2004: 38th Annual WAAODA Conference

Thriving on Challenges: Integrating a Public Health Perspective into Our Practice

We chose the public health approach to alcohol and other drug addiction because AODA is widespread problem with far-reaching consequences. Although AODA is preventable and treatable, it continues to be a hugely costly public healthcare problem--and Wisconsin continues to develop legislation and regulation to better deal with it.

The WAAODA Conference attracts substance abuse and mental health professionals, as well as other stakeholders who must integrate both fields. Our education and training programs historically have acknowledged and reinforced an integrated approach. WAAODA has always integrated mental health training in the annual Conference-it is a key component in helping practitioners treat the whole person as part of the whole community. So, in the 2004 Conference, we are going to build on past successful education and training programs to further improve the focus on the integration of mental health services.

The Conference plenary sessions are always topical, exploring a single issue of critical importance to the AODA field. Traditionally, the rest of the Conference is devoted to training direct line practitioners. While this is still emphasized this year, we have also added a new track to the Conference - the Management Institute, which focuses on major business and administrative issues affecting top level executives and managers, program directors and executive directors in the AODA field.

Another important aspect of the Conference is the Advocacy Luncheon, which typically attracts a full house, often with standing room only. This year, nationally-acclaimed recovery advocate William Cope Moyers will be the keynote speaker. He is one of the field's trail blazers and a huge draw for people in recovery.

The 2004 Conference Program has slated a number of top national and international experts including:

• Dr. Louis Sullivan (President emeritus of Morehouse Medical School and former Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
  
  
• Dr. David Powell (author of Clinical Supervision in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling)
  
  
• Dr. Mary Marden Velasquez (co-author of Group Treatment for Substance Abuse: A Stages-of-Change Therapy Manual)
  
  
• Dr. Carlton Erickson (leading addiction researcher and co-author of Drugs, the Brain and Behavior)
  
  
• Rokelle Learner (author of Affirmations for Adult Children of Alcoholics and creator of the Inner Path Relationship and Women's Stage 2 Recovery Programs for Cottonwood de Tucson)
  
  
• Rosalinda Ramirez (specialist in culturally competent AODA counseling and principal of Ravenspeaks)
  
  
• Pamela Woll (consultant and author of Healing the Stigma of Addiction)

Thus, the 2004 WAAODA Conference will be an ideal platform for building a broad coalition of counselors and other professionals for the future of substance abuse and mental health services in Wisconsin.

Last year's Conference attracted 425 registered participants from 105 Wisconsin municipalities, plus 65 presenters, including nationally recognized experts such as Dr. Carlton Erickson, Dr. Lonny Shavelson, Dr. Dwayne Simpson, Mohammed Bilal and Rosalinda Ramirez. The overall satisfaction rate for the Conference was 97%, with 35% of participants rating the three-day education and training symposium as "excellent".