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17 Jan 2025 ACT/IPS Initiative Webinar - Introduction to the ACT/IPS Initiative 1/17/2025 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

ACT/IPS Initiative Webinar - Introduction to the ACT/IPS Initiative

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ACT Team IPS Initiative Support Meetings

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ACT/IPS Initiative Webinar: Work and Recovery

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ACT CORE In-Person (LI):

Pilgrim PC Building 45 -1st floor Conference Room
998 Crooked Hill Road
West Brentwood, NY 11717

Session 1: 10 AM – 12 PM
Break: 12 PM – 1 PM
Session 2: 1 PM – 3 PM

Event Information:

SESSION 1: 10 AM – 12PM

LUNCH BREAK: 12 PM – 1 PM

SESSION 2: 1 PM – 3 PM

Prerequisite:

1. ACT Promoting Recovery through Mobile, Team-based Approach: Online Course

2. ACT: Engaging Consumers in Assertive Community Treatment

How to Register: New staff members must register themselves within the Center for Practice Innovation's Learning Community in order to sign up for training. Team Leaders should forward the self-registration link and instructions they received to all staff requiring training. The link you received is unique to your team and will need to be used to register new hires for ACT training. Please keep this information accessible, so you are able to continuously register any new staff. If you are returning, please go to https://rfmh.csod.com.

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The ACT Institute provides training, support, and consultation to Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) providers across New York State. Our training curriculum is based on national evidence-based practice consortium standards and modifications to these standards as developed by the Office of Mental Health. Training is delivered via in-person and distance-learning modalities. Our trainers include both staff of the Center for Practice Innovations and other expert consultants.

Learn more about ACT Services

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What's New

ACT Institute Upcoming Training - January 2020

ACT TEAMS

Core Principles & Person-Centered Treatment Planning Training

*January 3: ACT Core Principles Training; NYC

*January 17: ACT Person-Centered Treatment Planning; LI

Trainings are from 10AM to 4:30PM. For training site addresses and to register, please click on the dates above. Read more.

Click here to view previous issues of ACT Upcoming events.

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ACT News Briefs

Happy Holidays from the ACT Institute

ACT Team Leader Retreat 2019 - Changing the Narrative: Breaking Through Barriers
		The ACT Institute was pleased to present the ACT Team Leader Retreat on October 10th and October 11th in Albany, New York. The retreat brought together 78 ACT Team Leaders and Vocation Specialists from all five NYS regions (NYC, Hudson River, Central NY, Western NY, and Long Island), along with OMH Administrators, to change the narrative and break through barriers. Read more.

Abaigeal Duke joins CPI Staff as Recovery Specialist and Trainer

We are pleased to announce that Abaigeal Duke has joined our staff as Recovery Specialist and Trainer for the OnTrackNY initiative and ACT Institute. In this role, she will work directly with OnTrackNY and ACT teams across NYS. Read more.

Assertive Community Treatment Updated Staff Training Requirements Now Located in the LMS
We are pleased to announce the Assertive Community Treatment Updated Staff Training Requirements, now located in the LMS. Please review the ACT Training Memo from NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH), Bureau of Rehabilitation Support Services regarding the updates and how they affect your team’s training status. The ACT Institute Curriculum Training Guide provides a more in-depth overview of the new ACT Training curriculum, including requirements for newly hired ACT Providers. Read more.

Pascale Jean-Noel Delivers Key Note Address at Oregon's Center of Excellence Annual Statewide ACT Conference
	On June 11th, 2019 Pascale Jean-Noel, Director of Training at the ACT Institute, delivered the Key Note Address at Oregon Center of Excellence annual statewide ACT conference entitled MyPositionality and How That Impacts My Seat at the Table. Read more.

