SAMHSA Awards Funds for Florida Conference to Focus on Co-Occurring Disorders

JULY 9, 2008

Prepared for Public Service Announcement:

Fort Walton Beach - The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has announced the award of a Knowledge Dissemination Conference grant totaling $47,514 to Bridgeway Center, Inc. of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

The grants are intended to disseminate information about best practices within the mental health services, substance abuse prevention and substance treatment fields at regionally and/or nationally significant conferences.

This particular grant will support an upcoming training conference on the clinical aspects of co-occurring disorders and will feature programs on homeless populations and those with HIV/AIDS. The two-day conference will be attended by behavioral health professionals, hospital staff, law enforcement, judicial personnel, consumers and family members.

The conference will take place in the fall of 2008 and feature Kenneth Minkoff, MD. Kenneth Minkoff, M.D. is a board-certified psychiatrist with a certificate of additional qualifications in addiction psychiatry; a dedicated community psychiatrist, and is currently a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on integrated treatment of individuals with co-occurring psychiatric and substance disorders (ICOPSD) or "dual diagnosis", and on the development of integrated systems of care for such individuals, through the implementation of a national consensus best practice model for systems design: the Comprehensive Continuous Integrated System of Care (CCISC), referenced in SAMHSA's Report to Congress on Co-occurring Disorders (2002).

The maximum Knowledge Dissemination Conference Grant award is $50,000 for a 12-month project period. This grant program will be administered by SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services, and only direct costs will be funded.

SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.

Bridgeway Center, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization with 12 locations dedicated to providing quality and affordable behavioral, judicial, educational, and in-home senior services for individuals throughout Okaloosa County and beyond.

Find Out How to Register

If you would like to attend this conference, visit our conference information page for registration prices, hotel information and conference agenda.