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The New York State Office of Mental Health and the NYAPRS Collective Present the Second Annual PROS Implementation Academy:

Meeting the Challenge: Developing the Tools for Today and Tomorrow

November 17-18, 2011

at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, Albany, New York

Once again, we would like to thank all of those who presented and attended the 2nd Annual PROS Implementation Academy. 

Opening Remarks: 

Edye Schwartz, DSW, LCSW-R, Director of Transformation Initiatives, and

Chacku Mathai, CPRP, Associate Executive Director, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

Opening Plenary

Planning for PROS in Managed Care 

Michael Hogan, PhD, Commissioner, NYS Office of Mental Health, Albany, NY

Robert Myers, PhD, Adult Services, NYS Office of Mental Health, Albany, NY

Greg Allen, NYS Department of Health, Albany, NY

 

Moderator: Harvey Rosenthal, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) licensed programs, along with other community-based behavioral health programs, will be transitioning into managed, capitated and integrated systems of care that bring together behavioral and physical healthcare. Leadership from the New York State Office of Mental Health and the Department of Health will share timely insights into what this means for PROS and the best ways to prepare.


Day 1 ~ Thursday, November 17 - Workshops Round I

(A) The Role of Executive Leadership in PROS

David Bucciferro, NYS Office of Mental Health, Albany, NY

Yvonne Clark, Community Missions, Niagara Falls, NY

Rebecca Wulf, LCSW, AMI Division Director, Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services, Bronx, NY

Edye Schwartz, DSW, LCSW-R, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

     PROS offers agencies the opportunity to look at service provision through a “recovery lens.” For many agencies, this has required a transformation process from traditional service delivery to recovery based service delivery. Executive leadership is crucial to this process and can be the decisive factor in the success or failure of the PROS program. This workshop will outline the critical factors of executive leadership, describe some strengths and barriers encountered by executives who have implemented PROS programs and offer some concrete suggestions for integrating the PROS recovery lens into the fabric and structure of your agency.

(B) Building Teams that Drive Culture Change and Results

Aaron Vieira, LMSW, Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery, New York, NY

      This workshop is for team leaders and members who are interested in learning how to assess and enhance their team’s performance. In these turbulent times of rapid system change and budget cuts, it is increasingly important for PROS programs to demonstrate their effectiveness. Work teams are the driving force for shaping program culture and achieving quality outcomes. Whether your program is facing a technical problem (e.g. figuring out how to develop an effective program schedule) or a clinical problem (e.g., how to identify and coordinate supports so a participant can succeed in a new job), teamwork is needed to find and implement the best solutions. But if your team is not functioning well, the results may be lackluster. Using an experiential learning approach, this workshop will offer participants concepts, ideas and practical suggestions for improving their team’s performance.

(C) Integrating Health and Wellness in PROS

Paul Margolies, PhD, Center for Practice Innovations, New York, NY

     Research has shown that people who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness are at risk for serious medical difficulties, often have poor access to medical services, and die, on average, decades earlier than others. This issue is an important focus for PROS programs. Wellness Self-Management (WSM) is a program that uses a structured curriculum that focuses on recovery, mental health wellness, and medical wellness. This workshop will focus on WSM, its implementation in PROS programs, and how to access WSM materials

 

Day 1 ~ Thursday, November 17 - Workshops Round II  

(A) PROS and the Health Home

Doug Ruderman, NYS Office of Mental Health, Albany, NY

Mike Stoltz, LCSW, Clubhouse of Suffolk, Ronkonkoma, NY

Edye Schwartz, DSW, LCSW-R, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

     Health Homes are almost here, now set to begin January 1, 2012, in thirteen counties around the state. Their goal is to assure person-centered care, reduce preventable hospital admissions/readmissions and avoidable emergency room visits, assure timely post discharge follow-up, and

improve outcomes by addressing primary medical, specialist and behavioral health care through direct provision, or through contractual arrangements with service providers of comprehensive, integrated services. This workshop will discuss the possibility of a prominent place for PROS in this new world of service delivery and offer opportunities that PROS providers might explore

within the Health Home structure.

(B) Indicators of a Person-Centered Planning Process in PROS

Diane Grieder, MEd, Alipar Inc., Suffolk, VA

Janis Tondora, PsyD, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

     This workshop will offer participants the opportunity to hear directly from nationally recognized experts on person-centered recovery planning, and identify concrete indicators of a well executed Individualized Recovery Planning (IRP) process in PROS. PROS programs will also gain the opportunity to sign up and pilot the assessment tool with follow-up assistance through the NYAPRS Collective.

