Bridgeway Center Inc. Hosts Changing the World Conference

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

Bridgeway Center, Inc. a non-profit health and human services company serving the children, adults, and families of Okaloosa County and the surrounding area for over forty (40) years, recently provided a National conference for 133 mental health professionals at Embassy Suites in Destin. The conference was made possible in part through an award grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) for the provision of training on treatment for individuals with substance abuse and a mental health disorder.

The primary speaker for the two day conference entitled, Changing the World, was Kenneth Minkoff, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist with a certificate of additional qualifications in addiction psychiatry; a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a senior systems consultant for ZiaPartners in San Rafael, CA. He is recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on integrated treatment of individuals with co-occurring psychiatric and substance disorders, 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 luncheon speaker on October 30, 2008, on the issue of mentally ill and/or substance abusing homeless individuals was Lenore Wilson, Executive Director of the Okaloosa Walton Homeless Continuum of Care/Opportunity, Inc., who has over 11 years experience coordinating services and care for the homeless.

Dr. Susan Walch, a clinical psychologist and advocate in the area of HIV prevention and HIV/AIDS care with emphasis on behavioral interventions to risk, behavioral correlates of HIV risk and psychosocial aspects of coping with HIV infection and AIDS diagnosis and member of the faculty of the Psychology Department at the University of West Florida was the luncheon speaker on October 31, 2008. Dr. Walch is also a HOPE Trainer for the American Psychological Association.

Conference reviews are excellent.

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT