Happy New Year's!

Welcome to our January 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.

Pharmacy Experts Webinar: Psychedelic Medicine, Pharmacy & Society

from University of Wisconsin-Madison

In 2020, the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy created the Pharmacy Experts Webinar Series to share the broad and deep knowledge of the School’s faculty and alumni who are researching and practicing at the top of their fields. In fall 2022, the School hosted its sixth installment, focused on the development of psychedelic therapies. 

Watch as Associate Professor Lucas Richert, of the Social and Administrative Sciences Division, and Professor Paul Hutson and Assistant Professor Cody Wenthur, both of the Pharmacy Practice and Translational Research Division, discuss where psychedelic research is today, what projects are underway here at UW–Madison, and how the role of pharmacists factors in. 

Watch webinar here.

20th Prevention Day!

from SAMHSA

SAMHSA’s 20th Prevention Day (SPD) takes place on Monday, January 29, 2024, in conjunction with CADCA National Leadership Forum at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Join SAMHSA for the largest annual national gathering dedicated to advancing the prevention of substance use and misuse.

They’ll celebrate the 20th anniversary of SPD, explore current innovations, reflect on past accomplishments, and chart a course for the future of prevention. Get ready for an engaging and inspiring day packed with presentations, activities, networking, and more! This day-long event is free but registration is required.

Register here.

The GED + Healthcare Customer Service Program

The joint GED and Health Care Customer Service program offers program participants the opportunity to earn both their GED and train for a career in healthcare. To learn more or to discuss your career goals, contact the Greater Milwaukee Urban League or Employ Milwaukee.

View flyer.

Free In-Home Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines

from City of Milwaukee Health Department

Free in-home COVID and flu vaccines are available through the Milwaukee Health Department for individuals who qualify. To be eligible for this service, individuals must either need assistance leaving home or are generally not advised to leave home. For details, click the button below to download the flyer.

Learn more here.

Affirming and Supportive Services for LGBTQ+ Individuals

from ERI Training Center

January 9

10:00am-11:00am

As LGBTQ+ populations confront a recent wave of prejudice, it is more critical than ever to understand both the history and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, families, and organizations. Led by Frederick Harris, founder and Clinical Director of New Beginnings Counseling Center – this session will offer participants a safe and welcoming environment to explore the trauma, marginalized identity and discrimination that often confront people who identify as LGBTQ+. Frederick will encourage a hopeful and proactive dialogue to give professionals deeper insight into the ways that we can support LGBTQ+ people and their allies.

Enroll here.

Recovery and Resiliency Forum Four Week Series

from Wisconsin Community Services, Inc.

Part I

January 23

9:00am-11:00am

Overview - This workshop will explore the many definitions and forms of trauma and the potential short- and long-term reactions to trauma exposure. We will discuss what happens if trauma persists over time and how one may overcome negative trauma effects. Finally, we will talk about what this means for our work serving trauma affected communities and their members. •Approved by the National Association of Social Workers, Wisconsin Chapter for 2 hours of Continuing Education Credit•

Feature Presenter - James "Dimitri" Topitzes, Ph.D., LCSW, is a professor of social work in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at UWM. He conducts applied trauma research and recently co-founded the Institute for Child and Family Well-being, where he serves as the clinical director.

Reserve your spot here.

Part II

January 30

1:00pm-3:00pm

Overview - This workshop will explore the intersection of DEI, Cultural Reverence, trauma-responsive, and recovery programming. Racial injustice will be explored as a chronic, systemic, collective, and personal form of trauma. Moreover, in our current socio-political climate, there are a number of identities that are under attack. Breakout groups will reflect on identity-based trauma and engage in an excercise of dismantling dominance dynamics. The goal is to journey beyond the traditional limits of recovery to inspire self-mastery. •Approved by the National Association of Social Workers, Wisconsin Chapter for 2 hours of Continuing Education Credit•

Feature Presenter - Jojopahmaria Nsoroma is the owner and steward of Higher Expectations Consulting Collaborative, a core time member of Share Collaborative, the creator of the Wisdom Walk to Self-Mastery program at the Alma Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the author of the book by the same name.