(C) Creating Curriculum for PROS

Curricula and Supplemental Materials

David Bucciferro, NYS Office of Mental Health, Albany, NY

Lesley Fine, East Village Access PROS, Community Access, Inc. New York, NY

Chacku Mathai, CPRP, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

     The PROS Curriculum Clearinghouse is an exciting, interactive, virtual resource center for practitioners, administrators, educators, content experts, and people enrolled in Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) licensed programs in New York State, to develop and share curriculum as a community. This workshop will offer an overview of how to access the

curriculum clearinghouse as well as the best ways to prepare and deliver curriculum in your PROS program.

 

Day 1 ~ Thursday, November 17 - Workshops Round II  

(A) Reaching Financial Viability in PROS Through a Focus on Quality

David Bucciferro, NYS Office of Mental Health, Albany, NY

Dick Jaros, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

Edye Schwartz, DSW, LCSW-R, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

     PROS offers an opportunity to provide an array of services in a variety of life domains. Although this allows for a very person-centered and creative approach to service provision, it has created difficulties for some in figuring out how to appropriately bill for these services, maintain regulatory compliance, and still maximize revenue. By utilizing the proper mix of service components, outreach and engagement, comprehensive tracking measures, and continuous quality improvement, many providers have demonstrated growth in the fiscal viability of their programs. Quality service provision and utilizing all the PROS components fully has helped these agencies to succeed. This workshop will share some of the barriers that agencies have faced and offer some solutions for overcoming them by outlining “best practices” for a fiscally viable PROS program.

(B) Assessing Cultural Competence in PROS

Elatisha Kirnon, Acting Director, NYS Office of Mental Health Bureau of Cultural Competence, Albany, NY

Geraldine Santos, CRC, LMHC, FEGS PROS, Copiague, NY

Hyacinth Spence, LMSW, FEGS PROS, Copiague, NY

     Participants of this workshop will learn how to assess a PROS program’s progress in implementing cultural competence standards, including how to assure these standards are reflected in the PAR application and in on-going practice. Presenters will also share their direct experience and progress in implementing cultural competence standards in PROS.

(C) Implementing Individual Placement and Support in PROS

Paul Margolies, PhD, Center for Practice Innovations, New York, NY

Thomas Jewell, PhD, Center for Practice Innovations, New York, NY

Gary Scannevin, Jr., MPS, CPRP, PhD, Center for Practice Innovations, New York, NY

Kathy Auberger, LCSW-R, Unity Health System PROS, Rochester, NY

Karen May, Unity Health System PROS, Rochester, NY

Len Statham, Unity Health System PROS, Rochester, NY

     Many consumers want to work, yet few do. This has been an issue for decades, across the country and within New York State. PROS programs are now implementing Individual Placement and Support (IPS), the evidence-based approach to supported employment. The Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia Psychiatry (CPI) is leading regional learning collaboratives for PROS programs that help employment staff to build competencies and program leaders with implementation supports. This workshop will focus on IPS implementation in PROS programs and how to access the CPI’s learning collaborative resources.

Agenda day 2 ~ Friday, November 18

Opening Remarks: Chacku Mathai, CPRP, Associate Executive Director, Albany, NY

Opening Plenary

Vision, Opportunities and Outcomes of PROS

John Allen, Special Assistant to the Commissioner, NYS Office of Mental Health Opportunities Through New York State’s New Employment Services System (NYESS)

Doug Ruderman and David Bucciferro, NYS Office of Mental Health

Vision and Outcomes of PROS

Day 2 ~ Friday, November 18 - Workshops Round IV

(A) WE Can Save Tools: A Workbook for People in Recovery and a Provider’s Guide to Promoting Employment and Economic Self-Sufficiency

Oscar Jimenez, MPH, NYAPRS, and Kelly Stengel, MPH, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

     Poverty is one of the most important barriers to the wellness and rehabilitation of people in recovery. Increasingly, providers and people receiving services are expressing a desire to learn about the supports

available to help individuals achieve their economic goals and aspirations. This workshop will formally release two new comprehensive tools developed by the NYAPRS’ WE Can Save Campaign, in partnership with the Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSP-NJ), to provide individuals in recovery with a workbook to become economically empowered (Participant Workbook); and to offer practitioners tools and curricula to support individuals effectively in developing their readiness, creating a plan

towards self-sufficiency, and developing skills such as budgeting, accessing work incentives, filing taxes, saving, and building credit (Provider’s Guide). The lessons and modules in these tools have been designed for a wide utilization through Personalized Recovery-Oriented Services (PROS),

peer-delivered employment supports, case management, residential-based services and self-help.

