Clinical Skills for BSAS-Contracted TSS, CoC, and CoE Recovery Professionals

What are "Clinical Skills"?

Providing quality care to people seeking substance use treatment is often multifaceted and complex. For many of us working in the helping profession of SUD treatment, it is a calling. The drive to give back doesn’t always prepare us for treating people at varying stages of change to address substance use and/or people with co-occurring mental health challenges. 

Co-Occurring Capable, Co-Occurring Enhanced, and Transitional Support Service programs are asked to serve this population by stabilizing clients, supporting clients’ sobriety, helping clients develop relapse prevention skills and navigating difficult-to-resolve case management needs. At every level of training and education, staff may feel ill-equipped to navigate complex clinical challenges that arise. Clinical skills are the nuanced skillset that are honed over time that allow professionals to provide consistent person-centered and trauma-responsive care, assess needs, and respond effectively to a wide range of presentations.  

Training Opportunity: 

We are excited to announce a two-day “Clinical Skills 101” training for BSAS-contracted Co-Occurring Capable (CoC) and Co-Occurring Enhanced (CoE) recovery residential programs.  

Recovery professionals will learn the importance of:

• A welcoming, supportive environment as a foundation of treatment.
• Balance thoroughness with need-to-know for documentation and clinical communication.
• Develop effective treatment planning skills.
• The Fundamentals of behavior change.
• Develop an understanding of the art and science of assessing "level of care".
• Improve case management skills through prioritization and outsourcing.
• Intervene on return to use (i.e. "relapse") and difficult behaviors without punishment.
• Infuse aftercare planning skills into all levels of daily care.

Additionally, the clinical directors and supervisors will be attending a 2-hour virtual “Coaching” session related to training implementation and will be required to agree to non-commercial use of the slides. This will enable: 

• Use the materials effectively to train staff 
• Ensure learning objectives are met 
• Utilize all activities as essential practice for skill development 

Audience: 

The training will have two types of learners in it, both types must be working in a BSAS-contracted CoE or CoC program: 

• People who are non-licensed Recovery Professionals who perform assessments, clinical documentation, case management, and treatment, support aftercare planning, but have not received education or training on these topics.
• The people who train and supervise the above defined Recovery Professionals.