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Unique Training Experience Appeals To Participants From Across The Country

The 1^st Annual Professional Development and Training on Indigenous Prevention Strategies on Substance Use and Other Behavioral Issues conference was held March 28 through April 1, 2011 at the Marriott Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As part of its ongoing support of addiction recovery for Native communities in North America, Betty Ford Institute co-sponsored the training event.

Patrick Haggerson, M.A., I.C.A.D.C. Program Director of Ethno Cultural Activities for Betty Ford Institute, was an active participant in the six-day event, which featured more than 20 day-long classes.  The instruction was conducted by a cadre of national experts with demonstrated teaching experience on health and substance abuse issues faced by Native people. According to Haggerson, practitioners from across the country attended the event to gain inspiration while earning up to 40 CE (Continuing Education) contact hours.

Haggerson is pictured here with Native American Training Institute, Inc. President Patrick Trujillo and Institute Vice President Marie Kirk.

“One thing I see happening to front line workers on reservations is that they often don’t have much peer support or administrative support in their work,” said Haggerson.  “Some have to attend AA meetings that their clients attend because that is the only option. As a result, the front line workers are prone to higher than normal rates of burn-out. This conference offered an opportunity to do some personal recovery work that isn’t possible back home. It is also a source of burn-out prevention for attendees.”

Haggerson and tribal elder Arthur Dick of Alkali Lake co-facilitated a workshop on “Grief Recovery: The Use of Traditional Ceremonies” for over 30 people. They offered both didactic and experiential teaching strategies, including a “Talking Circle” in which a number of participants shared unresolved grief they have been carrying related to their jobs as therapists, i.e. working with suicides, murders, accidents and loss of child custody because of their clients’ drinking and drugging.

David Meggitt, Program Coordinator for the Denver Children’s Program, presented a day-long workshop entitled “Tools for the Journey:  Helping Children Who Live with Addiction.”

Although the event is titled the “1^st Annual”, this conference is now operated by the Native American Training Institute, Inc. which has taken over from  American Indian Training Institute and continues the history of delivering skill-development training in alcohol and other drug prevention, treatment and aftercare services to those providers who work in Indian and First Nations communities. Some of the staff, the history and experience which offered the school for the past 33 years continues.

The mission of Betty Ford Institute is to conduct and support collaborative programs of research, prevention and education that will lead to a reduction of the devastating impact of addictive disease on individuals, families and communities. The initial prevention focus is on families and children at risk for alcohol and other drug problems. For more information about Betty Ford Institute, visit www.bettyfordinstitute.org.

Related posts:

1. Unique Conference Set in Albuquerque
2. Betty Ford Institute Ethno-Cultural Activities Program Co-Sponsors Specialized Training Conference
3. New Training Opportunity Draws Rave Reviews
4. Continuing Care Unique to Each Program, Uniformly Valuable
5. Patrick Haggerson Published in Counselor Magazine