(B) Twenty Things that Get in the Way of Recovery, and How to Overcome Them

Courtenay Harding, PhD, Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery, New York, NY

     This workshop will explore puzzles. Why are some people who look like they should be well on the path toward significant improvement not moving forward? Twenty possibilities will be specifically addressed with more than twenty specific strategies to unravel the mysteries and help people move forward to reclaim their lives.

(C) Tobacco Dependence Treatment and Recovery: The New York State Partnership

Teresa Armon, RN, PMHNP-BC, and Gregory Miller, MD, NYS Office of Mental Health, Albany, NY

     The NYS Office of Mental Health has created a statewide partnership to reduce tobacco use by people with serious mental illness, using principles of recovery. This workshop will describe and discuss a distance-based specialty training in smoking cessation approaches, specifically designed for people

with serious mental illness. The training will be integrated within a larger distance learning platform called “Focus on Integrated Treatment” (FIT). FIT is a well established program on Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment (IDDT) that is utilized by clinicians and PROS programs throughout the state.

Day 2 ~ Friday, November 18 - Workshops Round IV

(A) Licensing and Certification Standards in PROS

David Bucciferro, Janice Foster and Mark Simeone, NYS Office of Mental Health Licensing & Certification, Albany, NY

     A diverse stakeholder group including OMH Central Office and Field Office licensing and certification staff, OMH’s Cultural Competence and Recipient Affairs divisions, PROS providers, and a NYAPRS representative have been working on creating a living document that will serve as a licensing tool for

PROS programs. This document, which is still a work in progress, will clearly outline standards of care for the various components of PROS and offer some “anchors” that will let providers know what can be judged adequate, what will be judged as exemplary and what activities will be targeted as

needing improvement. Also developed was an agency self assessment in recovery principles and practices, and a recipient survey asking for feedback about participant reactions to service provision and the ability of PROS to assist them in attaining meaningful life goals outside the mental health system. This workshop will present the preliminary work of this group.

(B) Talking About PROS: Sharing Experience and Hope

Aaron Vieira, LMSW, Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery, New York, NY

Edye Schwartz, DSW, LCSW-R, NYAPRS, Albany, NY

     This workshop is intended for PROS practitioners who would like to share their direct experience with PROS. Through a dynamic process of conversation, participants will have the opportunity to express their concerns, exchange ideas, and highlight their successes. If you are interested in building a network of support and obtaining practical information, we encourage you to join our conversation.

(C) Supporting Recovery for People with Co-Occurring Mental Health and Addiction Issues

Nancy Covell, PhD, Forrest Foster, MSW, and Paul Margolies, PhD, Center for Practice Innovations, New York, NY

     Many people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders don’t receive good care for both issues, leading to poor outcomes. PROS programs are now implementing integrated treatment, the evidence-based approach to treating people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. The Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia Psychiatry is providing online training and distance implementation supports for PROS programs that help staff to build competencies and help program leaders implement integrated treatment. This workshop will focus on how PROS programs are using that training and support, called Focus on Integrated Treatment (FIT).

Walking the Recovery Talk: How to Implement Recovery

Courtenay Harding, PhD, Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery, New York, NY

Across the world, states and countries have declared recovery visions, mission, and action steps for their systems of care, and yet there are still struggles to achieve “walking the talk!” Dr. Harding will describe some of the obstacles as well as provide examples of successes. These pockets of excellence are having much more fun for everyone in the process. The paradox is that the lighter the touch, the more significant the outcomes are!

 

              * PROS Implementation Academy Program 2011

 

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First Annual PROS Implementation Academy:

In collaboration with the Office of Mental Health, the Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery, the Center for Practice Innovation and a number of experienced senior PROS providers, NYAPRS was very pleased to sponsor the first of what we expect to be a series of annual PROS Implementation Academies. The Academy was held November 8-9, 2010 at the Best Western in Albany. The program drew an extraordinary number of participants (275) for our first year and was highly rated by all accounts for the quality of the speakers, the topics and the materials.

NYAPRS wishes to thank all of the excellent presenters, including keynoters OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan, Senior Deputy Commissioner Robert Myers, DOH Division of Financial Planning and Policy Director Greg Allen and CRR Director Courtenay Harding. Following are copies of the presentations that made up the Academy's program.