Social Wellness

4400 Auburn Blvd., 2nd Floor, Sacramento, CA 95841
(916) 929-9761

Last Modified: January 30, 2008

Social Wellness Program

The Mission of the Social Wellness Program is to serve, aid, and protect needy and vulnerable American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and adults in ways that strengthen and preserve families, encourage personal responsibility, and foster independence. To also lead the efforts to reduce alcoholism, drug addiction and problem gambling in California’s American Indian community by developing, administering and supporting prevention, treatment, recovery, and reentry programs.

Current Active grants in the Social Wellness Program as of December, 2007 are:

Access to Recovery
California Indian Health Service Alcohol Counselor Certification Training
California Indian Health Service Methamphetamine Training Project
State of California, Alcohol and Drug Program’s, Training and Technical Assistance Contract http://www.crihb.org/FCHS/SocailwellnessTA.htm
State of California, Alcohol and Drug Program’s, Women’s Public Awareness Campaign

Access to Recovery

California American Indian Recovery Program: August 3, 2004 – April 30, 2008

In 2004, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded $17.1 million in Access to Recovery funds to create the California American Indian Recovery Program (CAIR). Over the past 3 years, CAIR developed and implemented an automated voucher management system (VMS) to fund clinical alcohol and drug treatment and recovery support services to California’s AI/AN people. Beyond helping thousands, the CAIR program demonstrated that a well-run voucher system could serve a large geographic area efficiently. The VMS made it possible to limit administrative costs, reduce paperwork demands, and simplify reports.

Access to American Indian Recovery: September 30, 2007 – September 29, 2010

In September, 2007 SAMHSA rewarded the hard work of CAIR providers and staff with a new 3-year, $14.8 million grant award – one of the largest 2007 ATR awards in the country. The new name is Access to American Indian Recovery. This new program will expand to serve AI/AN people in California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. This expansion represents a strategic move toward sustainability-a key goal of SAMHSA’s ATR program. By replicating the success of our existing VMS in the Pacific Northwest, we are able to demonstrate the distribution of services more efficiently and increase client choice.

If you are interested in more information on the Access to Recovery programs, please contact Vicki Sanderford-O’Connor, M.A., ATR Project Director at 916.929.9761, ext. 1503, or vicki.o’connor@crihb.net or Randal Vardan, M.A. ATR Program Manager, at 916.929.9761, ext. 1505 or randal.vardan@crihb.net.

Alcohol Counselor Certification Training

The overall purpose of the Alcohol Counselor Certification Training contract is to train, educate, certify, and re-certify alcohol and substance abuse counselors at California tribal and urban substance abuse/mental health programs throughout California.

As a result of a needs assessment survey, the following trainings will be conducted throughout the contract year:

                December 13-14, 2007         Motivational Interviewing - Complete
                March 10-14, 2008                Addiction Counseling Competencies
                June 9-13, 2008                    Co-occurring Disorders
                September 11-12, 2008        Red Road/Wellbriety Movement

If you are interested in more information, please contact Deborah Kawkeka (916-929-9761, ext. 1514 or Deborah.Kawkeka@crihb.net) or Jennifer Parsons (916-929-9761, ext. 1508 or Jennifer.Parsons@crihb.net).

California Area Methamphetamine Training and Collaboration Project
The purpose of the California Area Methamphetamine Training and Collaboration Project is to provide training to California Area providers on methamphetamine and treatment. The conference will include an interactive component to focus on multi-agency, cross disciplinary community involvement to address prevention, treatment, and recovery issues.

For more information, please contact Deborah Kawkeka at 916-929-9761, ext. 1514 or Deborah.Kawkeka@crihb.net.

Native American Women’s Public Awareness Campaign on Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment and Prevention

The goal of the Native American Women’s Public Awareness Campaign on Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment and Prevention is to increase the capacity of Native American women in California to address alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems and to improve family communication skills. This important contract is issued through the California State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

The project will include publication of Red Voices magazine, a survey of Native American women in California, and a Native American women’s conference. The project will also include development of culturally competent educational materials on topics such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and methamphetamine prevention and treatment.

If you would like to receive copies of Red Voices magazine, please contact Deborah Kawkeka (916-929-9761, ext. 1514 or Deborah.Kawkeka@crihb.net) or Jennifer Parsons (916-929-9761, ext. 1508 or Jennifer.Parsons@crihb.net). The publication is available in hard copy or electronic versions.

Contact:

Vicki Sandford-O'Connor
Social Wellness Program Manager
4400 Auburn Blvd., 2nd Floor
Sacramento, CA 95841
(916) 929-9761 Ext. 1503
(916) 929-7246 (fax)
e-mail: vicki.oconnor@crihb.net

CRIHB · 4400 Auburn Blvd., 2nd Floor · Sacramento · CA 95841 · (916) 929-9761