In what feels like a pervading atmosphere of fragmented healthcare, one of the exciting changes happening is the pulling together of behavioral health into primary care and other healthcare services. This is a meaningful change that will impact all of us! Because we feel so strongly about healthcare integration, the New Start team is getting some timely and extremely important education, all within walking distance of our center.
August 11th to 13th, Dr. Cohen, Joe, and Lindsey attended the California Department of Healthcare Services (CDHS) Substance Use Disorders Statewide Conference. We’re extremely excited about attending for a variety of reasons. One of the best is found in the stated goal of the conference:
“…this year’s conference will focus on ideas for integrating addiction prevention, treatment and recovery support services with primary and mental health—in an atmosphere for learning, cross-training and networking.”
We attended this conference with a broad cross-section of professionals, experts and individuals. Each learning experience and interaction allows us to increase the ways that we can help each of our clients. New detox support and behavioral treatment approaches, billing and regulations, collaboration with government services, the state affordable care program, inclusive treatment, cultural concerns, prevention and research, SBIRT, and working with veterans—to name just a few of the educational opportunities! We also had many opportunities to share our expert knowledge on medical detox management with other conference participants.
Our Continuing Education: Why is it Important to You?
There are two major reasons that New Start is dedicated to continuing education for our professional and support staff. Licensure for professionals often requires ongoing education, and this is important in order to remain current in our respective fields. But the second reason is more important: at New Start we do not believe in jogging in place exactly where we were last year.
We aspire to provide the absolute best services to our clients, from detox management to logistics, to transitioning into rehab and aftercare. Although we specialize in detox services, we are dedicated to being knowledgeable about new trends, and also new resources for those in rehab and recovery. This personal and professional growth is important for both us, personally, and for those we serve.