Luis Lopez Supports Clinicians Working with Hurricane Maria Survivors in Puerto Rico

This June Luis Lopez from the ACT Institute was invited to Puerto Rico to train approximately 80 clinicians working with survivors of Hurricane Maria. During this trip, Luis facilitated training sessions at 3 different areas of the island – Mayaguez (west coast), Arecibo (northern region), and Caguas (near the east coast). Clinicians attending the training were psychiatric nurses, social workers, counselors, and psychologists from COSSMA, a non-for-profit agency serving over 27,000 survivors throughout the island. Read more.

A Year in Review: Reflects on our Field Placement at the ACT Institute

Over the past year, the ACT Institute had the pleasure of hosting three 2nd year Master of Social Work interns, Angelina LaMastra from Columbia University, and Kristin Torres and Yiyin Tang from New York University. The MSW interns were assigned different tasks based on their area of interests and self-determined learning objectives and were able to gain valuable learning and working experience to help them in their future careers as social work advocates and leaders. The interns would like to take this opportunity to thank the ACT Institute staff and leadership for their guidance and support and reflect on their individual experiences and work here at NYSPI as they prepare to graduate and move forward in the field. Read more.

3rd Annual Peer Learning Community Day: ACT MAPS Training
On Friday April 12, 2019, the ACT Institute hosted an ACT MAPS training and the third annual face-to-face ACT Peer Specialist training. This training has been almost three years in the making since the ACT Institute began organizing the ACT Peer workforce through a process of interviews, gatherings, and the development of a Peer Scope of Practice. The lack of clarity related to the Peer Specialist role on ACT Teams has created a situation where many peer workers find themselves responsible for traditionally clinical tasks without clear training in peer values and practices. There has been a commitment by the ACT Institute to support peer workers on ACT Teams in a way that has fostered a lot of trust, camaraderie and creative visioning towards the future. Read more.

The ACT Institute Interviews Spring 2019 Peer-Interns Drew Musa and Ife Samms

We chatted with New York Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) Spring 2019 interns from Howie the Harp (HTH) Ife Samms and Drew Musa to get their take on the work they have done since starting their internships in February. Drew (left) is a 25-year-old Muay Thai enthusiast from Queens, and Ife (right) is a 26-year-old singer-songwriter from Brooklyn. HTH interns are placed in a three-month internship following a six-month educational program at the advocacy center for people diagnosed with a mental illness. At NYSPI, their time at their internship is divided in half between working directly with patients on a NYSPI’s inpatient-unit and working with the ACT Institute to help support and train Peer Specialists who work on ACT Teams across the state. We asked them a few questions to get a better picture of their experiences working with CPI thus far. Read more.

Attention ACT Providers! ACT TCTTAC (Tobacco Training) Available

There is a new set of tobacco resources available through the CPI Learning Management System (NYC TCTTAC). Tobacco is the #1 cause of death among people diagnosed with a psychiatric illness in the United States (Callaghan et al, 2014). People diagnosed with a psychiatric illness are more likely to smoke than people without (36% vs. 21%) (CDC Vital Signs February 2013) and smoke more often (SAMHSA CBHSQ Report March 2017). It has also been shown that people diagnosed with a psychiatric illness want to and are able to stop smoking (CDC Vital Signs February 2013). And we can help! Read more.

ACT MAPS Training for Peer Specialists

Exciting things are happening at the ACT Institute with the Peer role and we invite you to be involved! Come join us on April 12th for an In-Person Training/ACT Peer Gathering. THIS WILL BE OUR THIRD ANNUAL GET TOGETHER OF THE PEER COMMUNITY! Read more

ACT Institute Works with DHS Leadership
On Thursday, February 7th, the ACT Institute met with some of the directors and supervisors of NYC homeless shelters. The ACT Institute facilitated an ACT CORE Training. This training, conducted at the NYS Psychiatric Institute, was attended by 30 staff members from DHS, as well as leadership from NYS OMH and NYC DOHMH. Read more

