Integrated Assessment and Treatment for Adolescents with Co-Occurring Disorders
It’s been estimated 75% of adolescents with Substance Use Disorders have a co-occurring mental health disorder most commonly anxiety disorders, mood disorders, attention-deficit disorders, and conduct disorder. The heterogeneity of substance abuse and co-occurring disorders suggest a differential response to substance abuse treatment. Like adult populations, treatment outcomes for adolescents with co-occurring disorders have found higher treatment dropout rates and poorer long-term success. Given the prevalence of co-occurring disorders with adolescents, concurrent treatment of the substance use disorder and mental health disorder should be the norm rather than the exception.
Effective, integrated treatment requires comprehensive assessment and evaluation. Assessment should include attention to family history including timeframes for onset and continuation of both mental health and substance use conditions, awareness of the high likelihood of trauma, and attention to evaluation of mental health symptoms and interventions during past periods of time when the individual was not using substances, or not using substances significantly. Additionally, the assessment should include a determination as to whether the teen is presently addicted to a substance or is on the road to addiction.
This webinar will focus on the components of a comprehensive evaluation which is considered necessary for effective treatment as the challenges and obstacles confront practitioners.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will learn the essential components of a comprehensive assessment for adolescents with co-occurring disorders.
- Participants will understand the roles that parents and/or other caregivers play during the assessment and treatment phases.
- Participants will appreciate the reasons that adolescence is a period of vulnerability for both substance abuse and mental health disorders and reciprocal
- Participants will learn about integrated treatment models including various psychosocial interventions and corresponding psychopharmacologic strategies.
- Participants will review the real world obstacles that can compromise effective assessment and treatment as well as strategies to address these challenges.
*Participants in this Webinar are eligible to receive 1.0 NAADAC CEU.
J. Craig Allen, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Rushford
J. Craig Allen, M.D., is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General and Adult Psychiatry and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Allen joined Rushford as Chief Medical Officer in 2005. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit in 1989. Dr. Allen did his internship and General Psychiatry residency at the New England Medical Center-Tufts University Medical School Program. He completed his Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training at the Harvard University Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital Fellowship Program in 1994. Dr. Allen served as Medical Director of Psychiatric and Family Services at Franciscan Children's Hospital in Brighton, Mass., from 1995 to 2003. He then served as Unit Chief at Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth in Middletown, Conn., until accepting his present position. Dr. Allen has held the title of Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School (1994–2003) and Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Yale University Medical School (2003–2005). Currently Dr. Allen trains Psychiatry Residents and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellows from the Institute of Living in Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Allen was seated on the SAMHSA Pharmacotherapy Expert Consensus Panel which developed Pharmacotherapy Principles for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.His extensive experience in program development and administration, teaching, clinical supervision and direct patient care make him a valuable addition to the Rushford team.
