Mission Model

September is . National Recovery Month focuses on showcasing evidence-based treatment and recovery practices for substance use and mental health conditions, it's also a great way to promote awareness of mental health and addiction recovery and celebrate the providers, peers, and communities who make recovery possible.

MISSION staffers Marinna, Sydney, and Leslie were in attendance at the Overdose Awareness Day vigil in Worcester on 8/28. We always appreciate the opportunity to support the City of Worcester and the incredible treatment, social services, and law enforcement professionals who have worked hard to reduce the number of overdoses in the city. The ever-personable Marinna even made a new friend!

107,543 people lost their lives to overdose in the United States during 2023. Overdose deaths, and the heartbreak that comes along with them, are preventable.

Our latest on has just been published with Elsevier in Contemporary Clinical Trials. Read here: https://buff.ly/3T65v1I

We're please to welcome Mariam Fatehi, PhD, to the MISSION Lab and to UMass Chan Medical School as a postdoctoral researcher. Mariam received her MSW and PhD from the University of Georgia School of Social Work after working as a licensed psychotherapist in Iran for 8 years. Her research interests include interventions for mental health, SUD, and trauma. Welcome to the MISSION team, Mariam!

Congratulations to MISSION's Abby Helm, who recently presented at the University of Michigan 2024 Pain Short Course as one of the 2024 Class of National Institutes of Health (NIH) HEAL K12 Scholars. Each year, the HEAL National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Award is given to a small and very select group of pain researchers, and we at MISSION and UMass Chan are thrilled to represented in 2024 by Dr. Helm. Learn more about the K12 Scholars at https://buff.ly/3SIo7EP. Awesome job, Abby!

Welcoming the newest member of the MISSION team, Peer Support Specialist Trischtin Floyd!

Another week, another poster presentation for the MISSION team! Here's our own Dr. Abby Helm at The College on Problems of Drug Dependence 2024 Annual Meeting with her poster for the soon to-be-published "Opioid use and Mental Health Among Individuals With and Without Chronic Pain." Congratulations, Abby!

Well done, Marinna! MISSION Research Assistant Marinna Kaufman recently got "posterized" at the AMSA - American Medical Student Association Future Physicians for Change 2024 conference in Washington, D.C, where she presented a poster on the strategy to increase diversity of participants in our HEAL study. Learn more about at https://buff.ly/3yLW009, and learn more about Marinna at our staff profile at https://buff.ly/4em5vnc.

Love always wins.

In the community: MISSION team members Malika, Krist and Andrew were on hand at the Worcester Public Library for the library's Mental Health Awareness Community Resources Fair on May 21.

May is , and it's important to remember that co-occurring disorders like substance use significantly impact a large percentage of people experiencing mental health conditions. Learn more about co-occurring disorders at our website: https://buff.ly/3USVm8y

Congratulations to MISSION's and UMass Chan Medical School 's own Paige Shaffer...ahem, DR. Paige M. Shaffer...on receiving her PhD in Public Health from UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences on May 17! The newly-minted Dr. Shaffer focused on healthcare policy and management and minored in epidemiology, and was surrounded by family and friends as her degree was conferred. Everyone who knows or works with Paige knows how much effort and energy went into this endeavor...Paige, you are a power of example for all of us on the MISSION team and we are so, so proud of you!

May is . National Alliance on Mental Illness has a trove of resources to help kids, teens, and young adults get the help they need. Learn more at https://buff.ly/3ymGNT7

We are pleased to announce the availability of a new toolkit to help Massachusetts providers get reimbursed for MISSION services through MassHealth! Interested in billing for MISSION services? Contact us to learn more and get a copy of the toolkit.

The Opioid Task Force is hiring! Come work for the award-winning CONNECT Program, our post-opioid overdose outreach and follow-up effort, which deploys a multi-disciplinary approach to reduce fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses in rural Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region.

We are looking for a full-time CONNECT Outreach Manager. This position has excellent benefits and a competitive salary listed in the job description, which you can find below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Ew6NZhyfRE46m712leYQ009jrSD8G1L7Y1CTXspLLM/edit?usp=sharing

Applications are due on Friday, May 17, 2024, with an ideal start date of Monday, June 10, 2024. Please email a cover letter and resume to Cathi Emery, Office and Data Manager, Opioid Task Force, at [email protected].

Please help us spread the word! Questions? Contact [email protected].

Learn more about how we approach co-occurring disorders at missionmodel.org

May is . Learn more about common conditions and find resources at the NAMI website: https://buff.ly/4a2bXMz

Save the date for Holyoke Pride 2024! 🌈
🗓️Saturday, June 22nd.
📍Veterans Park in Holyoke, MA.
Don’t miss a day filled with celebration, love, and community spirit. Special thanks to our main sponsors: Holyoke Art, Holyoke Community College, and Mass Cultural Council.
🌐For more information, visit our website:
holyokepride.org

Now available: A Supplemental Guide for Addressing Problematic Gambling Among Veterans. This supplement for MISSION-VA includes adaptations specifically designed for Veterans experiencing gambling disorder or subclinical problematic gambling behavior. Download here: https://buff.ly/4a256CK

Our latest on has just been published with Springer Nature in Community Mental Health Journal. Read here: https://buff.ly/3UyUl6I

Now available for download: A version of the core MISSION treatment manual specially developed and enhanced for use with Indigenous clients. Adapted with guidance and lived experience from tribal nations' health and human services leaders, this complete version of the MISSION manual for clinicians and peers includes all the core materials and sessions. Learn more and get a copy here: https://buff.ly/49KgFP7

MISSION in the community: On site with our friends from Gandara Center MOAR - Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery and Holyoke Health Center at the resource fair at New North Center in Springfield!

MISSION partnered with Adam Stoler at Aligned Solutions to build a validated MassHealth reimbursement model for providing MISSION services. Aligned Solutions provided critical insight on billing codes and feasibility that will help us roll out a sustainable way for providers to implement MISSION in Massachusetts.

April is ! Learn more and get find tools for change at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Rethinking Drinking website.

April is , and April 11 is ! Get resources for Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) from ! https://buff.ly/3U3J2D1