Welcome to our February newsletter!

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Wisconsin CONNECT is a collaborative. We seek to provide technical assistance and training opportunities for substance use prevention and treatment grantees, providers, clinicians, social workers, and support staff.

We draw on local and national academic and community resources to reduce and prevent substance use and improve overall health and wellness in Wisconsin.

To that end, we want to help you connect the dots with this newsletter. It is a tool to support our efforts to promote new research, share tools and trainings that aim to help you engage in different communities, enhance practice and improve the health of your clients and program participants.

Prenatal alcohol exposure and health at midlife: Self-reported health outcomes in two cohorts

This study investigates the health outcomes of midlife adults with and without a history of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), revealing that those exposed reported significantly higher rates of various health issues. Using latent class analysis, the research identified distinct patterns of health problems among participants, with PAE linked to specific conditions such as hearing and dental issues. The findings suggest that while PAE is associated with certain health adversities, many outcomes may also result from postnatal stressors and other factors.

Read the paper here.

2023 Wisconsin HIV Surveillance Annual Reports Published

Statewide and Milwaukee reports

from Wisconsin DHS

The Wisconsin HIV program has published two annual reports, the 2023 Wisconsin HIV Surveillance Annual Report and the 2023 HIV in the City of Milwaukee Supplemental Report. Together, the reports provide an overview of trends in overall data, diagnosis, and prevalence of HIV in Wisconsin and in the state’s largest city, Milwaukee.

A two-page summary of each report is also available on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) HIV Program Data webpage. Additional statewide HIV statistics and reports are located on the webpage.

Help us plan the statewide Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CDPP) Gathering

from Wisconsin DHS

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CDPP) is planning an in-person gathering for fall 2025. The CDPP covers a broad area of interrelated health topics including:

• Diabetes and prediabetes.
• Heart disease and stroke.
• Nutrition, breastfeeding, and physical activity.
• Community health workers.

Your input to plan the gathering is wanted. Please take the brief planning survey by February 14. 

Complete the survey here.

Serve Hope: Cook Dinner for Shelter Guests

Opportunity shared by Community Advocates

Looking for a meaningful way to give back to your community? We invite you to prepare and serve a meal to the guests staying at the Milwaukee Women’s Center’s Emergency Shelter on the Near South Side of Milwaukee.

Details:

• Meals should be prepared, purchased, and served by volunteers at 6 p.m. daily.
• We provide a fully equipped commercial kitchen with all the utensils, pots, pans, and dishes, along with a commercial stove/oven. If you prefer, you can bring in fully cooked meals that are ready to serve.
• Volunteers will be required to wear hair nets, gloves, and masks when necessary to ensure the safety of all guests.
• Volunteers must complete an application and pass a background check.

This is a great opportunity for individuals, families, or groups to make a tangible difference in the lives of adults and kids who have survived domestic violence or homelessness.

Interested? Contact Jeri Kavanaugh at jkavanaugh@communityadvocates.net to discuss the details and schedule your date to serve.

Together, we can provide comfort, nourishment, and hope to those who need it most. Thank you for your support!

More volunteer opportunities.

Seeking Volunteers for Study on Institutional Care of Individuals with FASD

from Saybrook University

Monique Terner, a Doctoral Candidate at Saybrook University is researching “The Lived Experience of the Impact of Institutional Care on the Sense of Loneliness and Belonging in Individuals with FASD.” People with FASD 18-60 years old who have experienced institutionalization are welcome to apply. Recruiting is through February. 

Director of Women's Recovery Home Position Open

from Ho-Chunk Nation

Position Overview:

Director of Women's Recovery Home will manage the day-to-day program administration operations of the sober living house. This will include project planning and organizing, staffing and leading program activities. The Director of Women's Recovery Home will also manage all business operations of the sober living house, and be responsible to lead all staff, residents and clients in. a supportive manner that will ensure healthy healing and sobriety.

More details here.

