Prevention Core Activity 4: Provider Training and Education
To meet the activity outlined under prevention as:
Provide training and other professional development opportunities to increase the number of providers, including physicians, behavioral health providers, advanced practice nurses, pharmacists, and other health and social service professionals, who are able to identify and treat SUD/OUD..
The COP-RCORP Master Consortium worked to create opportunities for sharing local consortium progress during master consortium meetings and to form a workforce development workgroup. The workgroup met monthly throughout years 2 and 3 of the COP-RCORP HRSA-I initiative. Individual communities implemented many training and educational events for providers locally. Some of these efforts are described below. In total, HRSA COP-RCORP has supported training for over 3600 individuals.
Starting in 2020, Ashtabula County conducted a local assessment to determine needed training curriculum, staff who could provide training, a timeline for training development, and developing a budget to implement a Training Academy. Community prevention workers developed marketing materials to inform referral sources and potential participants about the Training Academy, including KSU.
Course outlines were submitted to the Ohio Chemical Dependency Counselor Professional Board for approval. The Training Academy in began in May 2021 and went through the month of July 2021. Due to lower attendance during the second session, the local consortium determined they would implement the next Training Academy in February 2022. Ashtabula plans to continue offering the CDCA Training Academy annually and Peer Supporter training twice a year. As of the end of June 2022, Ashtabula County has trained over 1200 individuals.
Through participation in the workforce development work group, Seneca County has worked to expand and retain area SUD/OUD workforce through training and professional development. Efforts include developed strategic plan maps for planning purposes and partnering with a local university to implement a special educational/training initiative. Seneca County has also trained over 600 individuals to usee Naloxone.
Sandusky has been working to expand and retain area SUD/OUD workforce through training and professional development, including support for prevention certification since 2021. Training plans include implementing Advocacy and Local and State Policy, SBIRT, Making the Way Easy-Training for Youth Training for Adults, and Pax Tools. As of 2022, Sandusky Country has delivered training to nearly 200 community members and paraprofessional staff.
Fairfield County held a training on March 9-13, 2021, and local consortium members have continued to identify clinicians to attend online training. Since then, Fairfield County has delivered training to over 1400 individuals. Fairfield’s goal is to identify and deliver an evidence-based program training to offer to SUD providers.