ACT in 2019
As we move into the new year, we want to welcome practitioners new to working on Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and congratulate all of you who have been working on ACT teams for some time. In New York State, we now have 108 ACT Teams that serve close to seven thousand of our most vulnerable New Yorkers challenged with significant behavioral health conditions. ACT is an evidence-based practice that has effective outcomes in assisting people on their road to recovery. Accordingly, it is a highly valued service and in great demand. Read more

Together We Can ACT! First Annual ACT Symposium 2018
The ACT Institute and New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) were pleased to present the first annual ACT Symposium 2018 on October 18th and 19th, 2018 in Ellenville, New York. The conference focused on integrated care in an era of systems transformation and through the lens of the ACT model. ACT team members and administrators from OMH came from all over New York State to attend and present. There was even representation from the West Coast, with staff from the Oregon Center of Excellence for Assertive Community Treatment (OCEACT) traveling in to join the Symposium. Read more

ACT Parent Project Training is Expanded Statewide: ACT Participants who are Parents: Strategies for Assessment and Collaboration
The ACT Parent Project training is the cumulation of a year-long research and training development collaboration between the ACT Institute and Columbia School of Social Work, funded by a grant from the New York Community Trust. This training, consisting of three online modules and a day-long, in-person session, was offered in Spring 2018 to ACT providers in NYC and focused on the needs and assets of ACT participants who are also parents. The online modules aimed to build skills in understanding parent’s perspectives and specific challenges and sources of resilience parents experience. The in-person training on May 4th brought together presenters with lived experience and field experts to reinforce the parent’s perspective and provide expertise on pregnancy, family court and ACS; concrete tools were also provided during the training. After receiving positive feedback about the online modules and a successful training on May 4th, the ACT Institute and Columbia School of Social Work are excited to announce the expansion of the Parent Project training to ACT Providers statewide. Read more

Attention ACT Providers! ACT TCTTAC (Tobacco Training) Available

There is a new set of tobacco resources available through the CPI Learning Management System (NYC TCTTAC). Tobacco is the #1 cause of death among people diagnosed with a psychiatric illness in the United States (Callaghan et al, 2014). People diagnosed with a psychiatric illness are more likely to smoke than people without (36% vs. 21%) (CDC Vital Signs February 2013) and smoke more often (SAMHSA CBHSQ Report March 2017). It has also been shown that people diagnosed with a psychiatric illness want to and are able to stop smoking (CDC Vital Signs February 2013). And we can help! Read more.

Attention ACT Providers! ACT TCTTAC (Tobacco Training) Available

There is a new set of tobacco resources available through the CPI Learning Management System (NYC TCTTAC). Tobacco is the #1 cause of death among people diagnosed with a psychiatric illness in the United States (Callaghan et al, 2014). People diagnosed with a psychiatric illness are more likely to smoke than people without (36% vs. 21%) (CDC Vital Signs February 2013) and smoke more often (SAMHSA CBHSQ Report March 2017). It has also been shown that people diagnosed with a psychiatric illness want to and are able to stop smoking (CDC Vital Signs February 2013). And we can help! Read more.

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ACT Talk

Podcast on 5/26/2015

Mr.Louis Vavrina will talk about Navigating Recovery's Rocky Road. Mr. Vavrina is a recent Howie the Harp graduate who, as part of that training, did an internship at the Center for Practice Innovations.

The ACT Institute will host monthly ACT TALK. In a radio interview style, the director of the ACT Institute, Helle Thorning, will engage invited guests in a dialog of emerging issues related to ACT in today's health care environment. Listeners are invited to participate and we look forward to stimulating and informative conversations during this critical time in health care.

Click here to listen to previous sessions of ACT Talk.

Abaigeal Duke joins CPI Staff as Recovery Specialist and Trainer
	We are pleased to announce that Abaigeal Duke has joined our staff as Recovery Specialist and Trainer for the OnTrackNY initiative and ACT Institute. In this role, she will work directly with OnTrackNY and ACT teams across NYS. Read more.