Steven Schroeder, M.D., distinguished professor of health and health care within the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Medicine, where he also heads the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center.
Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D., professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, PA.
Meghan Caughey, M.A., M.F.A., senior director of Peer and Wellness Services for Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare in Portland, OR, a multi-county, non-profit community mental health provider.
Teleconference Overview:
“If we [do] not act decisively, a hundred years from now, our grandchildren and their children [will] look back and seriously question how people claiming to be committed to public health and social justice allowed the tobacco epidemic to unfold unchecked.”
-Former World Health Organization Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland, M.D., M.P.H.
There is a need to create environments and public policies that enhance safety and wellness lifestyle choices for those who need assistance with smoking cessation, especially people in the mental health and substance abuse services delivery system. Social constructs also need to be created that support the movement of vulnerable persons toward greater levels of healing and wellness that will lead to healthier lifestyle choices. This type of environment may be found within a therapeutic relationship, peer, or mutually respectful relationship, in the larger treatment setting, and within the greater social context of communities.
This training teleconference will give participants the opportunity to hear from some of the people leading tobacco freedom for systems as well as for people with mental health and substance use disorders.
Target Audiences:
Consumers, survivors, current and past recipients of mental health and substance abuse services, peers, family members, and mental health and substance abuse organizations
Mental health providers
Substance abuse providers
Primary care providers
Learning Objectives:
Goal: This training will inform and inspire people to take action toward freedom from tobacco. It will also increase awareness of the latest and most effective smoking cessation tools, tobacco freedom initiatives, and services specifically designed for mental health and substance abuse consumers and those working in behavioral health settings.
This training will provide an overview of:
The magnitude of tobacco use among people with mental health and substance use disorders and the related morbidity and mortality;
The effectiveness of a variety of smoking cessation interventions designed to replace tobacco use with tools for living well, including treating tobacco dependence as a chronic illness by health professionals; and
A peer initiative that is integrating “trauma-informed” and “wellness-informed” practices on both an individual and systemic level to save lives.
SAMHSA’s Wellness Initiative seeks to ensure that people with behavioral health challenges achieve optimal health, happiness, recovery, and a full and satisfying life in the community via access to a range of effective services, supports, and resources.
In 2010, SAMHSA began partnering with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Women’s Health (FDA/OWH) to launch an awareness initiative focused on decreasing the risk factors leading to premature death-such as trauma, social isolation, lack of access to quality and culturally attuned health care, smoking, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and the effects of psychopharmaceuticals.
In September 2011, SAMHSA and FDA/OWH aligned its Wellness initiative with the Million Hearts™ campaign, a national initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.
