Speaker(s):
Rick Strait, MS, LPC, Heather Williams, BS and Scott Kerby, MA, LPC
Presentation: Our presentation will cover practical tips on how to into incorporate medication assisted treatment (MAT) into your treatment. We will give examples of what MAT is and what MAT is not, and that education is power, both for the professional and the consumer. We will share some of the obstacles we had to overcome and are still overcoming when we first starting encouraging MAT in our co-occurring program. These barriers included educating consumers, educating doctors, as well as dealing with resistance from other staff members and some support groups. We will give examples on helping to determine if someone would benefit from MAT, helping the consumer communicate with doctor about MAT, and how to use Motivational Interviewing to help consumers who may benefit from MAT, but that are struggling with ambivalence. We will give examples of overcoming personal biases towards MAT and how to be an advocate/educator of MAT at your agency. We also will cover how MAT can be a wonderful part of a consumer’s treatment, but that it is not a cure in of itself; providing tips to help encourage and keep consumers engaged, who may feel like they no longer need counseling because they have MAT.
Objectives:
- Suggest different tips or ways to roll with resistance and educate on MAT (prescribers, staff, families, consumers, etc.)
- Summarize how to continue to use motivational interviewing and outreach with consumers who are using MAT and no longer feel they need other parts of treatment.
- Review facts about what MAT is and how to use that information to help reduce discrimination towards MAT.