Reserve your spot here.

Establishing a Foundation for Motivational Interviewing Skills

from University of Wisconsin-Madison

2 live sessions;

Tuesday, January 30 & Thursday, February 1

10:00am-12:00pm.

This highly interactive introduction to Motivational Interviewing (MI) provides the 'what' and 'why' behind this highly sought, evidence-based skill for helping people change and grow. In this short course, you will also build a solid foundation for understanding the 'how' of MI, practice the fundamentals, and create a plan to continue your MI skills development. MI is learned over time, with ongoing instruction, practice and feedback. As such, this session is strongly recommended as a precursor to the Building Competency in MI Certificate and/or Advancing MI Skills courses also offered by UW–Madison Division of Continuing Studies.

Register here.

Connecting the Dots

from Wisconsin CONNECT

On Demand Training

Launching January 2024

You asked for more On Demand training options, and we listened! We are calling this new programming Connecting the Dots.

In a podcast format, Kyle Mounts and Lonnetta Albright from the original Women and SUD ECHO team will host experts in the field. Experts will also come from our provider community who will discuss relevant and current research in the field of substance use recovery for women-- to spark meaningful discussion aimed at facilitating practice change.

Our goal is simple—to provide current, relevant information intended to: Increase Awareness & Knowledge; and Identify Application Strategies for changes in practice to support the work you do. On the second Friday of every month, a new podcast will go live.

FASD Self-Paced Training Series

from Wisconsin Connect

On Demand Training

Launching January 2024

Many medical, allied health care providers, educators, and others work with individuals affected by prenatal alcohol exposure—diagnosed or undiagnosed—but may lack training to identify, refer, and/or provide effective services. Few agencies offer FASD training to address these important issues. 

This FASD self-paced learning series helps decrease the knowledge gap by providing on-demand educational opportunities to learn more about the prevention, identification, and treatment of FASD. 

Nevermore Program

from Community Advocates

Trauma-informed education, awareness of the dynamics of domestic violence, healing and rehabilitation, nonviolent communication and conflict-resolution skills, development of an abuse prevention plan… these are some of the tools and approaches that the Community Advocates' Nevermore Program offers to men who want to break the cycle of violence.

Nevermore Batterers Treatment is an educational, support group-based program aiming to help male batterers understand and take responsibility for their violent behavior. Nevermore provides tools and knowledge, to change abusive and controlling behaviors and to prevent domestic violence in intimate partner and/or family relationships.

Men who have completed the program say this about Nevermore:

“I came in as a follower and I left as a leader.”

“I started learning a lot of things about myself and my family, and hurts and pains and trauma that happened in the past that have been affecting me in the present and are hindering my future.”



“You guys always walked with me and supported me.”

Please donate generously to help support this life-changing work

and to continue funding the Nevermore program.

For more information or to make a referral to Nevermore,

please call (414) 828-5190.

Learn more on their website.

Overloaded: Understanding Neglect

a podcast

Neglect is a complex and wicked problem, but it’s one that host Luke Waldo believes is preventable if we work together to reimagine how we as a society support families overloaded by stress. Join Waldo and the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being on the "Overloaded: Understanding Neglect" podcast to discover some of the strategies that can help make that belief a reality for both families and communities.

The conversations begin with Season 2 of Overloaded: Understanding Neglect wherever you listen to your podcasts. Then come back each week on Wednesday to listen to the rest of the series.

Listen here.

Save the Date for Conferences

Opioids, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit

May 7-9, Pre-conference May 6, 2024

Hybrid. In-person at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells.

Alcohol Policy Seminar

October 8, Pre-conference October 7, 2024

Hybrid. In-person location TBD.