Saving our Communities with Reimagined Systems of Care

Room – Main Ballroom 9:30 am February 22nd, 2023, Hyatt Regency Centre, Calgary Alberta

Speaker – Dr Ijeoma Achara-Abrahams

Saving our Communities with Reimagined Systems of Care

Session Description

“The goal of services must not be limited to symptom reduction but should strive for restoration of a meaningful and productive life.” This statement was made 23 years ago by David Satcher, a former US Surgeon General in the 1999 Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health.

Today, the need for effective solutions to mounting behavioral health challenges seems more pressing than ever. Unfortunately, many of our current service models continue to aim for biopsychosocial stabilization. Although current models may help people to reduce or manage their substance use disorder symptoms, they do not intentionally help people to re-integrate into their community, take steps toward a better life, and sustain their wellness over time. Our lack of systemwide commitment to a more accurate definition of wellness contributes to escalating costs and declining community health.

In this presentation, Dr. Ijeoma Achara will share an alternate framework that can help system administrators and providers tackle some of their most difficult challenges while promoting recovery, resilience, and well-being.

Participants will learn how services in a reimagined, holistic recovery-oriented system of care improve on services delivered under traditional, clinically driven models of care. Dr. Achara will explore with participants the specific implications of a reimagined behavioral health system for treatment providers, peer support staff, and system administrators. This presentation will help to expand your vision about what is possible for your system in the provision of substance use services and will clarify the role that we can each play in improving health, equity, and quality-of-life outcomes.

Learning Objectives

Participants will have an increased understanding of a recovery-oriented system of care
Participants will be able to articulate 3 Implications of providing recovery-oriented services for treatment providers, peer staff, system administrators, and community supports
Participants will be able to identify the greatest misconceptions about a recovery-oriented system of care.
Participants will be able to articulate the role of recovery capital in promoting sustained wellness.

Bio

Dr. Achara-Abrahams has more than a decade of experience helping behavioral health systems move from reactive to recovery-oriented approaches. As Director of Strategic Planning at the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, Dr. Achara led Philadelphia’s cutting-edge recovery-oriented system of care (ROSC) transformation effort, which included managing the change process, designing and implementing strategies to empower people in recovery to play integral roles in systems change and to expand and integrate peer services, and aligning policies and clinical practices with a recovery-orientation. Prior to leading Philadelphia’s successful ROSC transformation, Dr. Achara was a faculty member in the Yale School of Medicine Program on Recovery and Community Health, where she supported Connecticut’s recovery transformation efforts.
Dr. Achara formed Achara Consulting in 2008 specifically to help state and local governments and provider organizations envision, plan, implement, and manage transformative approaches to implementing ROSC. A key element of her approach is working early on with an expansive set of stakeholders to develop a shared vision with widespread community support.