researchers develop, implement, reimburse and evaluate more engaging and perhaps effective substance use services.

Harm Reduction 101: Harm Reduction Basics and Lessons From the Field

People with substance use disorders are at particular risk for overdoses and developing one or more primary conditions or chronic diseases. During this webinar, presenters will discuss harm reduction as a public health approach that aims to reduce harms related to substance use. Presenters will discuss strategies, policies, programs, and practices that aim to minimize negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies, and drug laws.

Providing Culturally Sensitive, Patient Centered Care

During the webinar, the presenter will focus on ways to address health equity issues and key considerations for providing linguistically effective services. The presenter will discuss best practices and models to support patients in these challenging times.

Stigma, Myth Busters & Engagement Strategies

This webinar will describe how stigma impacts perceptions and resultant SUD care for patients and providers alike. Presenters will also share key concepts and case studies to illustrate ways to address stigma and tools that can be incorporated into their clinical practice.

Integrated Physical and Behavioral Healthcare 102

This webinar will focus on the benefits and outcomes of behavioral health integration and key implementation considerations. The presenters will discuss outcomes that include improving population health, patient experience and reduced costs. The webinar will also feature key integration tips such as building internal support, warm handoffs, establishing workflows among other topics.

Addiction Neuroscience 101

This module offers a 25-minute video of the neuroscience of addiction as a chronic brain disease presented by HMA’s Corey Waller, MD, MS, FACEP, DFASAM, with emphasis on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). "This lecture was developed for audiences of all backgrounds to absorb. From patients to nonspecialist docs. The intent was to move people past the preconceived notion that addiction is a moral failing or choice, to the reality that it is a chronic brain disease that creates maladaptive connections in large swaths of the brain. Over the hundreds of lectures, I have given in my career, I have come to realize that running through 30+ articles in a 70 slide PPT does not move people emotionally. But a good story will. The lecture has coalesced into a story form that is much more compelling than digging through the dense science of voxel dysmorphology, BOLD fMRI technology, and all of the structures postulated to drive craving. If I need a custody officer to "get it" or an administrator to understand the concept, I cannot give them the same lecture I would give a psychiatrist, addiction psychologist, addiction doc, or a neurologist."
Integrated Care DC is managed by the DC Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) in partnership with the DC Department of Behavioral Health (DBH). This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A total of $3,500,365, or 81 percent, of the project is financed with federal funds, and $810,022, or 19 percent, is funded by non-federal sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, or an endorsement by, HHS or the U.S. Government.