Motivational Interviewing Training

Initial Skills: March 18 and 25

and

Refresher: April 22

8:30-12:30 CT

While role type and focus of services varies from setting to setting where MI has found a home, the approach remains consistent. Research on the “common factors” that lead to successful outcomes clearly shows it matters little “what” is being done and matters greatly “how” the “what” is being done. When training MI one of the first moments of the training is to offer an on-going, as-needed conversation around how MI supports the work being done by service providers. We have found this to be highly successful in the wide variety of service settings we have trained. For example, when sharing MI to a large agency where intake specialists are utilizing MI to engage, non-clinical direct service providers are using MI to engage and evoke change, and clinicians are integrating MI with cognitive behavioral treatment.

​All learners are able to adopt and adapt MI to their unique focus, learn from each other how to deepen their own practice, and create + sustain a common culture of service from intake to discharge.

These trainings are capped at 24 attendees, so only register if you KNOW that you can and will attend all three days.

Register and learn more here.

Role of Certified Peer Specialists: A Training for Non-Peer Specialists

from UW-Green Bay

February 18, 2025, 9:00am - 1:00pm CT

Virtual via Zoom

Join Jessica and Amy from Chrysalis in an interactive training that will strengthen your understanding of Certified Peer Specialists. Explore the value of mutuality, inclusion, and centering diverse lived experiences.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand what a Peer Specialist is and is not.
• Review the Scope of Practice, Core Competencies, and Code of Ethics of Certified Peer Specialists in Wisconsin.
• Learn about the art of self-disclosure and advocacy for Certified Peer Specialists.

Register and learn more here.

BRAIN-Online

from FASD United

BRAIN-online is a new web-based screening tool that assesses cognitive and behavioral features known to be associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). It was developed by Dr. Sarah Mattson and her team at the San Diego State University Center for Behavioral Teratology as a first step to determine if you or someone you care for might have an FASD. Developmental and behavioral health screenings are important because they can help with early identification of FASD, allowing for the best treatment options and outcomes.

Access and learn more here.

Suicide Prevention 201: Advancing Suicide Prevention & Management for Diverse Clients

from UW-Green Bay

February 25 & 27, 2025, 12:00 - 3:30pm CT each day

Virtual via Zoom

This workshop will provide instruction and a forum for clinical discussion and case practice, on the current standards of practice for suicide prevention and management.



Throughout its content, this workshop addresses the management of suicide in diverse populations. Attendees will learn state-of-science theoretical, measurement, and applied research as practical approaches to assist clinicians in accounting for cultural influences on suicide risk among diverse populations. Aims are to provide guidance to advance culturally competent suicide research and practice.

Learning Objectives

• Identify 6 key steps of assessing & managing suicide risk
• Apply standard approaches to suicide risk assessment & inquiry
• Identify major components of safety planning, suicide risk case conceptualization, and treatment planning while accounting for important clinical documentation & legal considerations
• Discuss the latest research on cultural differences in suicide, & culturally competent assessment & prevention of suicide among ethnic minority & LGBTQ populations
• Apply a guiding framework & assessment tools/approaches that advance culturally competent suicide practice w/ diverse clients

Register and learn more here.

Click here to visit the web page for the 2025 Great Lakes Motivational Interviewing Conference.

Save the Date for 2025 Conferences

WALC Annual Breastfeeding Conference

March 6-7

Hybrid. In-person at the Oshkosh Waterfront Hotel and Conference Center in Oshkosh, WI.

Prevent Suicide Wisconsin Conference

April 9

Virtual.

North Central Regional Trauma Advisory Council (NCRTAC) Trauma Conference

April 10

In-person at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau, WI.

Wisconsin Alliance for Drug Endangered Children

April 15-17

In-person at the Holiday In in Stevens Point, WI.

Peer Recovery Conference

April 15-17

In-person at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, WI.

NAMI Wisconsin Annual Conference

April 25-26

In-person at the Marriott West in Madison, WI.

Opioids, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit

May 6-8

Hybrid. In-person at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, WI.

2025 Advances in Trauma Care

May 16

In-person at Rasmus/Overholt/Ross/ICE House in La Crosse, WI.

Harm Reduction Conference

July 16-17

Hybrid. In-person at the Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells, WI.

Motivational Interviewing Conference

August 6-8

In-person at the Pyle Center in Madison, WI.

Call for proposals open.

Mental Health and Substance Use Recovery Conference

October 16-17

Hybrid. In-person at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, WI.

Call for proposals open.